Why did S3/object storage succeed while WebDAV apparently failed?
![](https://dubvee.org/pictrs/image/4c207c91-796b-4ebd-b82b-5956f47342da.png)
![](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/0943eca5-c4c2-4d65-acc2-7e220598f99e.png)
WebDAV has been around a lot longer and does many of the same things as object storage. It also has support for random access read/writes where object storage requires you to download, edit, and re-upload the whole file. Seems like a no-brainer if you wanted to offer cloud storage to customers.
I thought maybe supporting large uploads was the draw, but WebDAV can support chunking, so you don't need to allocate extra server resources to accommodate large files.
I use both daily, and WebDAV just seems like it does everything better: object storage feels like throwing files in a junk drawer and WebDAV more like an organized filing cabinet.
Aside from Nextcloud and a few FOSS applications, the only big thing I recall that adopted WebDAV was Frontpage back in the day.
So, what am I missing? What makes object storage so compelling that it became ubiquitous while WebDAV is practically a legacy spec?
S3 succeeded due to the scaling capabilities and the ability to abstract completely away from a server or disk. The straight forward Key/Value nature of the s3api was a big assistance in achieving the scaling and adoptability.
Comparing it to WebDav seems like comparing apples and... an orange smoothie.