For a companies like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, where the value and competitive advantage is in the network and API, I would really like to see them open-source their clients entirely. I think there is a lot to be learned by everyone by being able to read the entire source code of a very well done javascript app in a native wrapper on Github. On top of that it gives people a great example of a project leveraging your API and using it in advanced ways.
I really can't see what any of those companies would have to lose by opening up their client code.
A general opening up of javascript based client code in cases like this where it doesn't really pose a thread for the company would help further the web app ecosystem and hammer the nails into the native coffin faster (I'm not saying native will completely go away, but for most apps it's unnecessary.)
I know that for myself (and many early adopters), nothing helped us learn more about Backbone.js than being able to read the entirety of the DocumentCloud source unminified/unobfuscated.
If anyone at those companies is reading this, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, and if you agree it'd be great to raise awareness within the company that this is a worthwhile thing to do.
I really can't see what any of those companies would have to lose by opening up their client code.
A general opening up of javascript based client code in cases like this where it doesn't really pose a thread for the company would help further the web app ecosystem and hammer the nails into the native coffin faster (I'm not saying native will completely go away, but for most apps it's unnecessary.)
I know that for myself (and many early adopters), nothing helped us learn more about Backbone.js than being able to read the entirety of the DocumentCloud source unminified/unobfuscated.
If anyone at those companies is reading this, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, and if you agree it'd be great to raise awareness within the company that this is a worthwhile thing to do.