Slashdot Mirror
Open Source Increasingly Replaced By Open APIs
SharkLaser writes "Open APIs might be the way to get rich in 2012. At the same time, it can also be what ultimately hinders open source development. A wide range of companies, including Google, Facebook, Amazon and Twitter, are building open APIs for other developers to use and build upon. Open APIs can be used by companies to grow their user base and introduce new, interesting features on top of their platform. Independent developers can utilize established services and their users to grow their own business. A perfect example of open APIs is Facebook Apps, which lets individuals and companies develop applications and games on top of the Facebook platform. Developers gain access to Facebook's established user base and Facebook gains new features and fun stuff to do on their site. Instead of open sourcing their platforms, companies like Google and Facebook are providing Open APIs and data access to outside developers. The actual source code for the services sits safely inside the company's network and never needs to be disclosed to outside parties, thus hindering open source development."
Programmers seem to routinely toss away their entire codebase from time to time anyway.
With disastrous consequences: Netscape, KDE4, etc. Throwing away a large codebase is stupid.
Palm trees and 8
Different tools for different goals.
When you need to recreate the functionality of an existing application in a new application, as would be the case if you wanted to create a Facebook competitor, you may want the source code of the existing application.
When you want to integrate your new application with one that already exists, as would be the case if you are creating a complementary or dependent project, you want SDKs/APIs.
Developers do frequently use the APIs published for toolkits (jQuery, for example) and often load those toolkits from a third-party hosting service (like Google's, for example). This does create a dependency that would need to be updated if the hosting service made an incompatible change or discontinued their service, and that is something that developers need to keep in mind.
When developers tie into the APIs of platforms like Facebook and Twitter, it would usually do them no good to have access to the source code, as they are usually trying to tie into those existing platforms to connect with their user bases. If the developer chooses to make their application dependent upon a third-party API, that is a strategic decision and the committment is theirs to make. It makes sense if the purpose of the application is dependent upon the third-party platform.
As for published APIs interfering with open source development, I think it is possible that developers may choose to use proprietary products with published APIs rather than implement an open source solution. An example might be a developer choosing to use Google Charts rather than integrating gnuplot into their project. This might have some impact on the momentum of some open source projects, but the examples given in the summary are way off. A developer choosing to use an API published by Facebook for Facebook integration is not taking anything away from open source software.