The way out manton.org
@manton I agree with a ton of this, but I'd love to see (or have) some more discussion on open standards. I've long been a skeptic that "open" for the sake of open is really a benefit, or something that the average user cares about. To be clear, I don't think it's a bad thing at all, but I struggle to quantify how much it will actually help end users. I feel like it's just as likely to create a confusing and fractured experience as it is to nurture a rich and valuable ecosystem. As a developer it is something I appreciate (and as someone who has done quite a bit of development against the Twitter APIs, I certainly have many problems with their approach). But in terms of product strategy and community building, what do you think are the most important concrete benefits of open standards?
@sharding Thanks! One concrete example of how useful open APIs can be is our third-party apps page. There are 11 compatible apps listed, and 7 of those weren't even built for Micro.blog. If I forced developers to use a proprietary API, there would be fewer apps for users and less flexibility for developers.