Are API’s the New Open Source?

On November 5, 2009, In Biz, By Tac Anderson
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Image by herzogbr via Flickr

It’s amazing to me the amount of innovation brought on by comapnies opening API’s for developers to tap into. Everything from allowing 3rd party applications to run within your site to API’s that let developers pull all your data and do cool things with it.

It reminds me of the whole Open Source movement, but better. I love Open Source. I use it everyday in my life but if I had to choose between getting a companies source code versus getting that companies data? I’d choose data any day.

(Yes I realize Open Source is a licensing thing not just a code thing but let me play out my analogy)

API’s also seem more benefitial to everyone involved. By opening up your API, you’re encouraging comapnies to do somethine additive with it, not duplicative to what you’re already doing (which source code lends itself to).

Data is unique. Code seems like a commodity (before my developer friends flog me I see a very real distinction between code and *good* code). You can’t replicate the kind of data that you get from Twitter and Facebook but you could replicate it’s code (as if you’d want to) very easily.

Maybe I’m just being shortsighted because I’m not a developer. What do you think?

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  • I heard someone once say that microsoft became the behemoth it is today because it pandered to the developer crowd in the form of SDK's and once all the applications were written for Microsoft it was all over for anyone else.
  • I agree. From a startup standpoint we are able to decrease a lot of expenses by simply utilizing public API's. The advantages of open source code for companies meant that you didn't have to go out and purchase software. We are seeing the same thing with API's. The only problem I see with this trend is the dependency of those API's. With open source software such as PHP & MYSQL once I have it installed, I own it, where API's are real time dependency i.e twitter going down, will cause twitter dependent applications to go down as well. As as a developer myself the value proposition is that the data is also available with the API.
  • Wesly, EXCELLENT point. Building on anyone's platform weather that's based on code or API always makes you reliant on them. The thing I find interesting is when companies are using multiple API's to the point that they aren't reliant on just one company. Stock Twits is a great company that's built on top of Twitter's API but isn't totally reliant. http://stocktwits.com/
  • API contribute to better interoperability. Open source provides various degrees of freedom to do whatever you want with the software. Those are two orthogonal dimensions.

    The main result of the widespread availability of web APIs is the commoditization of the software services exposed that way. That is a benefit for the consumer, but a different benefit than those provided by open source.
  • Jean-Marc, I realize my analogy is a very weak juxtaposition and that it's tainted by my perspective as an end user not a developer but something about these two trends keep nagging at that part of my brain that tells me there is more here than is currently being addressed.

    Of course I sometimes confuse that part of my brain with the part that reacts to too much caffeine so take it for what it's worth.

    P.S. You win the prize for the first person ever to use orthogonal on this blog. Congrats.
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