Feature vs mission

A couple of days ago, I wrote about Evernote. Once, Steve Jobs called Dropbox a “feature”. He was right in his own context. But I do belief mission trumps features.

I rather use Dropbox than Apple’s iCloud, Google Drive or Microsoft’s OneDrive. Same goes for Spotify versus Apple Music or YouTube Music. I really wish I could use Evernote instead of Apple Notes.

The problem with “features” as part of a larger corporate ecosystem, they tend to live by the whim of the corporate. Today, it is has focus and tomorrow who knows? Not that I expect any of the aforementioned services to go away any time soon, there’s a distinct possibility that shifts in priorities will cripple their product offering. A good example is Google Maps on IOS which didn’t have navigation while being generally available on Google Android until Apple forced Google’s hand by releasing their own maps product. Large corporation do not always have the best of intentions to all consumers – just their preferred.

You also tie yourself down in an ecosystem and I like to have options. I want to be able to move from MacOS to Windows or Linux without being burdened by the myriad of services I’m relying on as part of any these ecosystem – granted Linux has none.

I rather buy a movie on Amazon Video than iTunes. I’ve no problems though renting a movie on iTunes. I even pay a tiny amount for iCloud to backup my phone. I’m ok with that. All of these things don’t prevent me choosing something else in the future.

I like having choices and mission-driven independent products give me freedom.