Application Programming Interface - Release Policies

Release Policies

The two options for releasing API are:

  1. Protecting information on APIs from the general public. For example, Sony used to make its official PlayStation 2 API available only to licensed PlayStation developers. This enabled Sony to control who wrote PlayStation 2 games. This gives companies quality control privileges and can provide them with potential licensing revenue streams.
  2. Making APIs freely available. For example, Microsoft makes the Microsoft Windows API public, and Apple releases its APIs Carbon and Cocoa, so that software can be written for their platforms.

A mix of the two behaviors can be used as well.

Read more about this topic:  Application Programming Interface

Famous quotes containing the words release and/or policies:

    The steel decks rock with the lightning shock, and shake with the
    great recoil,
    And the sea grows red with the blood of the dead and reaches for his spoil—
    But not till the foe has gone below or turns his prow and runs,
    Shall the voice of peace bring sweet release to the men behind the
    guns!
    John Jerome Rooney (1866–1934)

    To deny the need for comprehensive child care policies is to deny a reality—that there’s been a revolution in American life. Grandma doesn’t live next door anymore, Mom doesn’t work just because she’d like a few bucks for the sugar bowl.
    Editorial, The New York Times (September 6, 1983)