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"Why is it a bad idea to develop on the Twitter API, but a good idea to develop on Apple's? [...] Apple is far bigger therefore far more dangerous than Twitter"

by objclxt 14y ago

"Why is it a bad idea to develop on the Twitter API, but a good idea to develop on Apple's? [...] Apple is far bigger therefore far more dangerous than Twitter" ...I think, and sorry in advance for the pun, that's an apples to oranges comparison there. Firstly, the author already says he's more comfortable with companies like Dropbox where the 'customer is the customer', and not the product. Most people would agree that's true of Apple. But more importantly, there's a huge difference between a web based API and an OS-level API. I can think of many examples where REST APIs have pulled their rest APIs overnight or on short notice (Face.com being the most recent). A company like Twitter or Linked.In can kill an app that's using their APIs instantly. Now, you could argue that Apple can do this through the app store, but I think that's a rather different discussion. Apple's motivations and Twitter's motivations are very different here. Apple will, in fact, pay you to use their APIs if you choose to charge for your apps. Some people will say it's a 'good' idea to work with Apple, other's will say it's 'bad'. Whatever your opinion, I'm still not totally convinced you can really compare Apple with Twitter in this situation.

bergie 14y ago
I wrote about this in a recent blog post: "App Stores are the new record labels" As much of software is about disintermediation, of making the world run more smoothly through removal of middlemen, it is interesting that we software developers are now driving ourselves to a world full of middlemen. A world where we suddenly have to ask for a permission to do something new. In a world where everything must go through the rules and regulations of an app store without any oversight we, the developers, will suddenly be in the same abused stage as artists are with their labels. We take all the risk and all the effort on building software for our users. The middleman then can invalidate all our hard work by arbitrarily making it impossible for their ecosystem to run the app. And even if they do accept the software, they'll take a hefty cut of the proceeds. How can this make sense to an independent developer? http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/meego-diaspora/ http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/meego-diaspora/
- TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
  It's worrying, because with little freedom comes little room to innovate. The web as we know it has become the huge, fast-moving, innovative industry that we know it to be thanks to the freedom it has.

by objclxt 14y ago

bergie 14y ago

I wrote about this in a recent blog post: "App Stores are the new record labels" As much of software is about disintermediation, of making the world run more smoothly through removal of middlemen, it is interesting that we software developers are now driving ourselves to a world full of middlemen. A world where we suddenly have to ask for a permission to do something new. In a world where everything must go through the rules and regulations of an app store without any oversight we, the developers, will suddenly be in the same abused stage as artists are with their labels. We take all the risk and all the effort on building software for our users. The middleman then can invalidate all our hard work by arbitrarily making it impossible for their ecosystem to run the app. And even if they do accept the software, they'll take a hefty cut of the proceeds. How can this make sense to an independent developer? http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/meego-diaspora/ http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/meego-diaspora/

TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
It's worrying, because with little freedom comes little room to innovate. The web as we know it has become the huge, fast-moving, innovative industry that we know it to be thanks to the freedom it has.