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Spire.io: A New Platform For Serverless Apps That Work On Web & Mobile

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Re: Spire.io: A New Platform For Serverless Apps That Work On Web & Mobile

#21

Post by cortesoft »

wavephorm wrote: post #18

You want me to hand over my entire backend infrastruture to your company and be entirely limited by your capabilites and rewrite my app specifically for your system? Seriously? Are there people actually interested this? Who's the target audience? (I hope you don't say backend developers)

I think spire.io is more geared towards people making new applications. If you already have a working backend, keep using it. However, if you are making a new web application, you need to pick your battles; do you spend your time writing server code and setting up a server, or do you spend your time writing the actual application? It is a reinventing the wheel thing. You want to spend your time writing the parts of your app that are DIFFERENT and actually core to your application.

Re: Spire.io: A New Platform For Serverless Apps That Work On Web & Mobile

#22

Post by cortesoft »

amirmc wrote: post #11

"And then, the realization: 'let’s build the picks and shovels, instead of panning for gold.'" Something about this line really irked me. Not really the kind of thing I'd want to read as a potential customer.

This just made me think of the show 'Deadwood'....

Re: Spire.io: A New Platform For Serverless Apps That Work On Web & Mobile

#23

Post by pbnjay »

Void_ wrote: post #3
pbnjay wrote: post #2

I love how using the term "serverless" for a backend provider immediately confuses me about the actual product. Win?

They want you to build server-less apps, so they provide the server. It makes sense.

It's not a server-less app if it's using a server though. Does not make sense.

Re: Spire.io: A New Platform For Serverless Apps That Work On Web & Mobile

#24

Post by akrymski »

From giving Spire and Freebase a quick glance, none of these services seem to be designed to work in offline mode. What I'd love to see is a different kind of architecture: a server-less app with its local database (websql or indexedDB) which syncs with a server-side database instead of making RPC style calls. ie disconnected mode of operation with syncing when online.

This is how Meteor works from what I understand, and we've had to build this ourselves on top of Backbone for Post.fm. Perhaps we're a special case, but something tells me that the infrastructure of the future is not RPC calls but data-sync. (I guess MS Exchange is one of the first large examples of this).

Re: Spire.io: A New Platform For Serverless Apps That Work On Web & Mobile

#25

Post by pbnjay »

g0su wrote: post #7
pbnjay wrote: post #2

I love how using the term "serverless" for a backend provider immediately confuses me about the actual product. Win?

Although I agree with your point, it didn't confused me at all. I've clearly understood that it was "serverless" in the sense that I don't have to build the server.

My point is that I had to read way too much to figure out that they meant they provide the server, for what is actually a "serverfull" application.

Just reading the headline, it makes me think that they've somehow built a P2P "serverless" framework for hosting a mobile app. Which does sound intriguing to me, but it's not what they're offering.

Re: Spire.io: A New Platform For Serverless Apps That Work On Web & Mobile

#26

Post by rohansingh »

jtchang wrote: post #9

I have no problem with these new backend as a service providers. Parse, FireBase, Spire.io, etc. The problem I have is what happens when you have all your data hosted with them and they go away. You are stuck either rebuilding the same API they had or migrating to another provider. That said I have used Parse and it is amazing at how fast you can get up and running. I will definitely be giving Parse a good look when…

One thing I like about Parse is that they explicitly support data portability. Of course, that is only the data you're getting, so you are correct in that you would have to reimplement the API if you wanted to move away seamlessly.

That's not the end of the world, though it does influence which of these providers I choose. For example, I feel more comfortable building on Parse because I'm fairly confident that they won't disappear without some warning. I think it's a trust barrier you have to break through to become successful in this particular market.

Re: Spire.io: A New Platform For Serverless Apps That Work On Web & Mobile

#27

Post by DenisM »

akrymski wrote: post #24

From giving Spire and Freebase a quick glance, none of these services seem to be designed to work in offline mode. What I'd love to see is a different kind of architecture: a server-less app with its local database (websql or indexedDB) which syncs with a server-side database instead of making RPC style calls. ie disconnected mode of operation with syncing when online. This is how Meteor works from what I understand,…

RPC is an anti-pattern.

I've been beating this drum for years, but it feels awfully lonely...

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2317568

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2972345

Re: Spire.io: A New Platform For Serverless Apps That Work On Web & Mobile

#28

Post by spladow »

rohansingh wrote: post #26
jtchang wrote: post #9

I have no problem with these new backend as a service providers. Parse, FireBase, Spire.io, etc. The problem I have is what happens when you have all your data hosted with them and they go away. You are stuck either rebuilding the same API they had or migrating to another provider. That said I have used Parse and it is amazing at how fast you can get up and running. I will definitely be giving Parse a good look when…

One thing I like about Parse is that they explicitly support data portability. Of course, that is only the data you're getting, so you are correct in that you would have to reimplement the API if you wanted to move away seamlessly. That's not the end of the world, though it does influence which of these providers I choose. For example, I feel more comfortable building on Parse because I'm fairly confident that they w…

You are correct on all points here. Stability and trust are very important in this market. Obviously, we are planning on being around for a long time, but it may take a little while for everyone to gain confidence in us. The best thing we can do is to keep iterating and prove that we are building something that's meant to last.

As far as building trust goes, we plan to automate the process of exporting your data soon, but until then we will provide it upon request at any point.

We also stick to open standards and open source software wherever possible so that your code is not dependent on any proprietary technology from us or anyone else. Our own server code is based completely on widely supported open source projects, ranging from Node to Redis.

Finally, we are open sourcing our own stack as aggressively as we can and already offer limited licenses to firms that are concerned about being dependent on our code.

In short, we're doing everything we can to ensure that you are never "locked in" to our technology or any one else's. Our goal is keep innovating so that you don't want to use another solutions.

Re: Spire.io: A New Platform For Serverless Apps That Work On Web & Mobile

#29

Post by dyoder »

akrymski wrote: post #24

From giving Spire and Freebase a quick glance, none of these services seem to be designed to work in offline mode. What I'd love to see is a different kind of architecture: a server-less app with its local database (websql or indexedDB) which syncs with a server-side database instead of making RPC style calls. ie disconnected mode of operation with syncing when online. This is how Meteor works from what I understand,…

Correct. We do not yet work well offline. Request buffering, data storage, and synchronization are on our roadmap.

Re: Spire.io: A New Platform For Serverless Apps That Work On Web & Mobile

#30

Post by dyoder »

DenisM wrote: post #27
akrymski wrote: post #24

From giving Spire and Freebase a quick glance, none of these services seem to be designed to work in offline mode. What I'd love to see is a different kind of architecture: a server-less app with its local database (websql or indexedDB) which syncs with a server-side database instead of making RPC style calls. ie disconnected mode of operation with syncing when online. This is how Meteor works from what I understand,…

RPC is an anti-pattern. I've been beating this drum for years, but it feels awfully lonely... http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2317568 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2972345

FWIW, we use HTTP as intended, not to tunnel RPCs.
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