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Ask HN: What tech were you convinced would take the world by storm but didn't?

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Re: Ask HN: What tech were you convinced would take the world by storm but didn't?

#291

Post by bhnmmhmd »

bsaul wrote: post #263

BeOS . That was the best os at the time by far, stellar performance, fantastic C++ api usable by a newbie, i still haven’t found a GUI as responsive as this one. DVD-audio. Great multi channel, high rate, high resolution audio. But it required the whole production chain to upgrade as well as new consumer equipement, and they competed with sony own format ( which was also a failure)... But it would have given the reco…

Similarly, Windows 10 Mobile didn't take off either. Before that, even Windows Phone became a failure.

I was really excited when I got my Lumia 920 [0]: The OS was just so solid, sleek, and fast. Too bad Microsoft didn't put adequate effort into it. It's as if they couldn't care less about this OS.

[0]: Not to mention the great, solid design of the hardware by Nokia.

Re: Ask HN: What tech were you convinced would take the world by storm but didn't?

#292

Post by Nanite »

marcus_holmes wrote: post #90

Optical computing. I remember talking to a bloke working on it back in 1990, and he said they had a working optical transistor so all the hard bits were done. Soon we'd have computers that used multiple frequencies of light to process operations concurrently on the same hardware! Still waiting...

In a sense we did get it, the research into optical computing didn't lead to photonic cpu's, any advantages of optical computing are mute when each building block can't scale below a few square micrometers due to limits on the physics.

However, the research did find it's way into telecom, high speed multiplexing switches, with massive bandwidth in a compact formfactor would not have been economically viable without photonics.

Re: Ask HN: What tech were you convinced would take the world by storm but didn't?

#293

Post by jo909 »

kelnos wrote: post #239
swyx wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ok honestly i dont understand this fear. isn't the open web the antithesis of the locked appstore?

Yes, but: 1) Some would say that the open web isn't so open anymore, and is under constant assault. One example might be the recent W3C adoption and endorsement of EME. 2) The fact that the open web "lost" in the battle for mobile dominance is a thing. Most "serious" apps have a native version on at least iOS and Android, and the webapp version (if there even is one) is usually a worse experience.

I would like to think the open web has not lost yet, and that progressive web apps still have a great chance of taking over. Nobody wants to develop apps for at least three platforms. Nobody wants half their user base use old versions. Nobody wants to fear being dropped from some walled garden without any recourse.

There are still good technical reasons for some native apps, but that will dwindle more and more.

Re: Ask HN: What tech were you convinced would take the world by storm but didn't?

#295

Post by OkGoDoIt »

tlrobinson wrote: post #2

The converse is possibly even more interesting: what tech were you convinced would fail but took the world by storm?

Facebook. I was convinced "social" was just a fad. Played around with the app platform in undergrad in 2008 but thought it would be stupid to build something completely reliant on a 3rd party social platform. I had the opportunity to join FB pre-IPO in 2010 but I still thought it was a fad that couldn't last. I just don't get social.

Re: Ask HN: What tech were you convinced would take the world by storm but didn't?

#296

Post by IshKebab »

bsaul wrote: post #263

BeOS . That was the best os at the time by far, stellar performance, fantastic C++ api usable by a newbie, i still haven’t found a GUI as responsive as this one. DVD-audio. Great multi channel, high rate, high resolution audio. But it required the whole production chain to upgrade as well as new consumer equipement, and they competed with sony own format ( which was also a failure)... But it would have given the reco…

I'm not surprised DVD-Audio and co failed. Their quality is indistinguishable from CDs despite what audiophiles would have you believe, and by the time they came out MP3 was clearly the future.

Re: Ask HN: What tech were you convinced would take the world by storm but didn't?

#297

Post by gattilorenz »

johan_larson wrote: post #148

I'm disappointed none of the various constructed "universal" languages (like Esperanto) ever took off. Having a single common language spoken by everyone would be enormously useful. As it is, the closest we have is English, but it's a natural language and therefore complicated and difficult to learn.

To my understanding, the problem is that the nuances and subtleties of natural languages are not possible (or not as easy to convey) in artificial languages, for a number of reasons. This makes it impractical for real use: imagine diplomats having to speak their mind instead of beating around the bush :)

But if you are interested in universal languages, I suggest you to check out Sol-re-sol [1]. I have read the story in Paul Collins' "Banvard's Folly" and have been fascinated by it ever since.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solresol

Re: Ask HN: What tech were you convinced would take the world by storm but didn't?

#298

Post by api »

The open web, open OSes, open in general. We (average HN users) use these things but most people use walled garden platforms all the time. For non techies the trend is that way. Computing market seems to be bisecting into pro and consumer.

Two issues have prevented this open computing for the masses IMO:

1. Spam and malware. Any open system that gets any user base becomes spam hell. This is even happening to the more open of the walled gardens now (e.g. YouTube) so the future will likely be even more closed.

2. People like "free" and with no revenue stream you can't pay programmers to work on the parts that are not fun. This includes UX, which is a brutal grind. Walled gardens have a revenue stream from being surveillance driven advertising platforms users can't customize.

Re: Ask HN: What tech were you convinced would take the world by storm but didn't?

#299

Post by IshKebab »

avar wrote: post #280
mseebach wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Kindle and it's e-reader kin are pretty successful? I think the problem is that a device with an e-ink display is necessarily single purpose. General purpose devices can't use e-ink, they need to support video playback and browsers with full colour.

That's the GP's point. Of course the update rate sucks because enough research hasn't been put into it. There are already E-Ink displays with much a faster update rate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsY3T1uzjAI Who knows how much faster this could get with enough investment? Unless there's some fundamental physical limitation to the update rate that I'm not aware of.

Ha that video is not a fast update rate. It's just only updating a small bit of the screen at a time so you can't really see the slowness. Modern kindles are pretty fast but not video speed, and they still have to blank the screen after a few updates.

Re: Ask HN: What tech were you convinced would take the world by storm but didn't?

#300

Post by PeachPlum »

johan_larson wrote: post #148

I'm disappointed none of the various constructed "universal" languages (like Esperanto) ever took off. Having a single common language spoken by everyone would be enormously useful. As it is, the closest we have is English, but it's a natural language and therefore complicated and difficult to learn.

Lingo ain't, like, fixed, blood. Your spitting is tripping.
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