I'm not really convinced that Twitter is so terrible. Some developers are mad, sure, but as a user not developing on the Twitter API, I don't see what the big deal is. Am I supposed to be angry that tweets will now have to be consistent across third party tools? Am I supposed to be furious that some developer out there is going to have to limit API calls? I'm not sure I care. I don't develop for Twitter (other than letting users log in with their Twitter accounts,) so I fail to see why the whole community seems up in arms.
I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be pissed off about that I'd need to spend $50 (as just a user!) or $100 as a developer to get on App.net. Heck, the Apple developer program is $99 -- I'm certainly the level of documentation, support (and profitability) of being on App.net won't even come close to what the App Store puts in my pocket every month. App.net charging $100 for developers to build apps on a nearly mythological platform with just several thousand users. They're putting the cart way before the horse. Get the users THEN start charging developers (if that's your model.) Why am I going to invest time developing for a platform that has no assurance that it won't be a total bust?
If it's just an infrastructure "platform" thing, with practically zero general public users, then why wouldn't I just develop using my own platform?
I have lots of questions and all the answers seem to point to a giant scam. There's a reason major investors haven't tried to invest in this project. No users, a business model that doesn't scale and a nebulous value proposition..
Still, I hope those App.net gents do something productive with everyone's money. I fear that they're going to have a hard time getting new users on the platform after this initial burst of enthusiasm. The whole thing smells a little like a circle jerk to me.
