Half of Facebook's Free Basics users ditch the freebie web-lite service for the paid-for real deal Internet.org aka Free Basics – Facebook's slice of the web for the developing world – has been controversial, but that isn't stopping the social network. The internet service requires a SIM card from a participating mobile operator, and grants free access to Facebook, BBC News, Dictionary.com, er, ESPN and a few other sites. …
I agree but perhaps Zuck's freebee is one of the reasons they spring for the paid data plan? They see what "might be" and also I imagine that many of those sites aren't relevant to them and they want something local. If they're still using the data plan in a year, then it could be called successful. I guess it will come down to how much the local Telco's gouge the customers.
It is a pity in many ways that the Internet has become so commercial and such a cess-pit of scam artists and miscreants. I really feel sorry for anyone coming in cold to it.
"It has been tremendously useful for us," said Jack Herrick, CEO of how-to website wikiHow. "We slimmed down images and took out most of the Javascript, which makes our site run a lot faster – and now people stay longer as a result."
There is a message in this for more than just those trying to reach the developing world. I wonder if they still downloaded the trackers.
They could just not bloat it up in the first place.
I develop JavaScript applications, and I'm constantly amazed at how little functionality people create, with such MASSIVE globs of terrible JavaScript. This combination of abusing modern web APIs with oldskool web design, I like to call 'progressive degradation', because they layer bullshit on top of pretty much static text + images until the experience sucks.
One of my tests is for frame-rate. It sounds odd to test a website for frame-rate, especially if its not especially animated, but modern browsers load the pages (layers) into the GPU as textures, and manipulate them there. (Imagine the user scrolling up and down as fast as their mouse will physically allow).
If anything causes my site to drop below 60 fps, it doesn't ship. Actually you only get tiny time-slices to do anything in a browser context before you jank up the user interface, so you have to be really careful, and you have to know what you're doing. Dumping jQuery plugins into it willynilly can't end well.
It's not just "abusing modern web APIs with oldskool web design" an even more recurring poroblem is "oldskool" windows/client developers abusing modern web APIs. These are the same kind of idiots that rather than use Flash to enhance a website instead chose to build an entire "website" out of one Flash object.
...and I'm constantly amazed at how little functionality people create, with such MASSIVE globs of terrible JavaScript. This combination of abusing modern web APIs with oldskool web design, I like to call 'progressive degradation', because they layer bullshit on top of pretty much static text + images until the experience sucks.
So it isn't just me!!
Have an upvote. I'd give you a million if I could.
One interesting tidbit on the program was that people don't stay with it very long. Emeka Afigbo, Facebook's manager for product partnerships for Middle East and Africa, said that half of all Internet.org users buy a data plan from their telco within 30 days of trying Facebook's free service.
Wait a minute there. During the Indian decision, I thought the big argument for rolling out this walled garden was because all those poor people couldn't afford any Internet at all otherwise?
Are they now claiming that having access to Internet.org in fact lifts 50% of people out of poverty within 30 days? Or were their previous arguments merely self-serving and specious?
the first one is always free. It does work for drugs, internet's no different, eh? Hey, I got a plan for a startup! Rehabilitation centres for those internet addicts in Africa in a few years to come. Now, a few milions from those good-hearted bilionaires will help me establish "digital footprint", i.e. set up a website and stuff, and then hey, the cash will continue to flow... various UN funds, UNESCO, EU, USA, NATO, you name it! There's money in them free internets, man, you just gotta see the opportunity! :(
I took a look at the Google Play App link in the article and stumbled on the required permissions. These stood out, among others:
SMS
read your text messages (SMS or MMS)
receive text messages (SMS)
Phone
reroute outgoing calls
directly call phone numbers
I'm not a Dev but I recall that in Android silly+reasonable things can trigger a permission request that sounds quite daunting (e.g. checking no phone call is active leads to a Phone call permission request). That said I can't see why an App that is really just a curated browser needs access to phone calls and SMS (although knowing Zuck I can probably guess).
Well Zuck, I am proud to have blocked Facebook at my router years ago. I never want to visit your shabby ad slinging, muck spreading site. There is nothing in this world that would get me to sign up and reveal myself you your version of the universe.
It was too late for my neighbour. Their daughter killed herself due to comments about her posted by so called friends on your site. If I had my way, you personally would be charged with aiding a suicide.
So, please go *uck yourself along with the bosses of Twitter and every other social media site.
IMHO, all of them should come with health warnings about their addictiveness. They will probably be wealth damaging before long (if not already).
"At its annual F8 Developer Conference in San Francisco, Facebook unveiled new tools to help website makers tune their pages for developing markets – where bandwidth is tight and viewing devices (typically older and low-end mobile phones) are relatively underpowered.
To give developers spoiled by broadband a steer, Facebook has released the Free Basics Simulator, a development kit that allows coders to experience exactly it's like using a basic handset using a 2G or 3G connection. So far, 500 developers have been using the software in beta.
"It has been tremendously useful for us," said Jack Herrick, CEO of how-to website wikiHow. "We slimmed down images and took out most of the Javascript, which makes our site run a lot faster – and now people stay longer as a result.""
The funny, distant sound you might be hearing is me banging my head on the desk.
Yeah... some of us are trimming JS bloat because it's annoying to US - even with our beastly desktops and cable modems.
Speaking of Facebook... I use it a bit, and they definitely aren't following their own advice. It's bloated and broken as hell. Happily I can report that it's largely devolved into a meme sharing site.
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