5 ms·

Allow me to make a bold predication - the App.net will be done in a matter of months. Even if it becomes absolutely free. The reason is Tent. If Tent drops the

by eps 14y ago

Allow me to make a bold predication - the App.net will be done in a matter of months. Even if it becomes absolutely free. The reason is Tent. If Tent drops the ball and doesn't fully execute the idea, someone else will. Their idea is bigger, better and far better maps onto the interest of various 3rd parties (such as hosted service providers) that wouldn't hesitate to support it. Commoditizing the social services is a great idea with balls and vision. Creating a paid Twitter clone is not.

jonursenbach 14y ago
I thought that the whole point of App.net wasn't to build just a Twitter clone, but something that you could build any sort of social service on top of.
mtgx 14y ago
A link describing Tent, for those who haven't heard about it: http://www.informationweek.com/development/open-source/tent-promises-open-distributed-social-ne/240006057 http://www.informationweek.com/development/open-source/tent-...
- ihuman 14y ago
  I'm confused. How is tent different than something like StatusNet?
  - wmf 14y ago
    This time it's different.
wmf 14y ago
2010: App.net will be done in a matter of months; the reason is Diaspora 2009: App.net will be done in a matter of months; the reason is OneSocialWeb 2005: App.net will be done in a matter of months; the reason is Appleseed Why is this time different?
- tobylane 14y ago
  Because this is the first year I've heard of App.net and so many things nowadays fail once its had a moment of popularity? Tent is an improvement on twitter, which we want. Jabber is an improvement on msn which noone is running away from.
  - s_henry_paulson 14y ago
    I just watched the welcome video, but I still have no idea what app.net is. I did just listen to some guy tell me why he should get paid for 3 minutes. So that's something.
    - icelancer 14y ago
      That's the exact same experience I had.
  - SeoxyS 14y ago
    Are you suggesting that Jabber is a failure? You're aware that it's the underlying protocol for the massively popular Facebook Chat, as well as GTalk, right?
    - tobylane 14y ago
      People are wanting to run away from Twitter, with various options. People aren't running away from MSN, they are running to its replacements such as facebook messenger
- illicium 14y ago
  2012: Twitter/Facebook will be done in a matter of months; the reason is App.net Yawn.
  - streptomycin 14y ago
    Can you find me a source for anyone anywhere saying that?
teawithcarl 14y ago
Tent is great. Love it. 5-6 loosely integrated infrastructures will replace Facebook, Twitter, G+ (ad model) over time. App.net is one of those infrastructures. Please get off the "twitter clone" smackdown ... it's lame. App.net is a trustworthy "blackbox" which allows ANY social construct. It dovetails with Tent. People are building Tor concepts, non-Zynga collaborative games, new messaging protocols, etc in App.net ... beyond twitter is easy. Indeed, it's hard to keep up with all the API enhancements, and the new developer ideas. My personal goal inside App.net is a construct which brings down the GFW (firewall) of China. (Im fluent in 中文, 25+ years). No advertisements, paying developers well. Integrity about the future ecosystem. With a $1 million in the bank, one of the best geek hangouts on earth, and world-class integrity ... it ain't going away in months. You'd be better off predicting that it's a heady time for new social protocols.
- adlwalrus 14y ago
  What's your concept for bringing down the GFW? I'm very interested. Perhaps I could even help you.
- pi18n 14y ago
  > People are building Tor concepts, non-Zynga collaborative games, new messaging protocols, etc in App.net ... beyond twitter is easy. I don't get it. What's the advantage of this over regular internet? You use someone else's servers?
jasondavisfl 14y ago
Tent is a great idea on PAPER, in the real world it is just too slooooow. Just my opinion hopefully I am wrong
- zoul 14y ago
  Tent can't be slow, it's a protocol.
ChuckMcM 14y ago
I'll make an equally bold prediction, Tent will fall on its face while App.net powers on into the future. My reasoning is that it reaches too far without a safety net of a business model. Assuming Dalton is being truthful in his post, he's not cutting prices because he "didn't get traction" he's cutting prices because his business model is out performing his expectations, and rather than go for a higher net early on he's re-investing that margin into growing the user base. Tent is going 'old school' like the old IETF protocols, that means waiting for adoption, having a variety of implementations, establishing a consensus, moving forward. That works great in a green field situation, but this isn't it. Look at the OpenMoko effort, free Phone OS, build it and they will come? No. Reaching too far without a model to nourish early adoption and growth. Influential? Sure but killer? Not so much. Dalton has something which Tent does not, people willing to spend money to use it. That is why I think Tent will be a memory long before we see the end of App.net.
- EnderMB 14y ago
  A less bold statement will be that they both fall flat on their asses. The HN/Reddit crowd is still a fairly closed crowd and no one else I know has even really mentioned App.net. Any time I bring up App.net it's met with the same "Twitter clone" skeptics. I think it's a decent idea, but it's not really solving a hard problem. It's not feeding off of demand for a problem, but off of popularity from the HN hivemind; a crowd known for following trends over execution. I'm just a developer so I don't know much about running a business, but I cannot see how this can be sustainable when tech crowds are prone to move onto the next thing so quickly.
  - ChuckMcM 14y ago
    I don't disagree. There are many factors that are outside anyone's control which will have an inordinate effect on the durability of the protocol. My observation was that App.net has paid users, enough of them to sustain growth apparently. Fundamentally people being paid to provide something do a better job than people who aren't paid to provide something (helps with the inevitable haters) In my experience paid users are a stronger signal than 'vision' or 'reach' as predictors of success.

by eps 14y ago

jonursenbach 14y ago

I thought that the whole point of App.net wasn't to build just a Twitter clone, but something that you could build any sort of social service on top of.

mtgx 14y ago

A link describing Tent, for those who haven't heard about it: http://www.informationweek.com/development/open-source/tent-promises-open-distributed-social-ne/240006057 http://www.informationweek.com/development/open-source/tent-...

ihuman 14y ago
I'm confused. How is tent different than something like StatusNet?
- wmf 14y ago
  This time it's different.

wmf 14y ago

2010: App.net will be done in a matter of months; the reason is Diaspora 2009: App.net will be done in a matter of months; the reason is OneSocialWeb 2005: App.net will be done in a matter of months; the reason is Appleseed Why is this time different?

tobylane 14y ago
Because this is the first year I've heard of App.net and so many things nowadays fail once its had a moment of popularity? Tent is an improvement on twitter, which we want. Jabber is an improvement on msn which noone is running away from.
- s_henry_paulson 14y ago
  I just watched the welcome video, but I still have no idea what app.net is. I did just listen to some guy tell me why he should get paid for 3 minutes. So that's something.
  - icelancer 14y ago
    That's the exact same experience I had.
- SeoxyS 14y ago
  Are you suggesting that Jabber is a failure? You're aware that it's the underlying protocol for the massively popular Facebook Chat, as well as GTalk, right?
  - tobylane 14y ago
    People are wanting to run away from Twitter, with various options. People aren't running away from MSN, they are running to its replacements such as facebook messenger
illicium 14y ago
2012: Twitter/Facebook will be done in a matter of months; the reason is App.net Yawn.
- streptomycin 14y ago
  Can you find me a source for anyone anywhere saying that?

teawithcarl 14y ago

Tent is great. Love it. 5-6 loosely integrated infrastructures will replace Facebook, Twitter, G+ (ad model) over time. App.net is one of those infrastructures. Please get off the "twitter clone" smackdown ... it's lame. App.net is a trustworthy "blackbox" which allows ANY social construct. It dovetails with Tent. People are building Tor concepts, non-Zynga collaborative games, new messaging protocols, etc in App.net ... beyond twitter is easy. Indeed, it's hard to keep up with all the API enhancements, and the new developer ideas. My personal goal inside App.net is a construct which brings down the GFW (firewall) of China. (Im fluent in 中文, 25+ years). No advertisements, paying developers well. Integrity about the future ecosystem. With a $1 million in the bank, one of the best geek hangouts on earth, and world-class integrity ... it ain't going away in months. You'd be better off predicting that it's a heady time for new social protocols.

adlwalrus 14y ago
What's your concept for bringing down the GFW? I'm very interested. Perhaps I could even help you.
pi18n 14y ago
> People are building Tor concepts, non-Zynga collaborative games, new messaging protocols, etc in App.net ... beyond twitter is easy. I don't get it. What's the advantage of this over regular internet? You use someone else's servers?

jasondavisfl 14y ago

Tent is a great idea on PAPER, in the real world it is just too slooooow. Just my opinion hopefully I am wrong

zoul 14y ago
Tent can't be slow, it's a protocol.

ChuckMcM 14y ago

I'll make an equally bold prediction, Tent will fall on its face while App.net powers on into the future. My reasoning is that it reaches too far without a safety net of a business model. Assuming Dalton is being truthful in his post, he's not cutting prices because he "didn't get traction" he's cutting prices because his business model is out performing his expectations, and rather than go for a higher net early on he's re-investing that margin into growing the user base. Tent is going 'old school' like the old IETF protocols, that means waiting for adoption, having a variety of implementations, establishing a consensus, moving forward. That works great in a green field situation, but this isn't it. Look at the OpenMoko effort, free Phone OS, build it and they will come? No. Reaching too far without a model to nourish early adoption and growth. Influential? Sure but killer? Not so much. Dalton has something which Tent does not, people willing to spend money to use it. That is why I think Tent will be a memory long before we see the end of App.net.

EnderMB 14y ago
A less bold statement will be that they both fall flat on their asses. The HN/Reddit crowd is still a fairly closed crowd and no one else I know has even really mentioned App.net. Any time I bring up App.net it's met with the same "Twitter clone" skeptics. I think it's a decent idea, but it's not really solving a hard problem. It's not feeding off of demand for a problem, but off of popularity from the HN hivemind; a crowd known for following trends over execution. I'm just a developer so I don't know much about running a business, but I cannot see how this can be sustainable when tech crowds are prone to move onto the next thing so quickly.
- ChuckMcM 14y ago
  I don't disagree. There are many factors that are outside anyone's control which will have an inordinate effect on the durability of the protocol. My observation was that App.net has paid users, enough of them to sustain growth apparently. Fundamentally people being paid to provide something do a better job than people who aren't paid to provide something (helps with the inevitable haters) In my experience paid users are a stronger signal than 'vision' or 'reach' as predictors of success.