This is the problem they are talking about... »

So everyone loves open Application Programming Interfaces (API) right? It's all the rage in start-ups and technology companies the past few years...and the gems of those conversations are of course facebook and twitter. Both of which had major issues today (and actually continue to limp through issues here and there as I write this).

Being that these services are free, or at least mostly free (and generally the API access is free)...it doesn't feel like there is much room to complain. But what if you are trying to build a 'real' business on the backs of one of these services?

What choice do you have but to sit around idle and just wait (and hope) they'll resolve their issues quickly so you can get back to business as usual?

Personally I'm not to the stage with any of my projects built on top of these services that it really mattered to my bottom line...but it has killed a good three to four hours of development and debugging time I was really counting on (especially when you consider I don't account for any real down time into my overall schedule and things I'm committed to getting done).

Anyway - it's an interesting thing to take note of and continue to pay attention to...relying on popular services and piggybacking can be a great way to hit the ground running, but there is a certain level of ultimate control that you give up (and so you should def. figure out a backup or contingency plan sooner rather than later).