Yahoo's New APIs: Baby Steps Or Big Deal?

Web Services

from the somewhere-in-between? dept

Almost exactly a year ago, we noted that Yahoo was claiming that opening up some APIs was a big deal. However, it seemed more like a tiny step forward — just cracking the doors open a little bit. Today, it looks like Yahoo is continuing to crack those doors open, with some new developer APIs for their various offerings. However, the details still show this as being limited. You can’t just build something if you plan to do anything commercial. Instead, you have to apply. It’s setting up a “Yahoo knows best” situation, where they pick which apps make the most sense, rather than letting people just develop them. It’s more of a tentative step than really making a statement in trying to become the platform for the internet. With the big players slow dragging their way into opening up a platform, it will be interesting to see if some upstarts can run circles around them by being more open from the beginning. With that in mind, one of the startups presenting this Saturday at Techdirt Greenhouse will be Openomy — which is trying to do exactly that. Offering up a service with an open API to become the platform that Google and Yahoo haven’t yet become. It’s an interesting challenge, and should make for a fun discussion. Speaking of which, we’ll be revealing a few more of the presenting companies and individuals in the next few days, but if you’re interested in coming, you better act quick. At the time of posting, we only have a few seats left (though, we’re looking to see if we can add more seats).