| > A simple rule that degrades the experience that the official app doesn't follow. How does that make Google un-open? > It's apparently not a very pleasant rule if the largest API consumer doesn't follow it. The largest API consumer is also the API provider. They can (and should, and do) iterate faster than a stable API they provide to others. That's almost always the case. > It's not 'open' if some users get the good API and some users get the bad API. All users get the same API, but provider is using a different API (which may, and does, change every other day). And it's perfectly open. Openness does NOT mean everyone gets to be on equal footing! Google can shutter youtube tomorrow, but Microsoft can't, which is always going to be the case. Open is about having access to the data at all, under reasonable terms and conditions, that Microsoft refuses to follow. > It's very easy for rules to be both simple and unfair at the same time. How about '$500 entry fee for short people'. It sounds even more ridiculous to compare "use a standard HTML5 iframe section provided to you" to "special fee for short people". History shows that indeed, Microsoft and standards don't mix well. But that's hardly a Google problem. Microsoft could have spent a tenth of the energy (and money, and goodwill) in this case, and just hired someone who knows what they are doing (e.g. the guy who wrote Jasmine for iOS, which provides an experience way better than the official client, using only this 'one simple rule') |