TwitApps Shuts Down, Code Released as Open Source

by Lisa Hoover - Sep. 18, 2009Comments (0)

TwitApps, which provides tools for Twitter, is shutting down the project and releasing its code to the open source community. Dallas, the project leader, says the decision disappoints him but he's simply no longer interested in continuing it and hopes others will pick it up and move forward.

It's becoming increasingly common for developers to get started on small (and large) projects, only to abandon them to the open source community for further development. In a blog post on his Web site, Dallas told TwitApps' 4,000 users:

IтАЩm sure IтАЩll continue to tinker with the Twitter API тАУ I do find it fascinating, but thatтАЩs not the same as maintaining a quality product with users to answer to.
So hereтАЩs the planтАж
* All emails the system sends will contain a prominent message pointing at this blog post. I will not be emailing all users to let them know because bulk email is something I promised not to do in the T&Cs.
┬а * The website will continue to work until the end of this week, Friday, September 18th.
┬а * Both the replies and follows services will continue to run until the following Friday, September 25th.
┬а * After the 18th I will publish the source code on my github account.

Dallas adamantly refuses to release the code to anyone privately, or allow individuals to take over the site or service. "This is something IтАЩve promised users since day one and I will not budge," he says. Twitapps' license will be released to the public domain with no restrictions