Loomio
Sat 3 Jun 2017 12:43PM

relationship between apps and platforms

DS Danyl Strype Public Seen by 363

In a thread about chat in the Loomio Product Development group, a discussion about the relationship between apps and platforms branched off.

@strypey
> " think we need to distinguish here between Loomio (the codebase), and Loomio.org (the website). I agree with what you say here when it comes to Loomio the codebase. But Loomio.org is a platform (as is any other instance), and whatever features can be added to Loomio.org can be added to any other Loomio platform. At the moment that's being done by tying Loomio.org into The Stacks.

> I think it would be better for a constellation of reasons (both technical and ethical) to achieve the same goals by tying Loomio.org into existing free code apps. I've said, there are plenty of server-side chat packages that could be pressed into service for this. The API added to Diaspora to allow an XMPP server to be the back-end for Diaspora's chat feature is another example of this in practice."

@bobhaugen
> "Every org I've worked with has a lot of systems in use and Loomio is an adjunct, often just for decisions, but sometimes also for discussions. So those orgs would prefer Loomio as a plugin. I can see if Loomio is your HQ, it's all different. I wonder what the spread is between Loomio as your HQ vs Loomio as one app among maybe many?"

BH

Bob Haugen Sat 3 Jun 2017 1:16PM

@strypey is a platform to you some hosted software? If it's hosted by the Loomio organization, does that make it a platform?

How about https://disqus.com/ which is hosted but usually embedded in other sites? Is that a platform or an app?

DS

Danyl Strype Sat 3 Jun 2017 3:20PM

Sure, defining what we mean by platform is a good place to start ;) The short answer to your question is yes. Loomio.org is a platform, that runs Loomio the codebase on top of a stack of dependencies from (Ruby on Rails itself right down to through the userland to the kernel), as well as a number of other services (ATM mainly integrations with Google, FarceBook, and Slack).

The long answer takes the form of a question; why has the word "platform" entered geek jargon? Why do we say "platform" instead of "website", "interface", "application, "software", "program", "server", "company", or "brand"? I think the answer is that a platform is anything that is made up of some or all of these parts. Loomio.org is a website, providing an interface for an application, that runs software programs (Loomio and the rest of the stack) on a server, by a company, whose brand name is Loomio.

A platform can be a cluster of services run by a single company (The Stacks), or community organisation (eg RiseUp, CoActivate, OpenMailBox). Or it can be a unified user experience that runs across a federation of servers, like email, or the Fediverse/ Federation.

BH

Bob Haugen Sat 3 Jun 2017 4:10PM

That seems like too many different things to me. I think platform entered the jargon for two reasons: 1, you build other stuff on top of a platform, and 2, as something with an owner and a gatekeeper, a platform for monetization, like FB and the Apple iphone app store.

DS

Danyl Strype Sat 3 Jun 2017 1:17PM

I started trying to summarize my thoughts on this but it quickly turned into the beginnings of a loooooong essay. I'll come back to it after the weekend, maybe write a blog post to clarify my thinking, then post a TL;DR here with a link.