There is zero insight in this article as far as I can see. Yes, if you are using someone else's API, it might change. Yes, if you aren't complying with the terms of service, you may have a problem. If you are adding features to someone else's product, then sure, they can implement those features too and make you obsolete.
In addition, I don't see what any of this has to do with the initial premise that the web provided a way of avoiding the complexities of cross-platform development.
"I don't see what any of this has to do with the initial premise that the web provided a way of avoiding the complexities of cross-platform development."
That was not the initial premise. It was about the web supposedly removing the platform dependencies. Not the technical ones but the business ones - basically an unremovable third party between the developer and their customers. Here's an example of such an article by Tim Bray:
Quote: "You’re not a sharecropper, especially not a sharecropper, if you’re building on the Web platform. If you can define your value-add as a series of interactions via a browser, or an interchange of XML messages, nobody can whip the land out from under you."
The above is no longer true. The Web alone is not enough to avoid being a sharecropper.
Right, I see, that's a good quote. However, seeing as software developers always try to move common code into libraries and reuse it, wasn't it a bit naive to expect web apps to be any different?
I think the problems the article is talking about are more akin to library dependencies in desktop/server development rather than (more extensive) platform dependencies and the complexities of targeting multiple platforms.
He points out that pricing power in a supplier relationship is held by whichever side would find it easier to integrate into the other ones space. So Apple vs App Makers, Facebook vs in-Facebook games, Twitter vs Twitter apps...
There can be a healthy acquisition route for successful startups in a supplier relationship - but only for the first one of its kind.
In addition, I don't see what any of this has to do with the initial premise that the web provided a way of avoiding the complexities of cross-platform development.