Hi Pueblo,
I understand your concern. Let me try to clarify.
The Developer Edition includes ALL permissions with the following exception:
1.) Column permissions (available via column header)

2.) Row locking (available via right click on a row)

3.) Custom permissions (available via sharing dialog)
4.) View sharing (which is a shortcut for a very restrictive custom permission)

Hence, you will still be able to use all these functions:
- Base sharing (read-only/read-write)
- Invite links
- External links
- Website embedding of tables
The biggest restrictions of the Developer Edition originates from the absence of the custom permissions. They make it possible to collaborate on a very large data set (multiple tables, all data in one spot) with various user type and their different access levels. Without custom permissions, you have to spead the data over multiple bases if you don’t want some users to see particular data.