Facebook is evil. It’s much more evil than even Microsoft during its most evil phase. So if you want to prosper as an independent startup, do not under any circumstances build it with a Facebook product. That means of course REACT. Don’t build with it.
Use something else that doesn’t have the baggage and is genuinely open source. Use something like Cycle.js, Preact, Vue.js, Svelte or hyperHTML
John Hardy Developer 
Good god no for any technology stackware. But I’ll run ads on ’em when it makes sense.
LikeLike
That’s a pretty serious restriction. Thanks for the post!
http://www.chicagotribune.com/bluesky/technology/ct-facebook-rival-innovation-20170811-story.html
LikeLike
What stack are you prefering at the moment?
LikeLike
Right now I’m preferring react and redux 😁 so this article is a pretty personal wake up call. I do however have some interesting alternatives which I listed in the OP.
For an average start up not wanting to go completely bleeding edge I would strongly recommend Vue.js
LikeLike
vue.js ? I’ll check it out.
LikeLike
It feels a lot like angular but better.
LikeLike
This might be a storm in a teacup btw. Does Facebook actually hold any patents over anything in React? If they don’t then it doesn’t matter anywhere near as much. If they do, then it’s potentially really bad.
This kind of patent problem is a very real issue in relation to Microsoft .Net code:
endsoftpatents.org – About Microsoft’s patent licence for .NET core | End Software Patents
LikeLike
I think anti competitive intentions are clear but whether it holds water legally is yet to be seen. If Facebook ever decided to exercise its rights in this area it would cause a major melt down in the web community. I have a feeling that even the threat of this possibility will seal React’s fate unless there’s a significant clarification. The point is that React ain’t all that when it comes down to it. It’s not the fastest, it can be replaced, should be replaced and ultimately will be.
LikeLike
Well the point of the Microsoft reference is that the same patent issue stopped the open source world from touching .Net core in any meaningful way. This could really kill React, there’s precedent.
LikeLike
The difference is mainly one of perception. Microsoft by that stage was damaged goods having just lost an anti competition law suit and was at the time the most distrusted company in tech. Facebook for all its evil is still considered the place to be and their work is highly regarded. That perception may change but not just yet.
LikeLike
So does it mean that Google/Angular 2.0 wins in the license aspect?
LikeLike
On this point it does. Probably also in terms of performance.
In terms of complexity, difficulty of learning, debugging, developer experience, not so much. React is a lot more popular and has the vast bulk of developer mind share. It’s easy to use and to understand. Angular is not.
I don’t think angular will regain its position as the preeminent front end platform. That honour will go to what ever comes next.
LikeLike