Independent of a platform which can shut you down just because you are a competitor.
It's amazing that people seem surprised that such a path is even an option.
I suppose you could argue that Level3, the big DNS servers, or InterNIC, or even DHS can shut you down too, but that seems awfully different then Twitter shutting down twitter app competitors, Apple threatening to pull content (competing) apps if they don't get their 30%, and Facebook potentially forcing apps to use their credit system or go home.
I'm really hoping people realize that this walled garden approach is hurting them in the end, and as these platforms move the goal posts more and more for what is acceptable, you might find you have wasted a few years of your life chasing a ghost.
It's up to you which path you choose, but for me, today, I'm making the decision to abandon these platforms and go my own way.
If you have a business based on say, using Twitter's API, you are wholly dependent upon them.
They could cut off your access, destroying you overnight. They could become less popular themselves, decreasing the value of your business in a way you have no control over.
That's not at all like being dependent upon a host, a linux distribution, your customers, or yourself. In a business based on some corporations external API you have all the usual dependencies plus your source, a single point of failure who is in a position of power over you.
It's amazing that people seem surprised that such a path is even an option.
I suppose you could argue that Level3, the big DNS servers, or InterNIC, or even DHS can shut you down too, but that seems awfully different then Twitter shutting down twitter app competitors, Apple threatening to pull content (competing) apps if they don't get their 30%, and Facebook potentially forcing apps to use their credit system or go home.
I'm really hoping people realize that this walled garden approach is hurting them in the end, and as these platforms move the goal posts more and more for what is acceptable, you might find you have wasted a few years of your life chasing a ghost.
It's up to you which path you choose, but for me, today, I'm making the decision to abandon these platforms and go my own way.