April 2013
2 posts
Open APIs are the new software patents
tl;dr :Patents provide juridical and commercial protection and monopoly in counterparty of publications and explanations of scientific inventions to everybody. APIs provide juridical and commercial protection and monopoly in counterparty of opening data, services and resources to third-parties. So, APIs are the enhancer of the business driven numerical revolution as patents have been the enhancer...
Why big companies didn't jump into open data but...
tl;dr : Contrary to public authorities, companies are driven by business and ROI, and the classical open data movement obliged them to loose control on their data, with free licence and free of charge policy. So they decided to wait for technical soluton to secure , protect and monetize ther data opening, and they now launch open APIs which provide this 24/7 control with API management...
February 2013
2 posts
11 tags
What is "Open"?
A main question I have working with open APIs with the API Rating Agency is the question of “What is Open?”
I even had a discussion about it With Kin Lane during the APIstrategyconference last week.
To begin with this question, I advise you to see the keynote of Steve Klabnik “Why Open?” he has made at APIdays conference or the Sam Ramji Keynote on APIs and Evolution Theory
Lots of companies...
7 tags
The web is developer centric : Marketing to...
1) How the web has become developer centric ?
- The web content centric In the 1990’ the web, aka web 1.0, was readable with only text, pictures and pages. In a word, static or content centric. The biggest difficulty for users was to find the data we needed into this growing “library”. Some ones tried to make directories but game changers came with search engine in late...
January 2013
2 posts
Taxing companies which don't have open APIs
On the API rating agency blog, I said many times that the programmable web is behaving like the brick-and-mortar business, where APIs are like companies and where we have to make webservices supply chain management as we make industrial supply chain management, and inter-webservices connections like inter-industries business.
I wanted to share with you an interesting case about how, Today the...
9 tags
September 2012
1 post
15 tags
What is API neutrality?
It’s like Net Neutrality, but for APIs. According to savetheinternet.com, the Net Neutrality means that Internet service providers or governments may not discriminate between different kinds of online content and apps and users. It guarantees a level playing field for all websites and Internet technologies without any intervention. Following mainly 2 technical principles: Absolute...
July 2012
11 posts
9 tags
Your mashup is so 2007! Leave APIs to developers
APIs are made for developers because the 21st century will be a programmable century.
There was a time when mashups were trendy. We had Yahoo Pipes, Microsoft Popfly and Google Mashup Editor that helped non-developers create mashups.
The user could create a mashup with only 3 mouse clicks and drag-and-drops. That was very simple, perhaps too simple. They were ancestors of API automation...
13 tags
How to monitor API changes?
APIs change. Your API-dependent application supply chain too.
Often in the good way, we call it evolution , releases and new versions with new awesome features!
But sometimes services are down, versions are deprecated, functionalities break … maybe the company has been acquired by Facebook? ;)
When an API changes, all your business, application or website can be weakened, perturbed or...
9 tags
Rating Criteria for APIs
Trust in an API provider and its API is exactly the same thing as in real life trust in an classic industry supplier and its production and factory.
Is the company consciensous with involved employees? = API team trust
Is the company have good support and take care of customers? = API team trust
Do the provider notice for prices and commercial conditions changes? = API policy and business model...
12 tags
Webservices supply chain management : the SIRI...
Mashup and webservices supply chain management and API risk management will be a full time job tomorrow. Let me explain how , finishing by a concrete example on SIRI.
Today, as developer, you may use several APIs in your application, in an advanced mashup or combined application.
And then you’ll have to manage many providers, data sources, performances, quota, rate limit, terms and...
9 tags
API rating system: what is the risk using an API?
In your supply chain management, using an API for your application is trusting an API and its provider for the long run.
We decided to make 10 rating levels, from A+ -trustworthy- to D -default- with levels of risk in-between.
There are 3 levels of risk:
- A represents a low risk with low consequences
- B represents a moderate likelihood of changes in the future with consequences that may...
9 tags
The Google Maps Pricing and Policy strategy
Yet another reason why an API rating agency is important: we should somehow penalize companies that don’t respect their API users.
The Google Maps pricing and policy have changed twice in a year.
First, it was on October 27, 2011 when Google Maps API passed, without any warnings, from 100,000 free requests a day to 25,000.
For each 1,000 additional requests, it now costs $4. For the 0,35%...
10 tags
9 tags
Why do we need an API rating agency ?
Just like in real life (with credit and business transactions), our entire society is based on trust.
We project ourselves into the future each time we have to make a choice, be it when buying a car, buying a house, planning a travel, starting a company and so on. In order to make these choices, we are, consciously or subconsciously, believing that the environment won’t change...
9 tags
Developers' API pyramid of needs: what do we...
What does a developer expect from an API supplier?
Here is my proposal for a developer API pyramid hierarchy of needs that you have to read from the bottom up.
The model is inspired by the Maslow original pyramid of human needs and requires that each level of needs be fully satisfied before moving up one level.
If you satisfy one of the top levels but you happen not to respect a condition from...
9 tags
APIs Too Big To Fail?
The 20th century was also about the arrogance of giant companies.
Banks and insurance companies presumed to do the worst short-term businesses in order to make yet more money, without any vision, doing high-risk business, with no consideration for final customers.
They were doing it because they managed to become the basis of the whole system. Those companies knew they were getting so big that, no...
9 tags
Developers are the blood of API economy
The API economy is growing and developers all around the world seem to be happy with that.
APIs are an amazing way to open data and services to other developers. API suppliers give them access to some of your components for free or for a fee. This way, they can build amazing applications right from those components, focusing on the value they bring to the end-user.
Developers are the blood of...
