Google acquires AppJet/Etherpad

Post by mahmud » Fri, Dec 04, 2009, 8:39 PM UTC

nopassrecover wrote: post #31

mahmud wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't be selfish. Someone just had their hard work payoff; for me it's better to know they have been rewarded for their effort, instead of me just being able to use a nifty web app. To the Etherpad guys: listen up! it goes like this, tonight, wherever you are, you're buying a round for everyone, capice?

That's like saying it's good when a band starts making music to make money instead of to make entertainment/for the love of music. It's great for them that they have profited from their effort (and they have the right to do so) but the ultimate goal of all this should be to make the world a better place in some way, not to make money. Creating a sustainable way to improve people's lives is the goal.

Post by ALee » Fri, Dec 04, 2009, 8:40 PM UTC

bradgessler wrote: post #2

Congratulations to the AppJet/Etherpad team. When I thought about your "exit" options, Google was at the top of the list. This doesn't surprise me given how talented you folks are and the real-time web expertise that Google needs more of these days. It really really sucks to see Google shutting down Etherpad though. We used it at Poll Everywhere quite a bit for collaborative coding, now we'll have to find something e…

Post by e1ven » Fri, Dec 04, 2009, 8:43 PM UTC

drcode wrote: post #36

bioweek wrote: post #27

Does anyone have any theories on why appjet never took off as a product? Everytime I think about it, it seems like the perfect idea; save people the pain of setting up a server, hosting it, etc every time they want to make a web app. Was it a bad implementation of this idea? Or was the idea just ahead of its time? Or was it something else?

I was a heavy appjet user. It was indeed an awesome system. I think there were two reasons it didn't succeed: 1. It's niche was razor-thin. It required some skill to use, but was so minimalistic that many programmers would prefer to take the extra time to set up a "real" server. 2. Too ahead of its time I suspect tools like appjet will be commonplace in a couple of years. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the "Goog…

Post by idlewords » Fri, Dec 04, 2009, 8:56 PM UTC

mahmud wrote: post #41

nopassrecover wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's like saying it's good when a band starts making music to make money instead of to make entertainment/for the love of music. It's great for them that they have profited from their effort (and they have the right to do so) but the ultimate goal of all this should be to make the world a better place in some way, not to make money. Creating a sustainable way to improve people's lives is the goal.

The band comparison is a fallacy: musicians are not in my line of work, I don't watch musicians for social cues and I sure as hell do not use their business decisions, lifestyle and success as a benchmark for my own. Software developers and entrepreneurs I do. Game recognizes game, and right now I don't see much of it in this thread.

Post by antirez » Fri, Dec 04, 2009, 9:15 PM UTC