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This is the same developer whose Apollo app got screwed by Reddit. They seem to have a talent for finding simple ways to improve things in new contexts. Unfortu

This is the same developer whose Apollo app got screwed by Reddit. They seem to have a talent for finding simple ways to improve things in new contexts. Unfortunately, their improvements are typically of benefit to _actual users_, and the services in question would rather treat users as grist for the mill. It’s unjust, and I believe it’s short-sighted.

minimaxir 2y ago
A similar sequence of events happened to Jase Morrissey, who developed Alien Blue for Reddit in 2010, although in that case Reddit was more gracious and acquired the app in before killing it in favor of their own: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_Blue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_Blue He then made Jasmine, a YouTube client which was an order of magnitude better than the official YouTube app...which was then killed for the same reasons as Juno.
- 3abiton 2y ago
  I am sensing a pattern.
  - ddtaylor 2y ago
    The history of Apple store abuse goes back far as well. For their own gain and others.
  - m463 2y ago
    The pattern is that companies make APIs so they can control things. (never at the start) Web scraping types of apps are more democratic.
- _boffin_ 2y ago
  Funny enough, still have alienblue on my phone and still use. The app still works and everything.
johnnyanmac 2y ago
Tech's really shifted from the days where an idea like Juno would get your app acquired, and possibly get you hired under their wing to help improve the base product. That's when you can really tell the hacker mentality left big tech.
- godzillabrennus 2y ago
  It’s been said before on here that the MBAs have won in big tech and I think that’s fair.
  - appendix-rock 2y ago
    This sort of tribalism is utterly insufferable. “The good decisions? They were us! And the bad ones? They were made by those idiots over there!”
    - tpoacher 2y ago
      Calm down, Google.
- randomdata 2y ago
  When the zero interest rates left, at least.
  - namlem 2y ago
    And Lina Kahn came in
    - fhdsgbbcaA 2y ago
      Are you suggesting Lina is on the side of big Tech?
      - s17n 2y ago
        He's suggesting that acquisitions aren't happening because of antitrust enforcement. I'm pretty sure that has no bearing on the type of tiny acquisition we're talking about here but then again I don't actually know what I'm talking about.
Alupis 2y ago
I still don't understand the Apollo collapse. The creator seemed to have convinced themselves that their users would not be willing to pay to continue using the app - despite the outpouring of love Apollo enjoyed. It all seemed very short sighted and emotional.
- keyle 2y ago
  When things turn sour, sometimes you have to see the writing on the wall and think years in the future. It may not be something you signed up for. There is also a limit to which people are willing to put themselves through.
  - Alupis 2y ago
    Ok, but it was inevitable Reddit wouldn't offer free services to businesses making profit off of their content forever. The creator must have wondered at some point how long the free gravy was going to continue flowing? Why no exit plan of any kind, or even an attempt?
    - djxfade 2y ago
      I never understood why Reddit couldn’t just have kept the API free, and embedded ads in the feed directly. They would get their ad revenue, and third party developers would actually help them make money.
      - Alupis 2y ago
        Probably because it would be easy to filter those ads from the feeds. The facts were businesses like Apollo built themselves upon Reddit's value-proposition. The content is what the users wanted - and Reddit had the content. Apollo's value-add was making that content more accessible to users - at Reddit's expense. We can debate how Reddit handled the rollout - but the facts are businesses like Apollo offered little to Reddit in exchange for Reddit's content. People operating businesses based on someone else's data (moat) should have an exit plan for when the free ride ends.
throwaway48476 2y ago
Platforms exist for the benefit of platforms, not users.
yoyohello13 2y ago
"short-sighted" is a euphemism used a lot to describe company behavior. We should just call it what it is, anti-social greed.
- pixelready 2y ago
  I think focusing on the timeline is correct though. There is such a thing as pro-social greed, which is to say: a desire for a product/service/company to be long lived through sustainability of their business model. The problem, I think, stems largely from “shareholder value” theories which force executives to operate solely on a quarterly mindset. When all low hanging fruit in a market has been harvested, those held accountable for value extraction are pushed into short term, unsustainable tactics so that every quarter key metrics can go up regardless of the underlying reality. Hence: layoffs and enshittification.

minimaxir 2y ago

A similar sequence of events happened to Jase Morrissey, who developed Alien Blue for Reddit in 2010, although in that case Reddit was more gracious and acquired the app in before killing it in favor of their own: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_Blue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_Blue He then made Jasmine, a YouTube client which was an order of magnitude better than the official YouTube app...which was then killed for the same reasons as Juno.

3abiton 2y ago
I am sensing a pattern.
- ddtaylor 2y ago
  The history of Apple store abuse goes back far as well. For their own gain and others.
- m463 2y ago
  The pattern is that companies make APIs so they can control things. (never at the start) Web scraping types of apps are more democratic.
_boffin_ 2y ago
Funny enough, still have alienblue on my phone and still use. The app still works and everything.

johnnyanmac 2y ago

Tech's really shifted from the days where an idea like Juno would get your app acquired, and possibly get you hired under their wing to help improve the base product. That's when you can really tell the hacker mentality left big tech.

godzillabrennus 2y ago
It’s been said before on here that the MBAs have won in big tech and I think that’s fair.
- appendix-rock 2y ago
  This sort of tribalism is utterly insufferable. “The good decisions? They were us! And the bad ones? They were made by those idiots over there!”
  - tpoacher 2y ago
    Calm down, Google.
randomdata 2y ago
When the zero interest rates left, at least.
- namlem 2y ago
  And Lina Kahn came in
  - fhdsgbbcaA 2y ago
    Are you suggesting Lina is on the side of big Tech?
    - s17n 2y ago
      He's suggesting that acquisitions aren't happening because of antitrust enforcement. I'm pretty sure that has no bearing on the type of tiny acquisition we're talking about here but then again I don't actually know what I'm talking about.

Alupis 2y ago

I still don't understand the Apollo collapse. The creator seemed to have convinced themselves that their users would not be willing to pay to continue using the app - despite the outpouring of love Apollo enjoyed. It all seemed very short sighted and emotional.

keyle 2y ago
When things turn sour, sometimes you have to see the writing on the wall and think years in the future. It may not be something you signed up for. There is also a limit to which people are willing to put themselves through.
- Alupis 2y ago
  Ok, but it was inevitable Reddit wouldn't offer free services to businesses making profit off of their content forever. The creator must have wondered at some point how long the free gravy was going to continue flowing? Why no exit plan of any kind, or even an attempt?
  - djxfade 2y ago
    I never understood why Reddit couldn’t just have kept the API free, and embedded ads in the feed directly. They would get their ad revenue, and third party developers would actually help them make money.
    - Alupis 2y ago
      Probably because it would be easy to filter those ads from the feeds. The facts were businesses like Apollo built themselves upon Reddit's value-proposition. The content is what the users wanted - and Reddit had the content. Apollo's value-add was making that content more accessible to users - at Reddit's expense. We can debate how Reddit handled the rollout - but the facts are businesses like Apollo offered little to Reddit in exchange for Reddit's content. People operating businesses based on someone else's data (moat) should have an exit plan for when the free ride ends.

throwaway48476 2y ago

Platforms exist for the benefit of platforms, not users.

yoyohello13 2y ago

"short-sighted" is a euphemism used a lot to describe company behavior. We should just call it what it is, anti-social greed.

pixelready 2y ago
I think focusing on the timeline is correct though. There is such a thing as pro-social greed, which is to say: a desire for a product/service/company to be long lived through sustainability of their business model. The problem, I think, stems largely from “shareholder value” theories which force executives to operate solely on a quarterly mindset. When all low hanging fruit in a market has been harvested, those held accountable for value extraction are pushed into short term, unsustainable tactics so that every quarter key metrics can go up regardless of the underlying reality. Hence: layoffs and enshittification.