Apollo’s Christian Selig explains his fight with Reddit — and why users revolted
TatamitomThat's a very informative interview, I hope it gets some reach. It's the details that make this case so damning.
I'm so done with reddit. This won't be the end I'm sure, it's too big to die, but it can only get worse from here.
FordryMyspace was huge and essentially died. Same with Digg. I don't think Reddit is too big to die.
I know he wants a break. But I would love to see Apollo for Lemmy
Me too, but I think the Reddit and Lemmy APIs are sufficiently different that he would effectively have to rebuild most of the app. I have high hopes for https://github.com/buresdv/Mlem, I'm in the TestFlight, but it's too incomplete to actually use currently. Still, I'll miss Apollo itself far more than Reddit.
Yeah, I’m using Mlem for now. It’s pretty crashy right now and feature incomplete but hope to see it get better
I really like Mlem so far. It’s a lot more stable and put-together than I would have expected for such an early dev version. I also have high hopes for the app.
With that said, Apollo was the app I used the most on my phone and it was probably one of the best-designed apps out there. I will really miss it come the end of this month.
I was thinking of getting a shiny new iPhone but then I realized, what would I even do on it without Apollo? I hope Mlem continues to improve and the momentum of Lemmy stays strong.
pinwurmmlem is planning a stable iOS release by 6/30, and using Apollo for inspiration. You won’t need to wait long.
This pleases me. It has so much potential but right now, compared to Apollo, it feels like taking a step back to the Stone Age.
I just want to say that I agree with this, but it’s not an indictment of the dev(s)! I understand that they’ve had way less time/resources to work on this when compared with Apollo, and I’m sure Mlem will become an app I love over time
My understanding is the version I'm beta testing now is actually pretty far from where they already are. Might be an update to the beta later this week.
On the android side, jabroa is kinda clunky. Hoping some other people step up to the plate.
Jabroa isn't fully fleshed out yet either, but it does at least have a more complete feature set at the momeent. It's mostly usable for day to day Lemmy browsing. Mlem isn't there yet. Sounds like the dev is making great strides, so hopefully soon.
I'm excited to see how fast both develop. The difference between Jerboa today and a couple days ago is pretty amazing. Things are moving quickly
The Velour Fog It's got more done in two days than "progress" on reddits trash app has made in 8 years. Imagine that.
I'd be cool if he just released it as FOSS so anyone could make it into what they wanted instead of it just becoming abandonware.
SuperSlothI'm glad to see Christian has kept his head in all of this craziness. If you pay attention, he has not once pointed the finger back at Reddit and said outright "they are trying to kill 3rd party apps". He has been careful to keep the line open in case Reddit comes calling.
I hope he does something else past his Pixel Pals app because I am excited to follow him into his next project. We can all only hope it's an app for the fediverse!
Amen to that, hopefully he’ll have a change of heart! But I understand him wanting to do something new.
pampoonMan, really fuck Spez. Christian just seems like such a genuinely good guy, who just was trying to build something great using Apple’s tools. The way he details the huge shift of direction from early 2023 to now in regards to them having no plans to change the API smells a lot like corpo-influence sinking their teeth in Spez and forcing this change ahead of the IPO.
Hopefully we can prove that this new model works and can be sustained long-term, and Christian can be enticed to revamp Apollo for the federverse.
Agree completely, and fuck spez
BOMBSI agree with the anger toward spez, but I think many of us are missing that he isn't a lone actor. He is solely the face. Based on his history, he doesn't have the skills to strongarm an entire company with the size and influence of Reddit. There's an entire board and team of assistants and consultants that are advising him. He is the face of a larger group that is pushing this movement, while he is mostly voicing that group's opinion. I really think that this understanding needs to spread among us because that group can merely change the face of the voice to continue their trajectory without any true change, causing us to be caught off guard and falling for their self-centered greed.
Right now, the Fediverse, specifically Lemmy and kbin, have a lot of momentum going due to recent events related to Apollo, spez's AMA, and the blackout. This momentum is capable of making the Fediverse a success stable alternative to Reddit, but it will only succeed if the pressure for it to succeed continues. Therefore, all Reddit really needs to do is come out with some way of reducing that momentum for long enough to quell the movement. After that, they can go back to implementing their changes. While I don't have Reddit's finances available, I'm assuming they have or can access the financial means to slow the momentum down enough to quell the rebellion.
If some of those apps were able to be functional with their interfaces over here it sure would help. Sounded like the Red Reader dev, even though it's safe on Reddit for now, is looking at making it compatible with multiple platforms, presumably including Fediverse. Hope they can come soon enough to keep up the momentum.
u/spez is Steve Huffman (if you even genuinely believe he's been running the account these days).
The u/spez account will likely die along with his position. Meanwhile, Steve Huffman will get a golden parachute and laugh all the way to the bank.
Do not forget his name is Steve Huffman. Also, do not forget that he used to be a mod of r/jailbait and is almost certainly a paedophile.
The death of Apollo is literally why I'm starting to look at online spaces other than Reddit as my go-to
Same. Apollo = Reddit for me. Take Apollo out and I have no way to access Reddit (that I’d want to use).
LurraSame here
Christian is such a class act. He doesn't take things personal; he doesn't get angry or play their game. He just shares his truth in a calm, objective, but confident manner. I would love for him to become more prominent outside of Reddit drama because I'm sure that anything he works on will become successful and mutually beneficial to all parties involved. If I managed a large tech organization, I'd be calling to recruit him. Certainly, other tech corporations are following this and wondering how they can get him to come work for them.
Class act is a great way to put it. I agree, he’s a credit to indie developers everywhere. And actually his “take the high road” approach is such a contrast with Spez’s unprofessional behaviour, that it just serves to make the latter look even worse.
This is an excellent interview that lays out the situation really well, though it's not really new information if you've been following the story. Sounds like Christian really would have been willing to work with them and they just threw that opportunity away at every possible point.
ArrowI would love to see Christian make an Apollo variant for Lemmy at this point.
haganbmjThe article specifically talks about that.
It’s hard for me to build another thing. If it just evaporated again, it would be like a double breakup.