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Why Dropbox sunsetted its universal C++ mobile project and AirBnB its React Native implementation

Dropbox: The (not so) hidden cost of sharing code between iOS and Android

  • By writing code in a non-standard fashion, we took on overhead that we would have not had to worry about had we stayed with the widely used platform defaults. This overhead ended up being more expensive than just writing the code twice.
  • The overhead of custom frameworks and libraries
  • The overhead of a custom development environment
  • The overhead of addressing differences between the platforms
  • The overhead of training, hiring, and retaining developers
Although writing code once sounds like a great bargain, the associated overhead made the cost of this approach outweigh the benefits (which turned out to be smaller than expected anyway)

Dropbox Blog


Airbnb: Sunsetting React Native

[..] As a result, moving forward, we are sunsetting React Native at Airbnb and reinvesting all of our efforts back into native.

React Native at Airbnb @Medium.com
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