Year after year, this 2003 essay by Tim Bray continues to be true:
> I’ve been following some discussions about the future of software applications, and a phrase that came up in my dinner with Robb Beal has been echoing in my mind.What it comes down to is this: if you want to develop software, you can build for the Web and/or Unix and/or OSS platforms; or alternatively, you can be a sharecropper. Your choice, but I think it’s an easy one. Especially since the users out there want you to do the right thing.
> What Robb actually said, in a conversation about Mac software outputs like Ranchero and Watson and his own Spring, was that building for the Apple OS feels like being a sharecropper.
I think his statement of "the users want you to do the right thing" is being a bit generous. Users want whatever app they want on whatever platform they have. They don't want to jailbreak their device to install your app or go to some out of the way (possibly untrustworthy) place to locate it. Centralized, reliable app stores are liked generally by users. That said, as a developer, it is onerous/depressing to have faceless "bureaucrats" decide the fate of your apps acceptance/rejection.
Funny as a developer I don't have the same problem. I intrinsically understand that it is their store hence their rules. So long as I follow their well published and understood guidelines there won't be a problem.
Just like I would get banned from Google if I didn't follow their rules.
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
That essay needs updating. It is entirely possible to be a web developer who is a sharecropper these days (see: massive reliance on Facebook integration, Twitter integration, Google APIs, or any other platform that you don't control and couldn't easily replicate).
> I’ve been following some discussions about the future of software applications, and a phrase that came up in my dinner with Robb Beal has been echoing in my mind.What it comes down to is this: if you want to develop software, you can build for the Web and/or Unix and/or OSS platforms; or alternatively, you can be a sharecropper. Your choice, but I think it’s an easy one. Especially since the users out there want you to do the right thing.
> What Robb actually said, in a conversation about Mac software outputs like Ranchero and Watson and his own Spring, was that building for the Apple OS feels like being a sharecropper.
http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/07/12/WebsThePla...