The developer of @IceCubesApp is also one of Medium’s most senior engineers. So I talked to him about us sponsoring development and adding resources. We’d like to do this.
The question though is how to make money. Capitalism is a tricky topic around #Mastodon and we’d like to maintain the core of what makes Icecubes great. It’s an open source demo of a lot of important technologies and it works for all instances.
@coachtony@IceCubesApp Personally, I respect any app who asks for a one-time payment. I paid $14 for my mobile music app. One-time $14 then it’s mine. I’m happy with that.
There was a demo version so I knew what I was paying for and was happy to encourage the developer with this. One-time payment to unlock some advanced features is good as well (as long as they’re not security or privacy features).
@coachtony@IceCubesApp The continued funding of Mastodon, client apps, and the Fediverse in general is an important topic, but characterizing Ice Cubes as a "demo" feels a little dismissive.
“I love the idea of an open and distributed — yet connected — network,” Ev Williams said via email. Innovation in social networking has suffered over the past decade because “the major platforms have had too strong of a network effect for new ideas to get to critical mass,” he added.
“Now we are at a unique point in time when people are actively looking for alternatives, which is exciting.”
Gregory's Server
