Yeah this is the deal breaker for me as well. This smells like an embrace-extend-extinguish campaign frankly?
1. Embrace gRPC and protobuf
2. Extend with Connect, get everyone using this in their APIs and web apps
3. Drift away from established gRPC and/or protobuf standards, build platforms/business around this and trap as many folks as possible
As silly as it may seem, one thing that really sends this signal for me is the nice trademark symbol on the Buf name. their intention for all of this stuff is to build a business.
1. Embrace gRPC and protobuf 2. Extend with Connect, get everyone using this in their APIs and web apps 3. Drift away from established gRPC and/or protobuf standards, build platforms/business around this and trap as many folks as possible
As silly as it may seem, one thing that really sends this signal for me is the nice trademark symbol on the Buf name. their intention for all of this stuff is to build a business.