Microsoft ranked highest, Facebook Second Lowest by Web 2.0 Developers
(Rate this article)
Loading ...
I have always maintained that as much as you might hate Microsoft for being anti-open-source, when it comes to developer platforms, Microsoft is actually more open than companies like Apple. A report released by Evans Data Corp. restates this.
According to the report, the data shows the web developers ranked Microsoft’s MSN/Live service platform as the highest, followed by Google and the second place and Yahoo at the third. Other the top Internet leaders competing for the top slots were Amazon, Facebook, ebay, and Paypal. In the survey for the report titled Users’ Choice: Web 2.0 Developer Programs around 400 developers were asked to rate the development programs form the seven companies on 13 parameters including API functionality, blogs, marketing assistance tools/SDKs, Web services, documentation, support and forums.
Although it generated a lot of hype, Facebook’s developer program was ranked second last in the list. The last one being PayPal. The functionality of the API was the most highly ranked feature of its developer program.
The study said,
“While the company’s API functionality is rated very high by developers (placing third among the field of seven), Facebook lacks the support resources to help developers. Facebook fares poorly among users of its APIs for the available documentation, marketing assistance and ongoing communications. While there is tremendous interest in the Facebook social networking platform, Facebook still has not capitalized on the buzz by providing the supporting information to continue driving developer interest.”
Microsoft ranked high in user satisfaction for its Web services, software development kits, documentation and forums. In the Web services category, Microsoft came in on top.
The survey said,
“As Microsoft moved from the relatively closed-in MSN portal to the more Web 2.0 savvy Windows Live collection of services, users have begun to recognize it as a provider of top-notch Web services”.
Microsoft, Amazon and Google were the companies that offered the strongest integration capabilities, said the developers.
Also, of the developers 26% using the Microsoft’s MSN/LIVE program said they have received “significant” profits from it. The figures were 23% for PayPal, 15% for Amazon, 13% for Google and 10% for Facebook.
Well, given Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer’s enthusiasm for developers, it is not surprising that MS came as the top leader in this survey. Don’t believe me, see this video.
Also, check out why Rushabh thinks that Steve Ballmer uses an Apple machine.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to our RSS Feed OR Email Alerts!
Interesting… I always thought it was more easy to develop a web App using Google’s open social and other API’s and monetize it…
Need to check out MSN live for developing applications.