This just further demonstrates the need for an open data platform that is not specific to some specific set of data. That is; a generic system that is user driven, allowing for varying complex views of standardized data sets.
Such a system would put all of these generic "social sites" out of business because it could be maintained by the users rather than the greedy data hoarding companies.
One nitpick: The title on this is not accurate because they are not closing to individual developers for general API usage, just for specific parts of their data.
I would say that it's more accurate to say that they're shutting down all access except for a few extremely narrow use cases.
With this change, essentially the only thing you can do with the LinkedIn API is post updates, and retrieve information about the logged in user. Easily 95% of the utility of the API has been removed with this change.
Such a system would put all of these generic "social sites" out of business because it could be maintained by the users rather than the greedy data hoarding companies.
One nitpick: The title on this is not accurate because they are not closing to individual developers for general API usage, just for specific parts of their data.