Facebook Tells Parse Developers “No Plans To Change How App Data Is Used”

The question people keep asking: 'What does this change about whether or not developers will use Parse?'.<p>Before being acquired by Facebook, there was a non-trivial probability that Parse would not be around for the long run. Being backed by a large company that isn't going away anytime soon makes Parse a viable option for larger businesses that are more risk averse than smaller startups/developer shops. Early adopters are great for shaping a product, but the majority of the money is in those risk averse enterprises. In other words, being acquired by Facebook hops Parse to the other side of the chasm [1]. There was a similar effect with Heroku being acquired by Salesforce.<p>I'm not sure what the long term effects of being associated with Facebook's brand are going to be, but there generally is a lot of short term vitriol associated with <i>anything</i> Facebook does that eventually ends up being inconsequential; if I were Parse, I wouldn't be too concerned, especially when their actual numbers indicate developers haven't lost faith in them.<p>[1] <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Chasm" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Chasm</a>

&#62; Meanwhile, to calm fears about Facebook spying on Parse developer data, the company issued the statement “We currently have no plans to make any changes to how Parse app data is used.”<p>Keyword: currently<p>So yeah, we all rag on Facebook pretty hard here. What I'm most interested in is, if the uptick in adoption for Parse is true, why do developers feel more comfortable now that Facebook owns the product/company? Given the general pessimism about Facebook's fostering of their own API, and their laughable advocacy of privacy this whole article smacks of PR.<p>In my mind the whole modus operandi of companies like Facebook and Google is to absorb and mine as much information as possible. So if they <i>aren't</i> going to peek and analyze did they really just buy Parse for the API expertise?

Is this the same Facebook that would take a handoff approach to Instagram?<p>The first comment is right, currently being the keyword.

Personally, I'd rather bet on a start-up succeeding than bet against a publicly-traded corporation shutting down a not-as-profitable subsidiary/product. In the former case, I know that folks' livelyhoods are hanging on the line and they're going to try pretty damned hard to keep their business afloat, whereas I don't have any faith in Facebook keeping Parse around looking the way it does if it doesn't meet the right numbers.

"No plans to ..." Is the standard non-committal reassurance.<p>I'm currently investigating migration plans and checking the stability of my Fast Lists app if I just delete the API key on Parse. I only use Parse for logging and crash reporting and all access goes through a shim class so that I can swap and replace at a single point.<p>I'm trying to pick a good way of crash logging at the moment as I'm fed up of manually symbolicating. Crashlytics, crittercism and Flurry look nice but I'm not keen on their privacy policies. Hockey app might do the job but doesn't look as slick and the initial install instructions aren't completely clear. I'm also trying to get JIRA and Mobile Connect working although I'm not sure if that does the symbolisation.<p>Suggestions welcome.

What concerns me most is how Facebook may use Parse as a way to consolidate their place in the mobile app space. Just as they've done in the past with their SDK, what if Facebook decides to block access to apps that compete with for example, their messenger, Instagram etc?<p>Also, who owns the data?

Until, you know ... we change our mind.

Same thing we were told with Instagram, basically.

Pretty sure we told the American Indians "we come in peace," too.

aka we haven't decided yet how to best squeeze all the juice.

Uh, huh. Nothing will change...until it changes.