Monday 5 August 2013

Compatibility for progress

Technology working together is what enables big leaps and bounds, but that requires compatibility, which is hard. It also requires sensors or triggers and actions that can be programmed in some way. We can have some form of glue-ware in between all our systems, like IFTTT, as long as they expose the right programming interfaces, or we can depend on each device or app to interact directly with others.

Also, however, if you don't provide a way for users and developers to extract and work with your data, someone is probably going to do it for you, only a little bit worse and without your permission. You can either provide those features your users want, or you can let someone else do so. What you can't do is be deliberately incompatible in a way that nobody can work around, ever.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - People want compatibility enough to break in and steal it.
PPS - It's much easier all around if they don't have to.

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