I want to acknowledge I'm dumping a lot out here, and want to apologize if I'm being overwhelming. I was taking that "wishlist" thing at its word.
As a general principle, I'm personally far more interested in the power of third-party apps (mobile, desktop, or even server) to provide functionality to DW that it doesn't have, rather than to provide alternative platforms for access that do what the website (or a subset of the website) already does. I think there's a tendency for APIs for web-based services to be designed to focus on the core functionality of the web user interface; but by opening up the non-core functionality, an API allows third parties to solve problems for the service and provide novel features.
Backup utilities is a classic example, and what with the Great Russian Migration from LJ earlier this year, I think it's on a lot of people's minds. There was no reasonable way to back up one's images from LJ, because the API didn't cover it.
Similarly, providing API access to images allows hypothetical client developers to do things like make phone clients that interoperate with cameras, to make it super easy to post photos to DW. That would probably be a popular feature – it could even make DW more competitive as a platform – but not so certain a thing that DW would want to invest in developing such a client. An API allows third parties to take a stab at it, and DW to benefit by it if they do.
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As a general principle, I'm personally far more interested in the power of third-party apps (mobile, desktop, or even server) to provide functionality to DW that it doesn't have, rather than to provide alternative platforms for access that do what the website (or a subset of the website) already does. I think there's a tendency for APIs for web-based services to be designed to focus on the core functionality of the web user interface; but by opening up the non-core functionality, an API allows third parties to solve problems for the service and provide novel features.
Backup utilities is a classic example, and what with the Great Russian Migration from LJ earlier this year, I think it's on a lot of people's minds. There was no reasonable way to back up one's images from LJ, because the API didn't cover it.
Similarly, providing API access to images allows hypothetical client developers to do things like make phone clients that interoperate with cameras, to make it super easy to post photos to DW. That would probably be a popular feature – it could even make DW more competitive as a platform – but not so certain a thing that DW would want to invest in developing such a client. An API allows third parties to take a stab at it, and DW to benefit by it if they do.