Comments on: Microsoft Popfly Gets Squashed http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/17/microsoft-popfly-gets-squashed/ Startup and Technology News Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:49:07 -0800 hourly 1 By: Linkdump 57 | ettf.net http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/17/microsoft-popfly-gets-squashed/comment-page-1/#comment-2866124 Linkdump 57 | ettf.net Sun, 19 Jul 2009 17:49:20 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=83985#comment-2866124 [...] Microsoft kills their Popfly mashup service [...] [...] Microsoft kills their Popfly mashup service [...]

]]> By: Tech News » WatchKnow Brings Educational Vids (Plus Games & More) for Kids http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/17/microsoft-popfly-gets-squashed/comment-page-1/#comment-2865202 Tech News » WatchKnow Brings Educational Vids (Plus Games & More) for Kids Sun, 19 Jul 2009 02:22:22 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=83985#comment-2865202 [...] Microsoft Popfly Gets Squashed [...] [...] Microsoft Popfly Gets Squashed [...]

]]> By: Cefn Hoile http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/17/microsoft-popfly-gets-squashed/comment-page-1/#comment-2864538 Cefn Hoile Sat, 18 Jul 2009 12:18:11 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=83985#comment-2864538 Maybe they saw the Rules project, then just gave up :) With Popfly, you can plug an event feed into a pre-canned behaviour - but to conceive a new behaviour Microsoft requires you to be a programmer and opt in to a whole world of pain. Rules was driven by the need to do the 'hard bit' which Popfly gave up on, letting non-specialists actually author their own behaviours. See Rules screencasts at http://btrules.com Disclosure: I conceived and led this mashup project when I was working at BT, but the team has really done wonders to prepare for Beta launch since I've been on sabbatical so much of the credit goes to them. Maybe they saw the Rules project, then just gave up :)

With Popfly, you can plug an event feed into a pre-canned behaviour – but to conceive a new behaviour Microsoft requires you to be a programmer and opt in to a whole world of pain.

Rules was driven by the need to do the ‘hard bit’ which Popfly gave up on, letting non-specialists actually author their own behaviours.

See Rules screencasts at http://btrules.com

Disclosure: I conceived and led this mashup project when I was working at BT, but the team has really done wonders to prepare for Beta launch since I’ve been on sabbatical so much of the credit goes to them.

]]> By: John Slockovick http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/17/microsoft-popfly-gets-squashed/comment-page-1/#comment-2864232 John Slockovick Sat, 18 Jul 2009 04:56:15 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=83985#comment-2864232 Popped goes the fly. Popped goes the fly.

]]> By: Web Developer http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/17/microsoft-popfly-gets-squashed/comment-page-1/#comment-2863746 Web Developer Fri, 17 Jul 2009 21:58:31 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=83985#comment-2863746 Another way for microsoft to take your ideas and make them theirs..........free of charge........you think it shutting down.........well sure what better way for them to get your ideas for free and make money off it later down the road...............He he he ...suckers Another way for microsoft to take your ideas and make them theirs……….free of charge……..you think it shutting down………well sure what better way for them to get your ideas for free and make money off it later down the road……………He he he …suckers

]]> By: Robert Seay http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/17/microsoft-popfly-gets-squashed/comment-page-1/#comment-2863730 Robert Seay Fri, 17 Jul 2009 21:48:19 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=83985#comment-2863730 Sometimes you're the windshield sometimes you're the bug Sometimes you’re the windshield sometimes you’re the bug

]]> By: MK http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/17/microsoft-popfly-gets-squashed/comment-page-1/#comment-2863622 MK Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:41:09 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=83985#comment-2863622 Maybe they just renamed the service to something more memorable like bingfly? Maybe they just renamed the service to something more memorable like bingfly?

]]> By: Article Playground http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/17/microsoft-popfly-gets-squashed/comment-page-1/#comment-2863218 Article Playground Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:25:41 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=83985#comment-2863218 Microsoft caught with it's zipper down? LOL Microsoft caught with it’s zipper down? LOL

]]> By: Gracklaw http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/17/microsoft-popfly-gets-squashed/comment-page-1/#comment-2863177 Gracklaw Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:54:41 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=83985#comment-2863177 why would you write important things on a beta platform? it's best to wait until it's out of beta....if you did on the beta flatform and it gets shutdown then that would be your mistake why would you write important things on a beta platform? it’s best to wait until it’s out of beta….if you did on the beta flatform and it gets shutdown then that would be your mistake

]]> By: Microsoft Popfly shuts down. I got an em… | Cafyn http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/17/microsoft-popfly-gets-squashed/comment-page-1/#comment-2863098 Microsoft Popfly shuts down. I got an em… | Cafyn Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:41:37 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=83985#comment-2863098 [...] at Techcrunch: http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/17/microsoft-popfly-gets-squashed/ [...] [...] at Techcrunch: http://www.tech...-gets-squashed/ [...]

]]> By: Jim http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/17/microsoft-popfly-gets-squashed/comment-page-1/#comment-2862962 Jim Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:05:33 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=83985#comment-2862962 This is the story of engineers thinking that everyone can or want to think their way. Even if it was quite easy to set up a mashup, programming "way of thinking" was still needed to use pop fly. Also, most people just doesn't want to do mashup and people that does have more powerfull tools to do it ... This is the story of engineers thinking that everyone can or want to think their way. Even if it was quite easy to set up a mashup, programming “way of thinking” was still needed to use pop fly. Also, most people just doesn’t want to do mashup and people that does have more powerfull tools to do it …

]]> By: Jamie Thomson http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/17/microsoft-popfly-gets-squashed/comment-page-1/#comment-2862854 Jamie Thomson Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:46:49 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=83985#comment-2862854 One of the common misconceptions about Popfly is that one required Silverlight in order to use any of the mashups it produced. In the majority of cases that wasn't true - the output was HTML & JavaScript. Hence, I think your argument is a bit weak. -Jamie One of the common misconceptions about Popfly is that one required Silverlight in order to use any of the mashups it produced.
In the majority of cases that wasn’t true – the output was HTML & JavaScript.

Hence, I think your argument is a bit weak.

-Jamie

]]> By: Jamie Thomson http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/17/microsoft-popfly-gets-squashed/comment-page-1/#comment-2862851 Jamie Thomson Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:44:05 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=83985#comment-2862851 I take your point but remember that any mashups that are built using Popfly and "installed" somewhere will still continue to work even when Popfly gets shut down - there's no reliance on Popfly. In this respect its different to (e.g.) Yahoo Pipes. If pipes got shutdown that'd be it - no Pipes would work anymore. -Jamie I take your point but remember that any mashups that are built using Popfly and “installed” somewhere will still continue to work even when Popfly gets shut down – there’s no reliance on Popfly.
In this respect its different to (e.g.) Yahoo Pipes. If pipes got shutdown that’d be it – no Pipes would work anymore.

-Jamie

]]> By: htmlbest http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/17/microsoft-popfly-gets-squashed/comment-page-1/#comment-2862834 htmlbest Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:20:05 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=83985#comment-2862834 I think this story is not so much about a new service and a new industry or startup or whatever else. This story is about using closed prprietary technology whose existence and quality depends not on the number of users or their opinions but solely on the financial and strategic decisions of one commercial, publicly listed company. This is a story about open standards for infromation exchange on the web. All of you Silverlight lovers - if the guys at MS who made silverlight and who have worked on it from the beginning were to join another company like it happened in the case of Yahoo's mass exodus, your silverlight investment or website account is really a fragile entity. Among the many things you can do right about choosing the most stable system / setup is to choose products that use open, standard data formats and prototcols. Whether it is Microsoft or Google or Linux or Apple, stay away from closed formats and closed protocols for long term infrastructure investments. Security does not come from obscurity. Obscurity is security theater. And stability definitely gets reduced by products and services that use non-open data formats and standards. Hence the good thing about Flash being opensource and HTML5 and OGG video. Google and GWT and Android would have been dangerous if they were not opensource. We still have no control over the backups of our data across hundreds of servers worldwide, but at least the data and the protocols are open. And they have APIs too. We have to make sure that they never ever stop supporting older APIs, but that they keep them all there, working and online. That's for Google. For Microsoft, I encourage you to think a bit too :) I think this story is not so much about a new service and a new industry or startup or whatever else.
This story is about using closed prprietary technology whose existence and quality depends not on the number of users or their opinions but solely on the financial and strategic decisions of one commercial, publicly listed company.

This is a story about open standards for infromation exchange on the web.

All of you Silverlight lovers – if the guys at MS who made silverlight and who have worked on it from the beginning were to join another company like it happened in the case of Yahoo’s mass exodus, your silverlight investment or website account is really a fragile entity.

Among the many things you can do right about choosing the most stable system / setup is to choose products that use open, standard data formats and prototcols.

Whether it is Microsoft or Google or Linux or Apple, stay away from closed formats and closed protocols for long term infrastructure investments.
Security does not come from obscurity. Obscurity is security theater. And stability definitely gets reduced by products and services that use non-open data formats and standards.
Hence the good thing about Flash being opensource and HTML5 and OGG video.
Google and GWT and Android would have been dangerous if they were not opensource.
We still have no control over the backups of our data across hundreds of servers worldwide, but at least the data and the protocols are open.
And they have APIs too.

We have to make sure that they never ever stop supporting older APIs, but that they keep them all there, working and online. That’s for Google.

For Microsoft, I encourage you to think a bit too :)

]]> By: Al http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/17/microsoft-popfly-gets-squashed/comment-page-1/#comment-2862831 Al Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:13:13 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=83985#comment-2862831 Hmmm so what does the future hold for other mashup services??? I think Microsoft have more important projects on the go. Bill Gates Foundation just bought or are thinking of buying a stake in struggling online sports retailer JJB, JJB shares shot up slightly. Hmmm so what does the future hold for other mashup services??? I think Microsoft have more important projects on the go.

Bill Gates Foundation just bought or are thinking of buying a stake in struggling online sports retailer JJB, JJB shares shot up slightly.

]]> By: Dressyourcellnow.com http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/17/microsoft-popfly-gets-squashed/comment-page-1/#comment-2862827 Dressyourcellnow.com Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:09:37 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=83985#comment-2862827 True. Definitely we need to rethink about other mash-up services. Popfly cannot be termed as neither "extraordinary" nor "bad" it is something in between. But why is MS shutting down? True. Definitely we need to rethink about other mash-up services. Popfly cannot be termed as neither “extraordinary” nor “bad” it is something in between. But why is MS shutting down?

]]> By: Richard Loerakker http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/17/microsoft-popfly-gets-squashed/comment-page-1/#comment-2862798 Richard Loerakker Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:47:13 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=83985#comment-2862798 I'm happy that I haven't written important things that would use Popfly. Makes me wonder about the viability of other mashup services. I’m happy that I haven’t written important things that would use Popfly. Makes me wonder about the viability of other mashup services.

]]> By: tim http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/17/microsoft-popfly-gets-squashed/comment-page-1/#comment-2862775 tim Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:29:44 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=83985#comment-2862775 Pipes and Popfly had the same problem: To complicated for casual users, not powerful enough for professional users. A combination of iMacros and Perl still works best for our web scraping and data collection projects. Pipes and Popfly had the same problem: To complicated for casual users, not powerful enough for professional users.

A combination of iMacros and Perl still works best for our web scraping and data collection projects.

]]> By: Steven http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/17/microsoft-popfly-gets-squashed/comment-page-1/#comment-2862773 Steven Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:25:15 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=83985#comment-2862773 Technology is a fickle business =[ Technology is a fickle business =[

]]> By: TOD Converter http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/17/microsoft-popfly-gets-squashed/comment-page-1/#comment-2862768 TOD Converter Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:20:42 +0000 http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=83985#comment-2862768 Silverlight IS cool,when i first used it ,i love it. Silverlight IS cool,when i first used it ,i love it.

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