Does Cloud + REST API spell the end of GUI

Fun question:  Does API spell the end of the GUI?

I started my career as a Solaris and Linux administrators mostly because I felt that working in Windows Server took away most of my control.  I loved configuring a web server in text and having full control.   I love having to understand what each variable did so I could tune my web server to meet my needs.    It was a great job which led into configuration management with puppet.   Full control and text once again…

This evening I was working with the REST API for NSX working on a side project and to confirm the results of my query I just used REST… I got my answer is a millisecond… I could not have refreshed the GUI that quickly.   It was so easy and it reminded me of the good old Linux days long forgotten as a architect.

Make no mistake it’s a coders world out there infrastructure folks need to get comfortable with API’s and code.   The future is a process of automating different units together using API’s.   Working with Rest has taught me so much about the platform.   You start to understand how the solution was built.   It exposes workflows that helps you build efficiency…

I suggest that if you really want to understand your product you need to learn it’s API.  If it does not have an API consider a different product.   I know GUI’s will be around but I do believe they will continue to have less value in enterprise deployments.  Strap on your code and join the power users.

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