@WW_webdev - more likely, in my view, it’s just the first step in a long process towards charging for api access. By authenticating everyone they can track per user who is using the API. There are already call volume and concurrency limits on the API on a per account (and per IP address) basis with the option to pay to increase those limits. There are quite a few big data mining companies out there who pay Twitter a lot of money for all this information that they want to monetise in turn. Having free access to the API undermines that entire business model for both twitter and their partners.
In time expect those rate and concurrency limits to be reduced and cheaper access plans or official partnerships to be announced if you need entry level access to that data. It sucks but Twitter do need to monetise their service if they are to stay in business and this is one of the ways they’ll use. I just wish they were more open about their long term plans for the API and app ecosystem. Fortunately in time a more open competitor will come along, but until then we’re stuck with OAuth for all.
