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Show HN: My iPad Hacker News Client, Hacker News Paper

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Re: Show HN: My iPad Hacker News Client, Hacker News Paper

#51

Post by iamgilesbowkett »

raganwald wrote: post #48

It is truly unfortunate that this app so closely resembles Giles’ work. In hindsight, everything seems obvious: “Hacker News... As a Newspaper.” Yet nobody did it before Giles, and now somebody else has done it after Giles. It reminds me of the talk about how obvious the iPhone UI is, such that Google wasn’t copying iPhone but just proceeding along “obvious” lines. Yet, it seems that they were busy proceeding along t…

I disagree, but I'm not going to dis anybody for being too generous, too trusting, or too fair, and I appreciate your attempt to smooth the waters.

Re: Show HN: My iPad Hacker News Client, Hacker News Paper

#52

Post by sammcd »

iamgilesbowkett wrote: post #44
sammcd wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Feel free to email me at sam@sammcd.com if you would like to discuss this more. I just want to say that I did not use your app as a source at all when designing my app, but I did use newspapers.

If this is the case, why did you not use a gothic, New York Times-y font for your header graphic, such as is much, much more typical for newspapers than the font you did use? Why does your header graphic appear to be nearly identical to mine? Why is your functionality nearly identical to mine? It's just a massive coincidence?

I simply went to http://www.dafont.com/ and searched until I found a font I liked, thats all that happened here.

Re: Show HN: My iPad Hacker News Client, Hacker News Paper

#53

Post by lucasoman »

iamgilesbowkett wrote: post #50
lucasoman wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand that it is frustrating to you to feel that someone may have been inspired by some aspects of your project. However, I think it's important to consider a few things for perspective: 1. Your web app is close to, if not already, dead: http://gilesbowkett.blogspot.com/2011/03/i-may-let-hacker-ne... 2. So what if this guy was inspired by your app? Who doesn't do research before implementing an idea? 3. Your m…

Additionally, my most persuasive evidence is not my header graphic, it's just an extremely specific example. My most persuasive evidence is that every single aspect of his app is a direct copy of mine.

Well maybe you're right. Since the author openly offered his contact information, maybe the best way to resolve the situation is to discuss the matter with him directly and privately. I wish you both success.

Re: Show HN: My iPad Hacker News Client, Hacker News Paper

#54

Post by seanalltogether »

peteforde wrote: post #41
seanalltogether wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many unique visitors do you get per day?

It's how I generally read HN. HNP is a popular if niche app. Meanwhile, it doesn't make a whit of difference to the larger issue.

If he's getting 1000s of unique visitors per day, then I can understand his desire to cry fowl, if he's getting more like 10 per day, then he has nothing to complain about. There really is no larger issue here, only someone yelling "First!".

Re: Show HN: My iPad Hacker News Client, Hacker News Paper

#56

Post by iamgoat »

raganwald wrote: post #48

It is truly unfortunate that this app so closely resembles Giles’ work. In hindsight, everything seems obvious: “Hacker News... As a Newspaper.” Yet nobody did it before Giles, and now somebody else has done it after Giles. It reminds me of the talk about how obvious the iPhone UI is, such that Google wasn’t copying iPhone but just proceeding along “obvious” lines. Yet, it seems that they were busy proceeding along t…

Considering Hacker News is a developer heavy crowd, I'm surprised a second and third version hasn't come up. I've wanted to develop the same thing myself just to learn how to build an iPad app. And I'm sure my other ideas for creating different views of Hacker News are nothing special.

It's all about execution. I've seen the other one before and considering the basic style of it (newspaper page with multiple articles layout), it wasn't pretty enough to make me want to install. I really like the look of this app and look forward to trying it out.

Also, kudos for him getting the domain. I figured it would have been taken already.

Re: Show HN: My iPad Hacker News Client, Hacker News Paper

#57

Post by peteforde »

seanalltogether wrote: post #54
peteforde wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's how I generally read HN. HNP is a popular if niche app. Meanwhile, it doesn't make a whit of difference to the larger issue.

If he's getting 1000s of unique visitors per day, then I can understand his desire to cry fowl, if he's getting more like 10 per day, then he has nothing to complain about. There really is no larger issue here, only someone yelling "First!".

What are you basing these metrics on?

If I have 800 daily unique users of something I put real work into, and someone launches a very similar product with the same name then I have every right to ask them to consider a name change.

The OP needs to start off with an apology because in the very least he did not Google his own name and concept before launching. That's awkwardly gauche in my books.

Re: Show HN: My iPad Hacker News Client, Hacker News Paper

#58

Post by codemac »

iamgilesbowkett wrote: post #22
dcope wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your web app is a blatant copy of paper publishing that's been going on for decades. Get real, dude.

It's got the same name, dude, and the same feature set.

Consider for a moment the cultural environment you're trying to make this argument in. I truly believe that many many programmers have cognitive dissonance around intellectual property, perceived value of invention/innovation, and what their compensation and rights should be around that value.

In the hacker news crowd, I think it is significantly more present.

I don't recall your opinions on these topics, but prepare to be faced with some pretty intense logical fallacies today.

Re: Show HN: My iPad Hacker News Client, Hacker News Paper

#59

Post by sammcd »

Inufu wrote: post #55

Is iOS 5 really necessary? I didn't upgrade yet because of my jailbreak, so I can't use the app :-/

Currently it is because of the page view controller, but I'm thinking about dropping that in the future. I'll definitely being iOS 5 only at that point.
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