There is no magic
The stock and flow of data is a physical thing. Convenient APIs have invisible costs.
There is no magic. The stock and flow of data is a very physical and real thing.
Just as attention, reasoning and decision-making have concrete physiological economics, computers are not much different. Whatever the amazing progress in transistor size, RAM efficiency and terabit networks, in the end we’re orchestrating electricity to do work for us. Resource throughput rules the economics of distributed systems.
The cloud is a marvelous innovation for a distributed world, but not all that glitters is gold, even more so for less tech-literate users who want no-code and low-code platforms.
In a world heading toward more and more micro-SaaS, micro-predictions and micro-IaaS, any organization that cares about sustainable operations has to weigh the invisible cost of convenient APIs. Especially small and mid-sized businesses that can’t afford a hefty IT bill.