I have no problem with these new backend as a service providers. Parse, FireBase, Spire.io, etc. The problem I have is what happens when you have all your data hosted with them and they go away. You are stuck either rebuilding the same API they had or migrating to another provider.<p>That said I have used Parse and it is amazing at how fast you can get up and running. I will definitely be giving Parse a good look when I spin up my next app (whether it be at a hackathon or otherwise). For now though my attitude is cautious optimism.<p>And what really is the end game in all this? A lot of these have similar APIs. What's to prevent you from just copying the API (hope that they are deemed uncopyrightable).
From giving Spire and Freebase a quick glance, none of these services seem to be designed to work in offline mode. What I'd love to see is a different kind of architecture: a server-less app with its local database (websql or indexedDB) which syncs with a server-side database instead of making RPC style calls. ie disconnected mode of operation with syncing when online.<p>This is how Meteor works from what I understand, and we've had to build this ourselves on top of Backbone for Post.fm. Perhaps we're a special case, but something tells me that the infrastructure of the future is not RPC calls but data-sync. (I guess MS Exchange is one of the first large examples of this).
<i>"And then, the realization: 'let’s build the picks and shovels, instead of panning for gold.'"</i><p>Something about this line really irked me. Not really the kind of thing I'd want to read as a potential customer.
There is a real need for an open source clone of one of these realtime datastores. I'd lean towards Firebase since it has the best API I've seen so far.<p>If anybody wants an open source sprint, I'd be willing to donate to such a project...
I'm working on something similar that I want to open source. The idea is to be able to build apps quickly on the front end, and only have to mess with the back when necessary.<p>Anyone interested in this sort of project?
You want me to hand over my entire backend infrastruture to your company and be entirely limited by your capabilites and rewrite my app specifically for your system? Seriously? Are there people actually interested this? Who's the target audience? (I hope you don't say backend developers)