This is like asking why Logitech doesn't make their own CPUs. The skillset required to make a popular front-end client are vastly different from building and maintaining a good backend system, not to mention the costs are vastly greater. It makes much more sense for the creators of these apps to take their skills in building front-ends and applying it to an existing succesful backend like Lemmy/the Fediverse.
this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2023
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They did make their own apps.
Reddit isn't an app, though. It's a website. Totally different beast, with totally different needs, and totally different expenses.
I mean there's no reason to split up the communities further. Instead of then having a separate platform for Apollo, Sync, Boost etc, it just makes sense to make new apps for services that can talk to each other, like in the Fediverse.
Sync and boost are doing Lemmy apps, others might follow as the fediverse grows
RIF dev is working on an app for tildes
I'm talking about their own reddit app. Without lemmy. For someone like christian from Apollo he already has a built in user base why not convert it to a social media platform.
I heard someone approached Christian with that idea already, but he is wasn't really interested.
Setting up the whole ecosystem is hard - most of the app developers are very good with front-end and user experience, but setting up a robust, scalable backed is a completely different skill set.
That's like asking why an Auto Part manufacturer doesn't just make their own car. It isn't nearly that simple.
We all know what you mean but for clarification: rif and appolo are apps. What you're talking about is the reddit service/website/backend.
I'd suggested the same thing. They could develop a plug-in system that would allow their apps to interface with any service the user likes: Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, Lemmy, Mastadon, imgur, etc... The open source community could then develop plugins for any combination of app/service they like. There's an app called Metal for Android that does both Facebook and Twitter.
The real answer is time, experience, and money. The makers of these apps have fulltime jobs. The apps are a hobby that probably barely covers its own costs.
When announcing the API changes, reddit dragged it out not giving any meaningful info until just a month before enacting it. A month isn't enough time to build a service like reddit. Lemmy for comparison has been in development for years and is still pretty bare-bones.
From what I've heard many of the app devs are re-doing their apps to work one of the federated services, but it takes time.
Standing up a service like Redddit is not cheap or easy. It's requires a lot of server hardware, bandwidth, and money. As far as I know the devs are lone-wolfs. Also many of the users are cheap and don't like paying for stuff. Reddit has been around for 15 years and still isn't profitable, even with reddit premium and advertising.
The experience of developing an app doesn't easily translate to running a service. In the programming world there are app devs, front-end devs, back-end devs, server admins and database admins. It's possible for one person have some experience in all of these (I've dabbled) but to be good at it while also being secure and stable and responsive ... It's daunting.
All that said, modering the content that users post is a nightmare. The reddit mods were volunteers with no real legal liability. The reddit admins on the other hand are on the hook if child-porn gets found in their database.
Thing is, the backend services already exist in the form of Lemmy, Tildes etc. Why re-invent the wheel?
how would that be different from just creating a another Lemmy instance and also the user base of a single app isn't quite enough for something completely separate like that
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