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Ask HN: What will happen to React if we #deleteFacebook?

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Re: Ask HN: What will happen to React if we #deleteFacebook?

#11
post #6

React is open-source it will live on. But to address your underlying implication that Facebook is going down, as much as many of us would like to believe otherwise, this will blow over in a matter of weeks. Facebook will emerge out the other side stronger than ever. The outrage machine of the internet is working well lately, but it's still mostly toothless. Even potential regulator or court involvement is unlikely to…

In my eyes the OP seems almost like pity.

> VW

NSA seems topical regarding privacy. They should have a thing or two to say about security by obscurity (en lieu privacy) and open source.

CamAn is a strawman, not fake news, but only because it's not really news.

Re: Ask HN: What will happen to React if we #deleteFacebook?

#12
Facebook itself won't be meaningfully "deleted" for at least five years. It simply has too much money: even if its main product went kaput tomorrow (which it won't), it would find some other way to stay alive. That would almost certainly be via an acquisition spree, in which it would go to great lengths to tie its targets' platforms into facebook.com, which is based on React (AFAIK). So the answer is: nothing.

That said, what if, as a thought experiment, Facebook imploded tomorrow? It reminds me of the "what if the Sun disappeared" scenario -- it's not that it's _unlikely_; it's that it would require new physics to even get you there. So speculation is somewhat idle. That said, here's what I think would happen:

1) The core contributors would be snapped up by some open source-adjacent organization, like Mozilla, and given free reign to work on React in the majority of their time.

2) Some sort of new, independent governance would be formed. IME, new web projects seem to be more ad-hoc in this respect than, say, GNU brethren.

3) Development velocity would undoubtedly slow down. This happens naturally as projects mature, though, so let's not mourn the inevitable process of nature.

4) Some idealistic fork will pick up a bit of steam, and the sister projects will steal from each other liberally. Like bacteria, politicians (zing), or anything else that competes.

5) Something else will rise to take React's place.

But again, it doesn't matter, because Facebook won't disappear on a time scale that matters relative to the velocity of JS development.

Re: Ask HN: What will happen to React if we #deleteFacebook?

#13

I mean, Facebook is losing money right now, but I don't think they're going anywhere. But, for the sake of argument, let's say everyone deletes their account and Facebook goes away. React is open source. The people from Facebook working on React would probably just get jobs with some other company that relies on React and continue working on React.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What will happen to React if we #deleteFacebook?

#18

I mean, Facebook is losing money right now, but I don't think they're going anywhere. But, for the sake of argument, let's say everyone deletes their account and Facebook goes away. React is open source. The people from Facebook working on React would probably just get jobs with some other company that relies on React and continue working on React.

Facebook isn't losing money. They are one of the most profitable companies in the world. Changes in market cap != losing money.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/277229/facebooks-annual-...

They made nearly $16 billion in net profit last year.

Re: Ask HN: What will happen to React if we #deleteFacebook?

#19
post #3

It's MIT licensed and widely used. So we're only a fork away from a facebook-independent React...

Need for funding is a thing, but I'd presume AirBnB or Dropbox or any of the many others listed on https://github.com/facebook/react/wiki/Sites-Using-React would step up.
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