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Diaspora's Curse - Jason Fried

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Re: Diaspora's Curse - Jason Fried

#41

Post by zalew »

blackguardx wrote: post #20

$170K isn't that crazy. Since when do programmers have to do the whole starving artist routine to get respect? Living close to the edge doesn't make you work any better. If it did, you would have to question companies like Google who give their employees really good benefits. $170k split four (or more) ways actually doesn't sound like much, especially when you consider their location (NYC), and their massive student…

Isn't that crazy, but they were aiming for 10k. At least that was official, maybe it was just a teaser, on purpose. Sad is, that they aren't even started and there's already lots of hype and I hope people don't get to the hate phase even before they launch.

I'm totally positive about the concept, but I always thought one should get motivated on his own, start the project, and beg for money to go further. This seems it's done the opposite way - give us the cheese so we start coding - and donating a video with a chalkboard I feel is a bit too much, for the moment.

Still, I'm very curious about this project and wish them best.

Re: Diaspora's Curse - Jason Fried

#42

Post by bandushrew »

lionshare wrote: post #31
holdenc wrote: post #3

The reason people have donated so much is because they are upset with Facebook's new privacy policies. How diaspora can succeed: do the same thing Facebook does, but fix the privacy. How diaspora can fail: by making some pie in the sky social networking platform that will elude most non-technical people. Unfortunately, it sounds like it's going this direction. I truly want to see Diaspora work. And it doesn't have to…

A Diaspora project management plug-in is a Basecamp killer, and J. Fried (=J. Afraid) knows it. What is Facebook? A central hub. What is Basecamp? a central hub. He did succeed to kill google chat client to make us pay for Campfire. But it was easy PR against "evil" Google. This time it will not work.

LOL

Given that Diaspora has yet to be written, I doubt that J. Fried is particularly quaking in his boots regarding the hypothetical creation of a hypothetical plugin using a hypothetical API to provide a hypothetical service that would hypothetically be so great as to kill Basecamp.

Disclaimer: I dont use basecamp, have never used basecamp and have absolutely no idea why someone would want to kill it.

Re: Diaspora's Curse - Jason Fried

#43

Post by lionshare »

jackowayed wrote: post #17

I agree that they're probably screwed--on top of the normal how-do-you-get-enough-people-to-switch-that-users-get-real-utility-out-of-the-social-network issue, people now expect, by virtue of the fact that they've got $170k and lots of attention, that they have something ready to compete with Facebook by the end of the summer--but I don't think they would have done any better waiting. By doing it this way, they got t…

Why are they screwed? Where is it written that four probably smart and dedicated guys must fail? Because they will have a few month without financial problems? Because they have momentum and support? really.

It's a nasty post to kill the finance momentum.

Please: J. Fried JUST FIGHTS FUTURE COMPETITION. Facebook is a central hub. Basecamp is a central hub. That's the whole story. A project management plug-in to Diaspora that can freely connect people is a threat to Basecamp.

When Google introduced their free chat client, a full product ready to use, he complained about "evil" (and forced us to pay for campfire). Now they are not evil, than it's the product.

Re: Diaspora's Curse - Jason Fried

#45

Post by zeemonkee »

holdenc wrote: post #35
jamiequint wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"How diaspora can succeed: do the same thing Facebook does, but fix the privacy." What is the definition of success here though? A super-niche social network that privacy-geeks use? The idealism is understandable but misguided. These guys won't touch Facebook by trying to make a social network with a feature better at X - in this case privacy - thats not how giants get toppled. Facebook won social networking, Google…

I disagree here. Facebook did a few things incrementally better than its prior contemporaries. Remember when Friendster and MySpace had more users than Facebook? Facebook won social networking because it essentially fixed a few problems that plagued its competitors. MySpace was/is a mess. And Friendster was too self-serious (forcing you to post a personal photo instead of an avatar) and restrictive. And both MySpace…

Another factor was how exclusive it was - first Harvard only, then just US colleges. People were anxious to get an invite, for Facebook to open up globally. When it did happen, it was massive.

Creating exclusivity can create publicity in its own right and increase expectation. It can also fail though - look at Google Wave.

Re: Diaspora's Curse - Jason Fried

#46

Post by lionshare »

bandushrew wrote: post #42
lionshare wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A Diaspora project management plug-in is a Basecamp killer, and J. Fried (=J. Afraid) knows it. What is Facebook? A central hub. What is Basecamp? a central hub. He did succeed to kill google chat client to make us pay for Campfire. But it was easy PR against "evil" Google. This time it will not work.

LOL Given that Diaspora has yet to be written, I doubt that J. Fried is particularly quaking in his boots regarding the hypothetical creation of a hypothetical plugin using a hypothetical API to provide a hypothetical service that would hypothetically be so great as to kill Basecamp. Disclaimer: I dont use basecamp, have never used basecamp and have absolutely no idea why someone would want to kill it.

If you asked MySpace/Friendster few years ago what they think about this student Zuck hacking something in the Harvard dorms, they would probably respond: LOL.

What matters is the trend, and Fried is smart enough to see it.

What unfair here is that he spoils it in the middle of the finance period. They got traction, they look like smart and honest guys. He can bash them one day after the finance is done.

Disclaimer: I use Basecamp and I love it

Re: Diaspora's Curse - Jason Fried

#47

Post by zeemonkee »

jackowayed wrote: post #17

I agree that they're probably screwed--on top of the normal how-do-you-get-enough-people-to-switch-that-users-get-real-utility-out-of-the-social-network issue, people now expect, by virtue of the fact that they've got $170k and lots of attention, that they have something ready to compete with Facebook by the end of the summer--but I don't think they would have done any better waiting. By doing it this way, they got t…

If they did fail miserably, I'd still hire them like a shot - they've shown they've had the chops to try and the initiative to think out of the box. The experience they would get through failure - whether the failure is technical. marketing or finance - would be an invaluable lesson for their future careers, far better than some internship at big company X.

An employer who would negatively judge a teenager on the failure of what is essentially a summer project would be very, very stupid.

Re: Diaspora's Curse - Jason Fried

#48

Post by lionshare »

shadowsun7 wrote: post #40

> Expectations are too high Jason's third point is, I feel, the strongest. People aren't contributing to Diaspora because of Diaspora, they're contributing as an act against Facebook. The enemy of my enemy is my friend and all that. I'm not sure if that's a good thing. It's one thing to get in front of a movement and ride that to success. It's another to get in front of a movement that's predicated largely on hate. D…

nice comment from Fried blog (by Mark Pesce): "Jesus fscking Christ. What these kids need is a little support, not some idiot tearing them down because they suddenly find themselves in exactly the right place at exactly the right time with exactly the right idea. Jealous much? If you want to see Diaspora* succeed, then you’d better work very, very hard coming up with solutions to every one of the very real problems you just raised. Otherwise, you’re just a hater, and you’re only making the problem worse."

Re: Diaspora's Curse - Jason Fried

#49

Post by rick_2047 »

lionshare wrote: post #48
shadowsun7 wrote: post #40

> Expectations are too high Jason's third point is, I feel, the strongest. People aren't contributing to Diaspora because of Diaspora, they're contributing as an act against Facebook. The enemy of my enemy is my friend and all that. I'm not sure if that's a good thing. It's one thing to get in front of a movement and ride that to success. It's another to get in front of a movement that's predicated largely on hate. D…

nice comment from Fried blog (by Mark Pesce): "Jesus fscking Christ. What these kids need is a little support, not some idiot tearing them down because they suddenly find themselves in exactly the right place at exactly the right time with exactly the right idea. Jealous much? If you want to see Diaspora* succeed, then you’d better work very, very hard coming up with solutions to every one of the very real problems y…

I don't think that the author has ever tried to undermine what diaspora is trying to do in any one word of the short article. What he has tried to tell everyone is what is essentially the best advice those people can ever get. Somebody has to put a reality check on things. I seriously believe that a reality check has to be put on the dream run the diaspora team is getting. Essentially they are getting money just for an idea. And that too, not even a half baked one. I would have been more supportive of them getting around 1700% of there expectations if they had at least a spec out before.

Edit: Changed kids to people as I am younger in intellect and age and it felt silly when I read it again.

Re: Diaspora's Curse - Jason Fried

#50

Post by lionshare »

rick_2047 wrote: post #49
lionshare wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

nice comment from Fried blog (by Mark Pesce): "Jesus fscking Christ. What these kids need is a little support, not some idiot tearing them down because they suddenly find themselves in exactly the right place at exactly the right time with exactly the right idea. Jealous much? If you want to see Diaspora* succeed, then you’d better work very, very hard coming up with solutions to every one of the very real problems y…

I don't think that the author has ever tried to undermine what diaspora is trying to do in any one word of the short article. What he has tried to tell everyone is what is essentially the best advice those people can ever get. Somebody has to put a reality check on things. I seriously believe that a reality check has to be put on the dream run the diaspora team is getting. Essentially they are getting money just for…

The reality check can be taken one day after the finance period is due. It's not a reality check, it's a deliberate attempt to stop the finance momentum. They have basic specs, and it doesn't look like a rocket surgery (as Steve Krug calls it), certainly not for 4 dedicated CS grads working hard.

And although my comments are demoted here, the truth is that distributed "nodes" is a threat to the "central hub" owners, including J Fried, especially when your customers are geeks who can easily install and config the distributed thing. Paradigm shifts can wipe out other companies very quickly, and Fried knows it.

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