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> What's wrong with using the twitter.com on Windows8, do we really need a special client just for Windows 8? This is exactly what the web is supposed to do. E

by swombat 14y ago

> What's wrong with using the twitter.com on Windows8, do we really need a special client just for Windows 8? This is exactly what the web is supposed to do. Emphasis on "supposed". It doesn't always do it, and definitely never to everyone's taste. Hence the custom clients. > I don't get anyone is surprised, it's Twitter's ecosystem and if you're duplicating their functionality then it's perfectly reasonable of them to not make any special exemption. If you wrote a client that exposed twitter to new markets or something that added value to Twitter then they'd likely give you a higher limit, but that's not the case... By now I doubt anyone is truly surprised, but it's disappointing nevertheless. Twitter's success is partly built on the explosion of Twitter clients that allowed Twitter to evolve faster than its dev team could follow (hence all the scaling issues). Then they bought a few players in the Twitter client market. And now they've strangled all the ones that remained in that market. So basically, Twitter now has an obvious and provable history of leaving things open, deciding that thriving third-party market X is nice, stepping into it themselves, and killing everyone else there. That's not a reputation I'd like to have for my business, when it is a piece of underlying infrastructure that depends on others to make it thrive. Anyone starting a business from today onwards and having any critical dependency or reliance on Twitter is insane.

ianstallings 14y ago
That's all well and good but what do you tell the investors that just gave you millions in order to get returns if you are twitter? That you can't monetize because you gotta be a nice guy and keep giving it all away for free? That will not go over well obviously.
- CamperBob2 14y ago
  You explain the risks accurately and truthfully to your investors, making absolutely sure that they understand those risks before you take a dime from them. Explain that Twitter has a history of behaving in ways that aren't in anyone's interest including their own, and how this leaves them even more vulnerable to disruption by the Next Big Thing than most social-networking hubs are. People with large amounts of money rarely get that way by sharecropping for companies like Twitter, so it may not be as big a problem as you fear.
  - EGreg 14y ago
    I am pretty sure the investors are aware that twitter has taken this approach, and can anticipate that some of the reaction to it will be along these lines, and yet the board decided to go ahead.

by swombat 14y ago

ianstallings 14y ago

That's all well and good but what do you tell the investors that just gave you millions in order to get returns if you are twitter? That you can't monetize because you gotta be a nice guy and keep giving it all away for free? That will not go over well obviously.

CamperBob2 14y ago
You explain the risks accurately and truthfully to your investors, making absolutely sure that they understand those risks before you take a dime from them. Explain that Twitter has a history of behaving in ways that aren't in anyone's interest including their own, and how this leaves them even more vulnerable to disruption by the Next Big Thing than most social-networking hubs are. People with large amounts of money rarely get that way by sharecropping for companies like Twitter, so it may not be as big a problem as you fear.
- EGreg 14y ago
  I am pretty sure the investors are aware that twitter has taken this approach, and can anticipate that some of the reaction to it will be along these lines, and yet the board decided to go ahead.