4 ms·
Not quite answering your question directly, but I think it's important for platform owners to leave gaps for the developer ecosystem. This may be one that they
by samwillis 3y ago
Not quite answering your question directly, but I think it's important for platform owners to leave gaps for the developer ecosystem. This may be one that they have purposely left to the app market.
If Apple and Microsoft provided a solution to every UX variant people want, there wouldn't be a market for apps built on top of the platform for UX tools. The further they encroach on the various markets the more developers will be discouraged from entering those markets for fear of the platform making their app redundant.
Apple and Microsoft have to draw a line somewhere, sometimes they get it wrong though and piss off a load of devs.
There are however obvious counter arguments to this with platform default apps such as email. But again it's important for the "average user" to have those in any new device. The platform effectively needs to do roughly 90% of what the average user wants out of the box, but then encourage users to go purchase further solutions from the various markets. Window snapping probably sits in That second area.
- RyanHamilton 3y agoThere's no way I believe this is the real reason. The whole history of MS/apple/facebook and successful businesses in general is allowing others to experiment to create add-ons / apps then creating your own integrated version to capture the value. i.e. let them pay the cost of experiementation and then copy it. See MS office, MS internet explorer, MS games, MS teams, Apple sherlock/watson, Facebook UI,......
- djfdat 3y agoI don't think leaving gaps for third-party developers at the system level is really necessary, however, in order to not inundate users with configuration options, platform choose their level of user choice and configuration. There is some room for third-party developers, but when more is done by the system, users have to do less to get features and performance without opening up risk vectors. In some environments, you wouldn't even be able to install third-party software. I definitely think that window snapping, and other general abstract platform-level controls, should be in your first group.
- djfdat 3y agoI honestly think it provides perverse incentives, especially in the Apple ecosystem, for Apple to leave their platforms barebones and apps simple. Instead of pushing their platforms and apps to provide the absolute best experience, they can spend less money on R&D and rely on third-party software, while in many cases taking a 30% cut. They've effectively outsourced and crowdsourced the R&D, while leaving the option to sherlock any feature they choose to after it's been proven successful.