6 ms·

Because without a standard protocol they would be N underspecified proprietary variants: the Gmail web service, the Office 365 web service, the Office 365 from

Because without a standard protocol they would be N underspecified proprietary variants: the Gmail web service, the Office 365 web service, the Office 365 from last year web service... All of them with complicated authentication requirements, idiosyncratic URL construction, and other difficulties. You would throw away the baby and keep the bathwater.

qwerty456127 4y ago
I meant a standardized REST protocol. Why does it have (or ever had) to be something obscure like SMTP/POP3/IMAP if it could be just REST (still standardized, name it whatever)?
- weird-eye-issue 4y ago
  Hard enough to get people within the same company to agree on something or use consistent API conventions... Heck you'd probably have a hard time just getting people to agree to use REST. "Why not GraphQL?"
- GoblinSlayer 4y ago
  IMAP is more efficient than REST.
  - qwerty456127 4y ago
    Is it so much more efficient to be worth the obscurity?
    - GoblinSlayer 4y ago
      IMAP is not obscured, it's quite front and bright if you ask me.