Comments on: Facebook Apps Are Pointless If They Don’t Work http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/ Startup and Technology News Thu, 24 Jul 2008 07:39:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Facebook Apps Getting Stuck in Directory Approval Process http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1752212 Facebook Apps Getting Stuck in Directory Approval Process Mon, 12 Nov 2007 18:51:43 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1752212 [...] couple months ago I wrote about how Facebook applications were (obviously) pointless if they didn’t work. While I suggested [...] [...] couple months ago I wrote about how Facebook applications were (obviously) pointless if they didn’t work. While I suggested [...]

]]> By: Facebook’s allure is fading…rapidly : AccMan http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1708394 Facebook’s allure is fading…rapidly : AccMan Mon, 29 Oct 2007 06:37:57 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1708394 [...] means FaceBook gets very cluttered very quickly. That is of course assuming those apps work. Many don’t. It’s essentially a single page with a ton of stuff on my profile. A lot of it is interesting [...] [...] means FaceBook gets very cluttered very quickly. That is of course assuming those apps work. Many don’t. It’s essentially a single page with a ton of stuff on my profile. A lot of it is interesting [...]

]]> By: Jessica http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1660932 Jessica Sat, 06 Oct 2007 04:25:14 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1660932 I am having issues with facebook.... it will not load anything on my computer... that is load and make it worth my while to see... i have friends sending me aps and messages and i can not even send a reply back it read always... errors while loading... and it just shows ERROR! at the bottom of my screen... what do I do? If i can get an email responce I would be extremely grateful.. Thankyou for your time. Jessica Chretien I am having issues with facebook…. it will not load anything on my computer… that is load and make it worth my while to see… i have friends sending me aps and messages and i can not even send a reply back it read always… errors while loading… and it just shows ERROR! at the bottom of my screen… what do I do? If i can get an email responce I would be extremely grateful..

Thankyou for your time.

Jessica Chretien

]]> By: Akumu http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1625821 Akumu Mon, 17 Sep 2007 18:59:24 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1625821 Facebook should provide a CDN solution too. <a href="http://www.facebook.com" href="mailto:none@none.com" rel="nofollow">facebook</a> Facebook should provide a CDN solution too.

facebook

]]> By: Is Facebook dead? Already? | Business | tock http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1623797 Is Facebook dead? Already? | Business | tock Mon, 17 Sep 2007 02:27:02 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1623797 [...] when they were hit by the first wave of people who added it. Mark Hendrickson wrote an article at TechCrunch last week saying that Facebook apps are pointless unless they work. He even addressed how they [...] [...] when they were hit by the first wave of people who added it. Mark Hendrickson wrote an article at TechCrunch last week saying that Facebook apps are pointless unless they work. He even addressed how they [...]

]]> By: Brent Baisley http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1616100 Brent Baisley Thu, 13 Sep 2007 17:46:33 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1616100 As others have mentioned, it's Facebook that has the scalability issues, not the amateur developers hosting on insufficient hardware. Hardware is powerful enough these days that really bad php code can still handle 10,000 users. I see that error message all the time, usually later in the day and on an app I am developing that has 1 or 2 users at most. I also have a decent amount of experience on how to scale applications with hundreds of millions of records. Facebook has a couple of servers that share the load. When that error message comes up, people usually notice in their logs that they are no longer getting traffic from 1 or more of those Facebook servers/ip addresses. Which is also why it tends to affect applications geographically. So depending on where you server is, you may or may not be affected by a Facebook server issue. Which is why it seems to be an application problem, not a Facebook problem, since it's not universal. When you next get that error message, go to the developer discussion board an monitor. You're likely to suddenly see lots of people complaining about there apps suddenly not working. I think it's great what Facebook has done, but there is definitely young cowboy mentality there. As others have mentioned, it’s Facebook that has the scalability issues, not the amateur developers hosting on insufficient hardware. Hardware is powerful enough these days that really bad php code can still handle 10,000 users. I see that error message all the time, usually later in the day and on an app I am developing that has 1 or 2 users at most. I also have a decent amount of experience on how to scale applications with hundreds of millions of records.
Facebook has a couple of servers that share the load. When that error message comes up, people usually notice in their logs that they are no longer getting traffic from 1 or more of those Facebook servers/ip addresses. Which is also why it tends to affect applications geographically. So depending on where you server is, you may or may not be affected by a Facebook server issue. Which is why it seems to be an application problem, not a Facebook problem, since it’s not universal.
When you next get that error message, go to the developer discussion board an monitor. You’re likely to suddenly see lots of people complaining about there apps suddenly not working.
I think it’s great what Facebook has done, but there is definitely young cowboy mentality there.

]]> By: specialD http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1616084 specialD Thu, 13 Sep 2007 17:39:47 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1616084 Jerome, My apologies for not being clear enough. I won't detail the entire situation, but a problem with Facebook caused users to repeatedly request pages that our servers were returning but Facebook wasn't displaying. I understand that this is not technically a DOS attack, but the net effect was the same. I hope this helps, clarify. Keep your shirt on, I wasn't saying Facebook actually launched a DOS attack. Jerome,

My apologies for not being clear enough. I won’t detail the entire situation, but a problem with Facebook caused users to repeatedly request pages that our servers were returning but Facebook wasn’t displaying. I understand that this is not technically a DOS attack, but the net effect was the same.

I hope this helps, clarify. Keep your shirt on, I wasn’t saying Facebook actually launched a DOS attack.

]]> By: Herb http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1616023 Herb Thu, 13 Sep 2007 17:08:32 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1616023 At the time of this writing, many Facebook apps are throwing up ugly message boxes when users try to click on links. This happens in any application that uses Facebooks AJAX API. This has been happening for at least the last 3-4 hours and also happened for at least an hour or two last night as well. Facebook is aware of the issue and has made a post in their developer forum letting developers know they are working on the issue. In our office we've started to refer to these types of issues as the "Daily Facebook Outage". It's not quite every day that something is broken... but it's close. And it's never the same thing. In my opinion, the developers who need to learn about building enterprise scale applications are the developers at Facebook. And scalability is only part of the issue. They also have a lot to learn in terms of software testing, code release processes, and just plain communication with both app developers and end users. This is a major source of pain for lots of Facebook developers. Unfortunately Mark, I think you’ve accidentally stepped into a bit of a hornets nest. When developers have spent that last few months of their lives dealing with Facebook frustrations and then someone comes along and blames the developers for the problem… I guess it’s enough to make some of us snap. I’m not sure this is something you could have known about, so I’m not blaming you. But like I said, I think you’ve stepped into a bit of a hornets nest. At the time of this writing, many Facebook apps are throwing up ugly message boxes when users try to click on links. This happens in any application that uses Facebooks AJAX API. This has been happening for at least the last 3-4 hours and also happened for at least an hour or two last night as well. Facebook is aware of the issue and has made a post in their developer forum letting developers know they are working on the issue. In our office we’ve started to refer to these types of issues as the “Daily Facebook Outage”. It’s not quite every day that something is broken… but it’s close. And it’s never the same thing. In my opinion, the developers who need to learn about building enterprise scale applications are the developers at Facebook. And scalability is only part of the issue. They also have a lot to learn in terms of software testing, code release processes, and just plain communication with both app developers and end users.

This is a major source of pain for lots of Facebook developers. Unfortunately Mark, I think you’ve accidentally stepped into a bit of a hornets nest. When developers have spent that last few months of their lives dealing with Facebook frustrations and then someone comes along and blames the developers for the problem… I guess it’s enough to make some of us snap. I’m not sure this is something you could have known about, so I’m not blaming you. But like I said, I think you’ve stepped into a bit of a hornets nest.

]]> By: Aaron Clifford http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1615968 Aaron Clifford Thu, 13 Sep 2007 16:45:21 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1615968 I am also a Facebook app developer, and I can say that BOTH Mark and Phil are correct. =) My app is not ready if a thousand+ users pick it up, in fact I would say that it would strain at the 200 mark. That is my fault, because it's true, although I am a professional developer, Facebook gave me an opportunity to build something rapidly; I succumbed to a "Hey, this is cool!" mentality. But at the same time, even though I only have about 70 users, and maybe between 10 and 30 active daily, my page continues to fail to load on a regular basis. I have read a number of different methods for working around these issues, but often the workaround discovered by the Facebook Developer community leads to other issues. With that being said, this is a new platform, it is in its infancy and there are going to be some major growing pains. Perhaps if Facebook had thought to put the word "BETA" in big text across the top of the apps page we wouldn't even be having this discussion. ;) I am also a Facebook app developer, and I can say that BOTH Mark and Phil are correct. =)

My app is not ready if a thousand+ users pick it up, in fact I would say that it would strain at the 200 mark. That is my fault, because it’s true, although I am a professional developer, Facebook gave me an opportunity to build something rapidly; I succumbed to a “Hey, this is cool!” mentality.

But at the same time, even though I only have about 70 users, and maybe between 10 and 30 active daily, my page continues to fail to load on a regular basis. I have read a number of different methods for working around these issues, but often the workaround discovered by the Facebook Developer community leads to other issues.

With that being said, this is a new platform, it is in its infancy and there are going to be some major growing pains. Perhaps if Facebook had thought to put the word “BETA” in big text across the top of the apps page we wouldn’t even be having this discussion. ;)

]]> By: Ben Nevile http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1615761 Ben Nevile Thu, 13 Sep 2007 15:08:05 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1615761 As a developer of Facebook apps, I can tell you Mark that Phil is correct -- most often the issue is not with scaling but rather with Facebook's often flaky API. In fact, many of the Facebook API features make it much *easier* to scale - access to their crazy memcache setup through tags, for example. The error page that you quote in your post is the bane of Facebook platform developers - it's a frustating place to work right now as Facebook works the kinks out of their system. Mark, as a "journalist" it was careless and wrong to make the asumption that you did. Ben As a developer of Facebook apps, I can tell you Mark that Phil is correct — most often the issue is not with scaling but rather with Facebook’s often flaky API. In fact, many of the Facebook API features make it much *easier* to scale - access to their crazy memcache setup through tags, for example. The error page that you quote in your post is the bane of Facebook platform developers - it’s a frustating place to work right now as Facebook works the kinks out of their system.

Mark, as a “journalist” it was careless and wrong to make the asumption that you did.

Ben

]]> By: Shannon Whitley http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1615671 Shannon Whitley Thu, 13 Sep 2007 14:31:04 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1615671 I've been developing Facebook applications since July. My background is in corporate development with about 14 years of programming experience. I've become addicted to the Facebook Developers' board, so I'm extremely familiar with what's going on here. The majority of outages are not due to scalability issues. Sometimes it's a Facebook problem and sometimes it's a developer issue. One of my applications, "My Card" (http://apps.facebook.com/wmmycard), allows you to add a business card to your profile. It's actually quite useful, but you're right, it's useless if it's unavailable. My Card has been up since the First of August and has only been down when Facebook makes changes on their end. Depending on the week and the number of changes being implemented by Facebook, outages occur. I don't like it. It makes me look bad, but I've been trying to live with the uncertainty of the situation. Facebook is definitely not ready to take on support for externally developed applications. They have a lot of internal issues to address first. The best solution might be for Facebook to partner with a strong web host. That would allow Facebook to concentrate on its own issues while providing service through a stable third-party. I’ve been developing Facebook applications since July. My background is in corporate development with about 14 years of programming experience. I’ve become addicted to the Facebook Developers’ board, so I’m extremely familiar with what’s going on here.

The majority of outages are not due to scalability issues. Sometimes it’s a Facebook problem and sometimes it’s a developer issue. One of my applications, “My Card” (http://apps.facebook.com/wmmycard), allows you to add a business card to your profile. It’s actually quite useful, but you’re right, it’s useless if it’s unavailable. My Card has been up since the First of August and has only been down when Facebook makes changes on their end. Depending on the week and the number of changes being implemented by Facebook, outages occur. I don’t like it. It makes me look bad, but I’ve been trying to live with the uncertainty of the situation.

Facebook is definitely not ready to take on support for externally developed applications. They have a lot of internal issues to address first. The best solution might be for Facebook to partner with a strong web host. That would allow Facebook to concentrate on its own issues while providing service through a stable third-party.

]]> By: Learn PHP http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1615620 Learn PHP Thu, 13 Sep 2007 14:07:47 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1615620 lol when you have 18 years old in their underpants called "developers", that's exactly what's gonna happen. Unsecured and broken applications which are not even worth a penny are gonna plague the net. lol when you have 18 years old in their underpants called “developers”, that’s exactly what’s gonna happen. Unsecured and broken applications which are not even worth a penny are gonna plague the net.

]]> By: Simon Raybould http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1615604 Simon Raybould Thu, 13 Sep 2007 13:59:12 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1615604 It's not just "Facebook applications are useless if they don't work" but "most facebook applications are useless" :) As a user I'd love to see some more serious applications coming forward, not just those things which suck up my time (yes, I know, a bit more self-discipline wouldn't hurt!). Something to help with marketing or searching..... ? S It’s not just “Facebook applications are useless if they don’t work” but “most facebook applications are useless” :)

As a user I’d love to see some more serious applications coming forward, not just those things which suck up my time (yes, I know, a bit more self-discipline wouldn’t hurt!). Something to help with marketing or searching….. ?

S

]]> By: viralmythen http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1615097 viralmythen Thu, 13 Sep 2007 09:17:28 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1615097 <strong>Jenseits der Virus-Analogie...</strong> Surj Patel und Mark Hendrickson diskutieren über einen Ausweg aus dem Nicht-Verfügbarkeitsproblem von Facebook-Anwendung. Man hat die Verbreitung der Third-Party-Applications auf Facebook schon des Öfteren mit dem Begriff »viral&#0... Jenseits der Virus-Analogie…

Surj Patel und Mark Hendrickson diskutieren über einen Ausweg aus dem Nicht-Verfügbarkeitsproblem von Facebook-Anwendung.
Man hat die Verbreitung der Third-Party-Applications auf Facebook schon des Öfteren mit dem Begriff »viral&#0…

]]> By: Michael Crandell http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1614831 Michael Crandell Thu, 13 Sep 2007 07:06:30 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1614831 Mark, I agree with you that scalability seems to be the main issue. The practical reality is today is that Facebook developers whose apps catch on need a way to scale. Some are doing it well -- such as BoozeMail -- and Amazon AWS is an ideal solution for the reasons you list. From our view at RightScale, it's not inefficient to work with both AWS and us -- quite the opposite. Compared to the alternatives that used to be available, getting a scalable Facebook app deployed in the cloud is relatively painless and inexpensive. Thanks for covering this issue -- we think it's just the beginning of a trend that will become increasingly common. Mark, I agree with you that scalability seems to be the main issue. The practical reality is today is that Facebook developers whose apps catch on need a way to scale. Some are doing it well — such as BoozeMail — and Amazon AWS is an ideal solution for the reasons you list.

From our view at RightScale, it’s not inefficient to work with both AWS and us — quite the opposite. Compared to the alternatives that used to be available, getting a scalable Facebook app deployed in the cloud is relatively painless and inexpensive.

Thanks for covering this issue — we think it’s just the beginning of a trend that will become increasingly common.

]]> By: Eric Marcoullier http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1614547 Eric Marcoullier Thu, 13 Sep 2007 04:43:58 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1614547 @ David Fox (#34) -- MyBlogLog was serving nearly a billion profile pics per month out of S3 and I don't think we had a charge in excess of $3K. AWS is incredibly price effective. @ David Fox (#34) — MyBlogLog was serving nearly a billion profile pics per month out of S3 and I don’t think we had a charge in excess of $3K. AWS is incredibly price effective.

]]> By: Ashish Singh http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1614504 Ashish Singh Thu, 13 Sep 2007 04:23:56 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1614504 Well said thoughts about platforms. But i feel platforms have an important role to play for a better feature of the consumer software industry (which is bugger than web). I have posted my thoughts regarding that on http://jatspeak.com/blog/?p=38 Well said thoughts about platforms. But i feel platforms have an important role to play for a better feature of the consumer software industry (which is bugger than web). I have posted my thoughts regarding that on http://jatspeak.com/blog/?p=38

]]> By: Steve Ballmer http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1614457 Steve Ballmer Thu, 13 Sep 2007 04:00:50 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1614457 Nothing about FB really works except that Vista renders the ulgy websites as best they can be. http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com Nothing about FB really works except that Vista renders the ulgy websites as best they can be.

http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com

]]> By: Jerome http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1614449 Jerome Thu, 13 Sep 2007 03:55:35 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1614449 "After further analysis I am pretty convinced that Facebook inadvertently launched a Denial of Service attack on our servers." er... besides being hard to do inadvertently, dos and ddos attacks are illegal, so whatever the actual problem I doubt that was it. “After further analysis I am pretty convinced that Facebook inadvertently launched a Denial of Service attack on our servers.”

er… besides being hard to do inadvertently, dos and ddos attacks are illegal, so whatever the actual problem I doubt that was it.

]]> By: David Fox http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1614446 David Fox Thu, 13 Sep 2007 03:54:32 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1614446 EC2 and S3 are great so long as you're 'funded' or have a deep pocket. But if if I've written a fun app to share with a few buddies and it suddenly takes off I might get a 4 or 5-figure charge. Sure, that 'might' be offset if I've set up an ad-deal. Maybe this means there is an oppy for an an ad network to provide a scaling solution... EC2 and S3 are great so long as you’re ‘funded’ or have a deep pocket. But if if I’ve written a fun app to share with a few buddies and it suddenly takes off I might get a 4 or 5-figure charge. Sure, that ‘might’ be offset if I’ve set up an ad-deal. Maybe this means there is an oppy for an an ad network to provide a scaling solution…

]]> By: Michael http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1614441 Michael Thu, 13 Sep 2007 03:51:34 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1614441 Mark -- My own experience with Facebook apps mirrors yours. It's frustrating. Facebook needs to get to it. People, you can argue all you want about whether it's Facebook's fault or developers or whoever, at the end of the day, it impacts users and developers. Whose users? Whose developers? Facebook's. So, guess whose problem it is. [Seriously though, can someone get the Chuck Norris app to work please?] Phil -- BTW, I just tried clicking on your Facebook profile, it's down... Mark — My own experience with Facebook apps mirrors yours. It’s frustrating. Facebook needs to get to it.

People, you can argue all you want about whether it’s Facebook’s fault or developers or whoever, at the end of the day, it impacts users and developers. Whose users? Whose developers? Facebook’s. So, guess whose problem it is.

[Seriously though, can someone get the Chuck Norris app to work please?]

Phil — BTW, I just tried clicking on your Facebook profile, it’s down…

]]> By: specialD http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1614426 specialD Thu, 13 Sep 2007 03:39:13 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1614426 I, too, am a developer who has built several Facebook applications for a client. The apllications have been taking off and this last Sunday we thought we had run into a problem of scalability. Our servers were pegged and all the applications were returning the dreaded Facebook error described above. Our usage has continued to grow over the last week but our servers have stabilized. After further analysis I am pretty convinced that Facebook inadvertently launched a Denial of Service attack on our servers. I can only say the client was enraged, users were frustrated, and the Facebook Platform pointed its finger squarely at our development team. My point is that based on Facebook's current demonstration of ability to manage scalability issues, they are the last I would trust to provide a scaling "solution" for our applications. I certainly wouldn't pay them for it. I, too, am a developer who has built several Facebook applications for a client. The apllications have been taking off and this last Sunday we thought we had run into a problem of scalability. Our servers were pegged and all the applications were returning the dreaded Facebook error described above. Our usage has continued to grow over the last week but our servers have stabilized. After further analysis I am pretty convinced that Facebook inadvertently launched a Denial of Service attack on our servers.

I can only say the client was enraged, users were frustrated, and the Facebook Platform pointed its finger squarely at our development team.

My point is that based on Facebook’s current demonstration of ability to manage scalability issues, they are the last I would trust to provide a scaling “solution” for our applications. I certainly wouldn’t pay them for it.

]]> By: NicolasV http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1614419 NicolasV Thu, 13 Sep 2007 03:35:34 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1614419 Couple of points: - the error screen you copied is not necessarily related to scalability; it could be many other problems, most likely coming from bugs on the developer side (it happened to us, mea culpa); yes, Facebook was down for a while, but about 2 hours in 4 months, so barely noticeable for users - "I’d like to see Facebook itself step in and fill this need for developers so they don’t have to scrounge around for extra computational and storage capacity (after all, there is a waiting list for Amazon’s services now)" I TOTALLY DISAGREE. That's not the business facebook is in. It's a commodity business, very competitive. Amazon is a great player in it, there are others. It makes no sense for a high added value player like FB to enter that business Couple of points:
- the error screen you copied is not necessarily related to scalability; it could be many other problems, most likely coming from bugs on the developer side (it happened to us, mea culpa); yes, Facebook was down for a while, but about 2 hours in 4 months, so barely noticeable for users
- “I’d like to see Facebook itself step in and fill this need for developers so they don’t have to scrounge around for extra computational and storage capacity (after all, there is a waiting list for Amazon’s services now)” I TOTALLY DISAGREE. That’s not the business facebook is in. It’s a commodity business, very competitive. Amazon is a great player in it, there are others. It makes no sense for a high added value player like FB to enter that business

]]> By: techmine http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1614353 techmine Thu, 13 Sep 2007 02:39:17 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1614353 excellent post I must say. I don't know whom to blame but the fact remains - large number of facebook apps don't work. In the fast few months, there has been an explosion of FB related posts (TC had a lot of them). I got interested and signed-up for FB. While the platform is very advanced the much touted apps hardly work. I read about a google app on popular blog sometime back but that has not worked. Likewise there are few others to name. My point is - Its no body's fault, specially in this crazy web2.0 world. But there should not be unnecessary hype. In this case FB got that. excellent post I must say. I don’t know whom to blame but the fact remains - large number of facebook apps don’t work. In the fast few months, there has been an explosion of FB related posts (TC had a lot of them). I got interested and signed-up for FB. While the platform is very advanced the much touted apps hardly work. I read about a google app on popular blog sometime back but that has not worked. Likewise there are few others to name.
My point is - Its no body’s fault, specially in this crazy web2.0 world. But there should not be unnecessary hype. In this case FB got that.

]]> By: Garth http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1614351 Garth Thu, 13 Sep 2007 02:38:21 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/12/facebook-apps-are-pointless-if-they-dont-work/#comment-1614351 I have a similar experience to other Facebook developers. Application errors seem to often be caused on the Facebook side of things. Error pages as shown in the post occur as often for me now as they did when I had 100 users, indicating the problem is not with scaling of my server. Facebook also has a tendency of changing the API on VERY short notice, breaking hundreds of established apps. Having said that, I am very impressed with what they have done, and am happy with my experience as a Facebook developer. The Facebook crew has been improving the API constantly, and things generally work very well. You just have to stay on your toes as a developer. I have a similar experience to other Facebook developers. Application errors seem to often be caused on the Facebook side of things. Error pages as shown in the post occur as often for me now as they did when I had 100 users, indicating the problem is not with scaling of my server. Facebook also has a tendency of changing the API on VERY short notice, breaking hundreds of established apps.

Having said that, I am very impressed with what they have done, and am happy with my experience as a Facebook developer. The Facebook crew has been improving the API constantly, and things generally work very well. You just have to stay on your toes as a developer.

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