

Introducing the Parse Windows 8 SDK - depoll
http://blog.parse.com/2012/10/25/introducing-the-parse-windows-8-sdk/

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xoail
Parse is indeed taking up the mobile-backend services by storm. As much as I
love to use parse, I don't see why any serious app would stick with them. They
are good to get started but eventually I feel apps will move away into their
own backend infrastructure since it is not hard to implement and allows more
flexibility and control. Glancing over parse's client portfolio I could hardly
recognize 3 apps that are average popular.

EDIT: Please don't get me wrong. My proposition was in terms of how many
serious apps will adopt Parse. I currently use parse for 3 of my apps and love
it. But I am a free user and never bother paying for their service coz there
is no need for it.

~~~
csmajorfive
We have some very serious brands on board including Home Depot, Armani, Food
Network, Green Bay Packers, Discovery Channel, Cadillac, and more. The folks
building these apps don't want to be working on caching policies. They want to
make beautiful, engaging applications. They stick with us because it's just
easier.

~~~
freehunter
I can completely understand the decision to use Parse. On the flip side of
what the parent commented, big players who only have a comparatively limited
presence in the mobile world don't always want to have to hire a full team
just to implement their one or two simple apps. Conversely, a small player
might not have the resources to hire a full team, or might not have the know-
how or time to implement it themselves.

A team that is deeply invested in mobile might want to engineer their own
solution. If you're a mobile-only company or even a mobile-first company, I
would expect you to have a full backend team. Otherwise, contracting out the
bit you don't have resources for just makes sense. That's where I see Parse
sitting in the world, and with the client list you mentioned, it seems to fit
perfectly. I wouldn't expect Home Depot to have a complete mobile team.

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fieldforceapp
Saw a good roundup of the MBaaS providers, here:
[http://apievangelist.com/2012/08/22/mobile-backend-as-a-
serv...](http://apievangelist.com/2012/08/22/mobile-backend-as-a-service-
roundup-and-the-future-of-web-apis/)

We use Parse for some apps and roll our own Rails backend too. Of all the
MPaaS providers we've investigate, Parse seems to be getting things right:
SDK's are solid & the documentation is up-to-date, 3rd party integration with
Twitter / FB / S3 work great. It's a joy to get started.

The biggest problem we've seen so far are on caching, user models, analysis
and emails:

\- Local native caching on devices seems capricious, and we've often reverted
to writing our own caching schemes on top of Parse (had to do the same for
server-side, too, but maybe that's a given...)

\- User data model is pretty basic, and although the ACL capabilities are
nice, it's not easy to build (FB invite requests work, but outside of that
framework you have to roll your own invite / accept / reject / exit logic)

\- Custom emails on User model CRUD / password are supported, but not for any
other user interaction (ie., weekly roundup emails, status updates, etc.)

\- API introspection is tough, it's not easy to optimize (ok, minimize) API
calls and some form of introspection & analysis would be helpful (eg., just
when do the SDK libraries synchronize, and how often?)

All that being said, I don't think any of their competitors have done a better
job on these topics and certainly Parse seems to be pulling away from the
MPaaS pack.

~~~
csmajorfive
Thanks for the feedback. We're working on improving each one of those areas.

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alpb
That's an awesome move guys. Congratulations, you're moving real fast.

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erode
I've never used Parse before, haven't really needed it, but I just bought a
Surface and have my developer license ready to go. Time to have a stab at it
tomorrow night.

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cek
The Buddy Platform provides a similar service to Parse, but is more scenario
focused. They too are on fire (I'm an investor and advisor).

Buddy has had a Win SDK available for months [1].

[1] <http://www.buddy.com/documentation.aspx#SDKs_and_Samples>

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TazeTSchnitzel
A Windows 8 SDK with .NET and JS... but no C++? :(

