As a great many people on this paltry orb’s surface, I have been a Twitter user for several years. I enjoyed it, being able to keep in touch with friends around the globe. My two favorite clients were Osfoora and Tweetbot.
So, on principle alone, I’ve scaled back my Twiiter usage (many friends haven’t left because the alternatives are few and lackluster and … well … cost money). Even in the face of friends asking, “What!?! You’re going to pay for something!?!,” I signed up with App.Net, an ad-free, real-time social network.
$50 a year. It started on Kickstarter. Then the backlash began to take root and the price was dropped to $36 annually or $5.00 monthly ($100 annually for the Developer Incentive Program). Gracefully, App.Net thanked all their initial subscribers by lengthening our contracts to match our $50 payments by extending our subscriptions somewhere around four more months (math was never my strong suit).
Why App.Net? Primarily, it’s open source. As a result, there’s a plethora of clients for iPhones, iPads, Android, Windows phone, plus Mac and Windows desktops. Some free, some paid. Some of the developers you’ll recognize, some you haven’t heard of.
As App.Net is pretty much in it’s teething stage, many of the apps are still in beta but maturing fast. I’ve tried several of them. All promising, but their feature sets are still growing .
So, at this point, I turned to a developer who had been kicked to the curb – TapBot. Two reasons: they had an App.Net client identical to their Twitter client. And because of Twitter’s ‘Zuckishness,’ TapBot would have to begin charging for TweetBot. In light of that fact, I realized that I would have to pony up either way and decided to move to a classier neighborhood.
Classier? Twitter = 140 characters, App.Net = 256 characters. NO ADS! I am ‘The Master of My Domain!’
Now, granted, many of my Twitter contacts aren’t switching, so I still have my Twiter account open until enough of them make the switch. And as many have this feeling that apps and services on the Net should be free, or are perhaps even entitled to them. Reality has now shown it’s face.
So now, there’s an option. If you’re willing to put up with the shenanigans of Twitter, then be my guest. But if you’re not happy with Twitter’s strong arm tactics and are willing to pay t what amounts to about a sliver of what you pay monthly for your monthly cable bill, then you finally have an option.
©2012 Frank Petrie/ ympnow.com
0 Comments