More Recommended Reading on Internet Platforms

Blogger: Anne Thomas Manes

Following up on my last post on The Future of Internet Platforms, I also recommend that you read Joshua Allen's response. Joshua points out that APIs and platforms (especially proprietary ones) run counter to the essence of the Web, and that data is the true internet platform. In other words -- the Level 1 Internet platform that Marc Andreessen describes in the post that started this discussion is the highest level platform you could want. All you really want is RESTful access to the data on the Web.

Joshua has a valid point -- the proliferation of hundreds or thousands of proprietary APIs and SDKs will make Internet-based development a disaster site. But I'm still attracted to the benefits Andreessen describes in his Level 3 model -- an Internet-based environment that the average user can use to build sophisticated application systems. Not just a blog site. Not just my space or my face. But a sophisticated application. Without setting up my own web server or writing complex web applications.

Could that be possible without proprietary APIs or SDKs?