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I don't really get the benefits. You don't need servers, but you need to host the JS/html5 application somewhere, even if you don't need to configure the database server etc.

It is nice technology, but I don't really see if it is worth the price (vendor lock-in, technology lock-in, etc.)

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Hosting can be handled much more efficiently / easily by someone designed just for content distribution, like a CDN. Our own site is 100% server from a CDN, which makes for very nice scaling characteristics. Also, it's free right now...

Or with a scheme like Chrome Apps, the browser could store the app locally. The app could work offline and only use the server to sync/collaborate.

Assuming you know how to build and deploy servers; what advantages would Firebase bring over say: a Socket.IO client -> NodeJS server setup where data was being stored and fetched from memory (Redis or some other data-store)?

Nothing, I guess... except perhaps scalability.

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