I feel like this will actually lower the barrier to entry. Currently there's no easy way to migrate from the big 4 websites to other providers. If you were a new startup competitor, having to only implement one import format seems to be a good thing
That's a really good point! I had been thinking of it in terms of something else a new service is expected to support before going live, but if they do support it it definitely should make it easier to get new users. I'd still be wary of it being overly complex and bloated, but if not it may be a boon in disguise.
Re:The Data Transfer Project
by 5thbootloader on Saturday July 21, 2018 @01:41AM
(#17580850)
How might this increase the barrier of entry? I would believe that if a transfer protocol was standardized, the startups could focus on innovating rather than convincing people to give up on software they've grown dependent on.
As I mentioned elsewhere, I could see it being something that new services are essentially required to support - if you can easily transfer your data between almost all services, the cost of using one that doesn't support the framework is higher, relatively speaking. However, I hadn't really considered how much easier it may potentially make it to move to a new service, so it may well end up doing the reverse, lowering the barrier.
On a side note, this will likely continue the trend of increasing the barrier to entry for more of the internet, hurting startups. Though that's dependant on how the framework is designed.