> I'm curious as to whether you think users want, need, benefit, or care about whether Facebook can deploy rapid changes via a "consistent cross platform experience".
It's not about me; your statement was about what Facebook's values were (valuing their own expediency over their users). I just don't think your statement about their values was fair, especially in the light of history (do you remember Steve Jobs walking out on stage and telling everybody how the iPhone didn't need apps because the browser was so awesome?).
> In my experience, users want a consistent platform experience -- one that fits in with the platform that they're using
Well we're not that far apart then. You consider iOS the platform, I consider Facebook the platform. You can hardly blame Facebook for considering Facebook to be the platform.
I general I don't think there's a single answer to this. If lots of new features delivered rapidly are what your users need then it seems obvious that only writing code once and delivering it to lots of platforms can get them those features fast. If features are slowing and quality of experience is more important then native code is a better option. I'd posit that Facebook is actually transitioning from it's rapid-development-new-feature phase into a more mature, stable platform where quality of experience is more important, and this transition is just natural and even optimal for them rather than the kind of "mistake corrected" that people are making it out to be.
It's not about me; your statement was about what Facebook's values were (valuing their own expediency over their users). I just don't think your statement about their values was fair, especially in the light of history (do you remember Steve Jobs walking out on stage and telling everybody how the iPhone didn't need apps because the browser was so awesome?).
> In my experience, users want a consistent platform experience -- one that fits in with the platform that they're using
Well we're not that far apart then. You consider iOS the platform, I consider Facebook the platform. You can hardly blame Facebook for considering Facebook to be the platform.
I general I don't think there's a single answer to this. If lots of new features delivered rapidly are what your users need then it seems obvious that only writing code once and delivering it to lots of platforms can get them those features fast. If features are slowing and quality of experience is more important then native code is a better option. I'd posit that Facebook is actually transitioning from it's rapid-development-new-feature phase into a more mature, stable platform where quality of experience is more important, and this transition is just natural and even optimal for them rather than the kind of "mistake corrected" that people are making it out to be.