An oldie but a goodie:<p><i>Are You a Sharecropper? If you’re developing software for the Windows platform, yes. Or for the Apple platform, or the Oracle platform, or the SAP platform, or, well, any platform that is owned and operated by a company. They own the ground you’re building on, and if they decide they don’t like you, or they can do something better with the ground, you’re toast. They can ship their own product and give it away till you go bust, then start charging for it; and use secret APIs you can’t see; and they can break the published APIs you use. All of these things have historically been done by platform vendors.</i><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.tbray.org&#x2F;ongoing&#x2F;When&#x2F;200x&#x2F;2003&#x2F;07&#x2F;12&#x2F;WebsThePlace" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.tbray.org&#x2F;ongoing&#x2F;When&#x2F;200x&#x2F;2003&#x2F;07&#x2F;12&#x2F;WebsThePl...</a>