Data composability: what it is + why it matters

Today, databases are basically siloed — every application has its own. This has many bad implications: redundant infrastructure, honeypots of data with poor security, fragmented data. It also means that every application must have its own database to feed its logic and its interface. The 3 layers — interface, logic, and database — have to be bundle... See more

This applies in the vast majority of cases. Some exceptions seem like pure services. Zapier, for example, is mostly logic that connects others' databases through APIs. But even here, your built-up Zaps are stored in their database and make it less likely you'll switch to IFTTT. Plaid connects financial databases, but the authorizations must still b... See more

Why should every potential business need to build all 3 parts of this stack when their core innovation or value add comes primarily from one or two?

Censorship is the removal of things already created and triggers massive uproar. But the hidden and the much larger impact of siloed control is the gatekeeping on innovation: the suppression of things that could never be created in the first place.

Today’s web browsers are relatively composable - you can add new functionality and features with extensions. Imagine if web browsers were locked down, and you had to choose between the core feature set alone: Chrome with built-in casting, Firefox with Pocket, or Brave with a crypto wallet. Thankfully you don't have to choose and be left so wanting ... See more

When database functionality is not siloed but open, this all changes. Any app can build on the same data. No app is a gatekeeper to it. And not every app needs to build an entire siloed stack.

When database functionality is not siloed but open, this all changes. Any app can build on the same data.

This basic stack is so accepted (and frankly so much easier now with AWS etc.) that we rarely question it. But it's ridiculously inefficient. Why should every potential business need to build all 3 parts of this stack when their core innovation or value add comes primarily from one or two?

If Medium were built on open data, Substack wouldn't have to build an editor, interface, and CMS from scratch. They'd build a subscription module that operates on top of the Medium editor and content.