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Diaspora's Curse - Jason Fried

37signals.com

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Re: Diaspora's Curse - Jason Fried

#131

Post by steveklabnik »

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…

> Since when do programmers have to do the whole starving artist routine to get respect?

Having money lets you rest on your laurels. They could live off of that money with no work on the project for two years, more if they moved somewhere cheaper.

Would you work harder if you had two years' living expenses in the bank, or if you had to make enough sales to pay rent in two weeks?

> and their massive student debt.

As someone in this position, the answer is easy: deferment. It's really easy when you're making next to no money.

Re: Diaspora's Curse - Jason Fried

#132

Post by dasil003 »

lionshare wrote: post #99
mechanical_fish wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please. Somehow I doubt that Jason Fried, of all people, is losing sleep because of a vaporware product in a completely different space. Or do you think that somehow Diaspora will be a product management solution? Will it also do my taxes? Perhaps it will print bingo cards, organize my book collection, and bake the world's tastiest pies? This is exactly what Fried is talking about: When you launch a pure-vapor produc…

So 4 CS grads raising below seed round range for a much needed project and supported by so many people is a Curse? For THAT he could not sleep? A pity that this attitude comes from a startup news site. Again: It's a paradigm shift that should enable to create new class of web applications in "nodes" instead of "central hubs". And all central hub owners, who make their revenues from the old paradigm, should be worried…

What makes you think Fried is losing sleep? Man, after reading the rest of your posts in this thread, you really need to stop and re-evaluate the rationality of your opinions.

37signals is not some machiavellian puppetmaster. Fried posted a simple opinion piece on a hot topic and you immediately start frothing at the mouth like a times square end-of-worlder. Get a grip.

Re: Diaspora's Curse - Jason Fried

#133

Post by char »

I completely agree with Jason. The way Diaspora is starting goes against everything I've learned in my experience with startups. Unexperienced hackers raising a ton of money without as much as an MVP to show for it seems like a recipe for disaster. Probabilistically, they will fail, especially without any outside influences or wisdom.

I can only hope these kids have connections with people (and resources, such as PG essays) which can help guide them in making smart decisions. And I hope they listen.

Re: Diaspora's Curse - Jason Fried

#134

Post by wmf »

ubernostrum wrote: post #69

Diaspora's going to do one of two things. Option one, with approximately 98% probability, is "fail hard". A few geeks will run nodes and brag about it on places like HN, and that'll be it. Option two is that Diaspora succeeds, which will require some way around making everyone run their own node; basically, some company with the infrastructure to step in and host services for people, for cheap or preferably free. If…

Google seems pretty attached to their advertising-subsidized business model; Diaspora hosting might be more likely to come from Amazon with a "consumer" version of EC2. Or Apple could decide to fight Facebook by adding Diaspora to MobileMe, but I think that's a long shot.

Re: Diaspora's Curse - Jason Fried

#135

Post by wmf »

ubernostrum wrote: post #67
_sh wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your thirteen-year-old sister's "node" will live exactly where her email lives: on some ISP/hosting co. Using Diaspora should be no different than "downloading the facebook page to your computer and running it on your browser", for example.

Your thirteen-year-old sister's "node" will live exactly where her email lives: on some ISP/hosting co. Instead of "on some ISP/hosting co.", you mean to say "Google". If Diaspora ever takes off -- and the odds are stacked against it -- then it's a very safe bet that Google will simply host nodes for free. Which means Google will have access to all the info they already have on you, plus all the info Facebook would'v…

In your scenario the people who care about privacy can run their own nodes and the people who don't care can use Google, and everyone can still communicate. That's better than today's world, where basically everyone has to use Facebook.

Re: Diaspora's Curse - Jason Fried

#136

Post by lionshare »

jacquesm wrote: post #123
kristiandupont wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are not trolling, are you? I am sorry, but do you think that Jason can "shut down" something that Google makes, just with his writing? And seriously, the idea of Diaspora competing with BaseCamp takes some imagination! At such an abstract level, almost any web app could be said to compete with any other web app.

> You are not trolling, are you? Of course he is. Isn't that obvious.

I think that Fried's post is trolling. It's not a simple opinion: it may well slow down their finance. 4 brave guys, dedicated for an important goal, in the right time. Instead of wishing them luck calling them "Curse"? and I AM the troll?

Re: Diaspora's Curse - Jason Fried

#137

Post by lionshare »

kristiandupont wrote: post #120
lionshare wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Than how do you explain his (successful) campaign against the free google chat that competes with Campfire? Google shut it down, basically, because it's "unfair to J.Fried". Since Google did it, nobody else dare to compete directly with Basecamp, as is. Diaspora is a paradigm shift, and it will be easier to implement a better Basecamp without single point of registration and billing.

You are not trolling, are you? I am sorry, but do you think that Jason can "shut down" something that Google makes, just with his writing? And seriously, the idea of Diaspora competing with BaseCamp takes some imagination! At such an abstract level, almost any web app could be said to compete with any other web app.

I think it's a legitimate opinion. The comments are about facts. Please read the links I provided.

Re: Diaspora's Curse - Jason Fried

#138

Post by joeyh »

blhack wrote: post #109

Diaspora's curse is that it is a solving a problem that only exists in the eyes of people who don't need somebody to solve it for them. Does anyone think my mom or my sisters give a damn about facebook privacy issues? NO! The only people that seem to are the types that come to HN and we all, for the most part, run our own webservers with our own blogs and pictures and soforth anyway.

I got an email from my (senior citizen) dad today asking about Diaspora.

Re: Diaspora's Curse - Jason Fried

#139

Post by modoc »

lionshare wrote: post #104
ubernostrum wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comments indicate less of a reasoned argument on the topic, and more of a personal animosity toward Jason Fried, 37Signals or both. Perhaps you should step back and take a deep breath?

And you tell me, please, why there is no project management solution in Google Apss

Because they haven't wanted to build one....

Re: Diaspora's Curse - Jason Fried

#140

Post by tptacek »

lionshare wrote: post #68
chegra wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, that is the picture you have in your head? See I would be disappoint with this. My idea of it was you have a node and you add stuff to your profile, then some body copies it, several copies all on different nodes, so at any given time your nodes is always available. And there is some kinda security encrytion for each node. No key = no node. What I was trying to point out some people are going to be disappointed r…

as long as the protocol is done right, applications are endless. TCP is maybe 30 years old? The copy is an issue - because once it's copied you can not fully control it, similar to Facebook. Yes, there will be disappointments. But it's not "a curse", a healthy 250K seed-stage worth is not the end of the world, and as someone pointed here: it's an open source seed. It will grow. Fried should not bash them like that, u…

So, now they're not building a Facebook competitor. They're building a protocol which can be used to build any number of Facebook competitors with different features. You are literally making Fried's point for him.
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