whelp, there it is

  • BrooklynMan@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    FYI, a lemmy iOS app, Mlem, is in active development, and we hope to be at 1.0 by July 1. It’s heavily inspired by Apollo, but, obviously, with changes for lemmy.

    Stay tuned and subscribe to c/mlemapp for updates!

    Edit: I want to note that, since one of the biggest sticking points with 3rd-party apps has been both accessibility for the blind and deaf and mod tools, they’re both on our minds as we design the interface. Getting both right will, of course, take time, but we want everyone to know that we fully intend to make our app usable for everyone.

  • worfamerryman@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    It is sad to see an amazing app become rendered useless due to some companies greed. They were not even being reasonable with pricing nor did they really give the dev time to figure out what to do.

    I really hope that everyone leaves reddit and comes to the fediverse. Mastodon had a huge boost and it completely replaced twitter for me. I am sure Lemmy can do the same.

    • NotSteve_@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      I’m hoping Christian ports Apollo to Lemmy. I’m not sure what the feasibility of doing so is but I’d actually pay a monthly subscription for the ability to continue using it

      • worfamerryman@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        I think he wants the apps to die with its legacy. Maybe he would make another app that does it. I hope he does and I would pay a modest subscription for it.

        I hope that on June 30th, when it shuts down, the app doesn’t just give an error message but instead displays some kind of farewell message.

        • NotSteve_@beehaw.org
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          1 year ago

          Yeah a farewell would be good. In my dream scenario, he would open source it and the community could port it. That might be unlikely though

  • Banjo@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    Going to miss using Apollo. Great design and Christian built it with the user experience first.

  • acowley@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    How do you get to the point where you’re accusing Christian of blackmailing you in this situation? You’re the 500lb gorilla who’s driving all these app developers out of business. Even if you really feel like these app developers have been free riding on your largesse, how do you have so little perspective to be this petty and spiteful?

    • Manticore@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      I listened to the recording, and read the transcript, and I can… I can see it. Not overtly, not intentionally - but the dev did not communicate clearly at all.

      Twice the Reddit representative asking him to repeat himself, and still he failed to actually specify his intentions. The wording in the transcript never actually expanded what the dev was saying (‘buy out Apollo’). The evasive language made it sound like a shakedown, ‘pay me $10mil to make this all go away’.

      I linked the dev’s own transcript above, but the actual quotes from the dev:

      I could make it really easy on you, if you think Apollo is costing you $20 million per year, cut me a check for $10 million and we can both skip off into the sunset. Six months of use. We’re good. [Low voice:] That’s mostly a joke.

      Okay, if Apollo’s opportunity cost currently is $20 million dollars. At the 7 billion requests and API volume. If that’s your yearly opportunity cost for Apollo, cut that in half, say for 6 months. Bob’s your uncle.

      I was just saying if the opportunity cost of Apollo is currently $20 million a year. And that’s a yearly, apparently ongoing cost to you folks. If you want to rip that band-aid off once. And have Apollo quiet down, you know, six months. Beautiful deal. Again this is mostly a joke, I’m just saying if the opportunity cost is that high, and if that is something that could make it easier on you guys, that could happen too. As is, it’s quite difficult.

      Now, we know that what the dev is doing is essentially offering to outright sell Apollo to end the demand it represents to Reddit. He doesn’t expect them to take it, but a lot of users asked if it were possible, and he’s suggesting it anyway.

      But the wording of all of this never specifies ‘buying Apollo’. It sounds like he wants Reddit to like… pay him his ‘protection fee’. I’m sure he means ‘go quiet’ as in like, ‘go quietly into that good night’ (shut down) or ‘stop being so demanding’ (be retooled), in fact he later clarifies he means the latter and the Reddit representative apologises profusely.

      But man, that was worded so poorly, and he was given two opportunities to clarify, and he just… didn’t. Only when the Reddit stand-in asked if he was suggesting Reddit buy his silence and compliance did he clarify that wasn’t at all what he was saying.

      It was completely unintentional, no doubt. But it was miscommunication of the highest order, and it damaged the lines of communication so irrevocably it probably incentivised Reddit to cease negotiations completely.

  • aedyr@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    The initial breaking of this story is what drove me to explore some Reddit alternatives, but this is worse than I realized. It’s a bummer to see the enshittification principle on full display.

    • oranges@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      You and me both… I have seen that place through its ups and downs. From the narwhal bacon’s at midnight to Jolly Rancher, Zoop and the swamps of drogba.

      I finally left my account a few days ago and haven’t been back since. The place is a shell of what it used to be and it’s been really very refreshing have a scout about somewhere else.

      Fuck greed… It eventually ruins everything!

      • Amir @lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        I am exited about this new community & the potentials that can be created. Let’s conceptualize, design & built the server & application side - organically as our needs evolve over time. !

  • bazongo@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Why do people keep mentioning apollo? It sucks. There are actually good 3rd party reddit apps

    • ClammyMantis488@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      It’s not my favorite but I can see the passion of the dev in my app. It’s not fair to discount the whole thing because you think it sucks.

      • bazongo@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        The changes of the api affects every 3rd party reddit app. Apollo is one of the least good ones. Focusing on the bad app is shitting on everyone who puts all of their passion into the good apps

        • x64@beehaw.org
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          1 year ago

          Curious as to why you think Christian doesn’t put passion into Apollo?

          What things about Apollo don’t you like?

          • bazongo@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Making foss is driven by passion. Making proprietary software is driven by passion for making money. One of these passions are not driven by greed. Guess which one. Also, guess which kind of software I prefer. I will never understand itoddlers