5 votes

The explosive rise of Zoom is creating big opportunities for startups, which are raising millions to build apps and integrations

5 comments

  1. [5]
    senko
    Link
    Story time: I run (ran - just exited) a collaborative tool SaaS and we wanted to integrate with Zoom (have people launch Zoom meetings from our app, stuff like that). Had everything done and...

    Story time: I run (ran - just exited) a collaborative tool SaaS and we wanted to integrate with Zoom (have people launch Zoom meetings from our app, stuff like that).

    Had everything done and tested, spent about three person-months on it. Finally, wanted to go live to production and just needed to fill out some forms and accept dev ToS, and then we bailed. The terms are ao draconian I don't know how anyone would sign that.

    For example, you agree to provide support of up to 2 years after the date when you publish the app to their marketplace, no matter if you stopped publishing it im the meantime. There were other rather strict terms but this one stuck in my mond as nonsense. This looked geared for heavy enterprise grade integration, not something you want to try out, make a few api calls and see if users like it, nowhere near like when you integrate with twitter, facebook or similar APIs.

    6 votes
    1. [2]
      asteroid
      Link Parent
      Hmm -- interesting. Because all the developers I interviewed were enthusiastic about Zoom's support for app builders.

      Hmm -- interesting. Because all the developers I interviewed were enthusiastic about Zoom's support for app builders.

      2 votes
      1. senko
        Link Parent
        If they are happy with (some of what is in) those terms, that's just fine. Integration with Zoom is a great value add for a lot of productivity/collab software these days, and on the tech sidethe...

        If they are happy with (some of what is in) those terms, that's just fine. Integration with Zoom is a great value add for a lot of productivity/collab software these days, and on the tech sidethe API is just fine.

        I just didn't like the strings attached.

        3 votes
    2. [2]
      skybrian
      Link Parent
      Just wondering: if nobody ends up using it, how hard would it really be to support?

      Just wondering: if nobody ends up using it, how hard would it really be to support?

      1 vote
      1. senko
        Link Parent
        I didn't want to be contractually obligated. What usually happens with "failed" features is you do get one or two people using it, so you can't just turn it off but it's a drag (you have to...

        I didn't want to be contractually obligated. What usually happens with "failed" features is you do get one or two people using it, so you can't just turn it off but it's a drag (you have to support/maintain, make sure it doesn't break).

        3 votes