
I Do Not Want Your Stupid App - sagivo
http://techcrunch.com/2015/10/03/with-apologies-to-theodor-geisel/
======
greenyoda
Ironically, TechCrunch, the publisher of this amusing rant, has an app:

[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aol.mobile...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aol.mobile.techcrunch)

[https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/techcrunch/id526058642?mt=8](https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/techcrunch/id526058642?mt=8)

~~~
minimaxir
TechCrunch, in fairness, doesn't beg the user to download the app.

~~~
Quanttek
Also: Just because the publishing media has one of _those_ apps, it doesn't
mean that one of their writers can't express his dislike for those apps. If
anything it proves that he has a certain independence from the business facing
side and that's always good.

------
staunch
> _Redecentralize the web!_

Redecentralize all internet services!

Shameless plug ahead, I believe in this idea so much I co-founded a company to
help spread the idea and see it through.

Every person should have their own domain name and have the ability to run
arbitrary services in the cloud. The price of computing power and bandwidth
has come down so much that it's completely practical to do this now.

Would love feedback/thoughts:
[https://portal.cloud?invite=hn](https://portal.cloud?invite=hn) (invite code
is just there so free domain discount is applied).

The most important thing is that no company (including mine) should ever have
the ability to dominate the internet the way Google, Facebook, and Twitter do
today.

We should be able to move from cloud provider to cloud provider with very
little friction. If we truly control our own domain names, apps, and data this
isn't even hard to do.

Google, Facebook, and Twitter could be just apps we run (webmail, web search,
photo sharing, status updates). We shouldn't have to give up our privacy and
be locked into a service that feeds us a hundred ads a day just to be able to
check our email, search the web, share photos, or post 140 characters to the
web.

~~~
acconrad
I like the headline! I was initially intrigued because I just started a side
project, bought the domain, and set up Google Apps for email. Then I'll
probably set up a Medium blog for the project. I thought "oh neat, it's all
contained in here, and a free domain that's cool!" Then I saw the price point:
$8/mo. Yeah sorry, you need to be more competitive for groups that only want a
few services. Google Apps is $5/mo and Medium is free...is it worth an extra
$3/mo for me to decentralize project/business type emails and documents? Not
really, because I don't have any sensitive documents that I don't care for
Google to have access to. Maybe if I were a journalist starting a secretive
blog and needing to communicate between journalists over sensitive information
- yeah, I could see that.

I think those are the kinds of people you're going to want to market to.
Reasonably priced for sensitive documents and files, but more than
conventional app solutions who don't really need the extra decentralized
security.

~~~
jlgaddis
I think I must be misunderstanding.

You talk about "decentralizing" but you mention Google Apps for e-mail and
Medium for a blog. If you want to decentralize, you should be running these
things on your own server(s) that you control.

What am I missing?

~~~
narrowrail
I think acconrad is just saying:

Decentralized is for sensitive things with a need for "extra decentralized
security," and that most conventional needs can be met more adequately, and
cheaply, with the services 'everyone' already uses.

Basically, it's a philosophical difference, but the ideas expressed may give
proponents of decentralization some insight into why we are currently in
another centralizing phase of the internet.

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radicalbyte
But how else can these sites get access to your contact list and call history?

~~~
adevine
Require Facebook login - close enough.

------
SCdF
See, I agree, but this is what this article looks like on my phone:
[https://imgur.com/VqchKIp](https://imgur.com/VqchKIp)

Perhaps one should become a good example of an enjoyable mobile experience
before one starts throwing stones.

~~~
Bahamut
Installing an app for everything is not what I call an enjoyable mobile
experience...

~~~
SCdF
Sorry, not sure if I was clear. What I meant was: Techcrunch shouldn't proudly
point out that everyone else is making reading on a mobile device unenjoyable
by asking if you want to install an app, because they themselves crap so much
non-content on your screen and make their own mobile experience an unenjoyable
one.

------
jgh
Maybe get a windows phone or something if you want to surf the web and not
have to worry about installing any apps...

~~~
toomuchtodo
Or just use ad blockers to block app download notifications on the website

~~~
LeoNatan25
But then poor publishers might be forced to abandon their terrible ways! How
undemocratic of you to suggest that! ;-)

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omarish
This is why I'm super bullish on The Information
([https://www.theinformation.com](https://www.theinformation.com)).

------
jagermo
I always thought: "Well, those apps, I don't know. I don't use webapps on the
pc anymore, because the browser does everyting. And some day, the mobile
browser will be just as good and no one will need those apps."

That was before peope discovered mobile ads, access to phonebook/email etc pp.

Maybe it'll change.

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sagivo
Apps are only popular because we don't do mobile web good enough. Most of the
mobile web is either a banner asking download the app, or tons of adds with no
room for content.

~~~
corndoge
Mobile web doesn't come anywhere close to replicating the fluidity and
functionality of a native app and it never will. Running a dedicated
application designed for the system will always beat an application designed
for the system on top of the system (web browser). I prefer native
applications every time.

~~~
currysausage
Yeah, but maybe I just want to, you know, read an article and not _replicate
the fluidity and functionality of a native app._ Reading articles worked just
fine with NCSA Mosaic, I promise it works fine mith Mobile Safari too.

~~~
corndoge
OP's argument was that mobile apps are only popular because the mobile web is
not good enough. Obviously when the mobile web is used for it's original
intent -- pages of information, mostly text, some images -- and not full web
applications with heavy JavaScript dependencies and animation and share
buttons and shit, it's a pleasure to use.

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paulpauper
Email subscription popups ...those are annoying

