Why should anyone ever use a Google API again? • Hacker News Board

Re: Why should anyone ever use a Google API again?

#51

Post by jdvolz » Fri, May 27, 2011, 7:23 PM UTC

I'm leery of building anything on top of someone else's API. I built on top of an API while also keeping in active contact with the company to let them know what I was doing, going as far as talking directly to their legal department, and they still shut me down when they couldn't handle the volume of usage. And this is in a situation where every marginal use of their API made them money. Collectively I was going to make them revenue of (projected admittedly) $1.2M. Didn't stop them from shutting me down.

Long story short: Building on someone else's API is a recipe for disaster. Are there times when you have to? Sure. But you need to know what you are getting into.

Re: Why should anyone ever use a Google API again?

#52

Post by ojilles » Fri, May 27, 2011, 7:31 PM UTC

FTA: "... so you decided to "das kind mit dem bade ausschuetten" (translate it) ?"

Classic :-)

Re: Why should anyone ever use a Google API again?

#53

Post by gte910h » Fri, May 27, 2011, 7:33 PM UTC

krisrak wrote: post #17

Never rely on anyones API, building something with API is mashup/side-project not a startup/company.

All business is risk. This is yet one more risk. Hundreds if not thousands of successful businesses work on top of other businesses.

Re: Why should anyone ever use a Google API again?

#54

Post by baconner » Fri, May 27, 2011, 7:35 PM UTC

Amazing sense of entitlement in this comment. Google built the apis, they host the apis, they incur costs from this yet provide them for free. Presumably this is because they intend to get some benefit. So its Google's decision if they want to continue to provide them or change the way they work.

I use some free apis in my commercial apps but I'm aware that I don't control them nor am I entitled to them. They may change in such a way that I'd have to discontinue a product but that's a responsibility I took on when I decided to use them. Google and other free API providers don't bear reposibility for my decision.

Re: Why should anyone ever use a Google API again?

#55

Post by alanh » Fri, May 27, 2011, 7:36 PM UTC

wccrawford wrote: post #7

You mean, why should you build a for-profit product while relying on someone else's not-for-profit API? I'm guessing you shouldn't! I've seen a lot of neat projects come from Google APIs, but that's as far as I'd taking it. Relying on someone else's good will for the lifeblood of your company is insane. 1 exception, though: Getting started. I could see using Google to get off the ground and then switching to a more r…

While you are pointing out a valid strategic risk in building on another’s platform, I’m disappointed to see the top post here is simply engaging in blame-the-victim.

Re: Why should anyone ever use a Google API again?

#56

Post by chc » Fri, May 27, 2011, 7:37 PM UTC

jmathai wrote: post #2

I can't state this enough. Building your company which heavily relies on an API provided by someone else is risky business. Why are we still in this infatuation stage of ignoring the pitfalls of this?

You mean like .NET? Or Cocoa Touch? Or DOM? Or Node? Or POSIX?

At some point, we're all relying on APIs provided by somebody else. I think that's why it's so easy for people to ignore the pitfalls of just a little bit more.

Re: Why should anyone ever use a Google API again?

#57

Post by alanh » Fri, May 27, 2011, 7:38 PM UTC

Given they are deprecating the FeedBurner APIs, is there a good alternative to FeedBurner at this point?

Re: Why should anyone ever use a Google API again?

#58

Post by alanh » Fri, May 27, 2011, 7:39 PM UTC

SriniK wrote: post #29

thetrumanshow wrote: post #4

Google has made some unpopular developer-facing moves lately (App Engine pricing changes come to mind), and it seems entirely out-of-character. From now on, any API announcement from Google should be accompanied with a GIANT expiration date stamped all over it by default. Then, if it keeps going... happy surprise!

Google is doing the right thing that would be typical for an internet company. For any product they would need to have maintainers/owners who are continuously updating and monitoring. It is completely waste of time to maintain unused stuff.

You are making a false assumption. I personally use the FeedBurner API to keep track of feed subscribers, for example, and it was deprecated yesterday.

Re: Why should anyone ever use a Google API again?

#59

Post by Kylekramer » Fri, May 27, 2011, 7:42 PM UTC

alanh wrote: post #55

wccrawford wrote: post #7

You mean, why should you build a for-profit product while relying on someone else's not-for-profit API? I'm guessing you shouldn't! I've seen a lot of neat projects come from Google APIs, but that's as far as I'd taking it. Relying on someone else's good will for the lifeblood of your company is insane. 1 exception, though: Getting started. I could see using Google to get off the ground and then switching to a more r…

While you are pointing out a valid strategic risk in building on another’s platform, I’m disappointed to see the top post here is simply engaging in blame-the-victim.

This isn't rape, it is a business. What is happening is not illegal or even unethical. Victim blaming is not wrong when the supposed victim is completely to blame.

Re: Why should anyone ever use a Google API again?

#60

Post by chc » Fri, May 27, 2011, 7:42 PM UTC

orblivion wrote: post #24

Google shuts down several of countless, FREE APIs, on which the foundations of many startups rest. "Google is just another company who doesn't care about developers." What? A little gratitude, at least, before suggesting how things could be better.

Gratitude for what? Ripping out "the foundations of many startups"? In many cases, offering something and then rescinding at the last minute is worse than not offering in the first place.

(I'm not personally mad and wouldn't have built a business around this API. But creating false expectations is not a good thing.)