Users do not use blockchains. They use products. The EF is not building a product. They are building a blockchain. A platform. That allows anyone to permissionlessly build whatever the fuck they want. I know it's confusing bc there are a lot of shallow, single-purpose blockchains out there. Shallow, single-purpose blockchains are products. The EF is not building a product.

@tayvano_ A platform is a product, too. And yes, there are a lot of people using that product every day.

A product is the thing you use to solve your problem or get a job done. People use products. Products thus serve those people. Not all people. Just the people with the specific problem the product aims to solve. The best products focus. If you have a loose screw, you reach for a screwdriver. Not a hammer. Not a penny. Not a multitool. A fucking screwdriver. A platform is a foundation for products. It's the technology, the infrastructure, the tooling, the resources. Eventually it is the ecosystem of people and APIs and libraries and other products and network effects. People do not use the platform. People build products on the platform. They build products that serve their users. The platform is the foundation. It is not the product. The best platforms are ones where every builder can build whatever they want without any blockers. You don't need approval. You know your users and their needs and you solve their problems. The platform unlocks and enables you to do that better, cheaper, more easily. If the platform does not allow you to create more value with the platform than without it then you don't use the platform. It's very simple. See: Base v OP Stack. The second-worst platform is a product that calls itself a platform. That non-platform end ups not empowering anyone while also not bothering to solving any problems or serving any user needs. It's bad, but mostly harmless (unless you are an employee there lol) No, the absolute worst platform is one that is actually a platform that actually has products built on it but suddenly fancies itself a product. If you are building on a platform that shifts to serve end-user directly, you should RUN THE FUCK AWAY. Their mission is no longer to empower anyone to build anything. It's to deliver their own products and solve their own user's needs. They will happily ignore/deprioritize/rug every other competing product. As they should. You cannot build a great product while building someone else's product at the same time. You cannot build a great platform if you are building a solution to a specific problem and specific user need. The EF is not building a product.

@tayvano_ @dankrad Grift vs no-grift essentially