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Ask HN: Which great products didn't succeed?

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Re: Ask HN: Which great products didn't succeed?

#531

Post by convolvatron »

hrdwdmrbl wrote: post #434
Yetanfou wrote: post #54

The promise of a decentralised internet where the distinction between producer and consumer is entirely up to the person at the keyboard.

There's still hope in this front

technically it wouldn't take much (or anything really) for people to transition to a v6 overlay network and get this back again.

but i'm afraid that the value of an intermediary-free internet isn't really perceptible enough to drive adoption, even if you made it completely painless.

I meet an awful lot of people, even in tech, that are surprised and shocked that you can use a computer thats not sitting right in front of you. or that two computers sitting next to each other can exchange data without using some third party service.

computing-as-television really won - just like how for the longest time quite a number of people thought that microsoft windows was the canonical definition of what a computer was.

Re: Ask HN: Which great products didn't succeed?

#532

Post by Glench »

ldigas wrote: post #324

Google Reader. I still think RSS was a better way of aggregating news than many alternatives of today, all wrapped up in a solid and practical interface.

Bazqux is a Google Reader clone that I've been using for 6 years now. It works amazingly well, has all the features I need from Google Reader, and doesn't change. One of the few SaaS I pay for.

https://bazqux.com

(No affiliation, just a big fan)

Re: Ask HN: Which great products didn't succeed?

#533

Post by Deivuh »

Google Talk (client). It was the best IM out there back when MSN started to get bloated with features and plugins like MSN Plus.

I remember that when I switched to GTalk, I still kept MSN for some of my contacts that I still chatted with, but eventually those people switched too and there was nothing left in MSN for me other that contacts with long and overly decorated status messages.

The official GTalk client was simple and lightweight. But then it died and the only official client was within Gmail, which I eventually stopped using because I missed so many messages when I was “online” while it was sitting unnoticed in tab on my browser.

I know GTalk is still alive and there’s WhatsApp, Telegram and such but I guess I miss the synchronous conversations back then, when people would still say “You gonna be online tonight? Let’s talk about it there”

Re: Ask HN: Which great products didn't succeed?

#534

Post by s_m »

wyclif wrote: post #464
jdietrich wrote: post #154

Steinberger guitars. They were brilliant to play, they were incredibly lightweight, they were near-indestructible, they could stay in tune for weeks, but they were just too weird to be anything more than a fad. It didn't help that Ned Steinberger had questionable business skills, they never really got manufacturing costs under control, but the basic design was utterly brilliant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steinber…

I feel the same way about Travis Bean guitars. You can't buy a good TB500, which was a truly great and functional guitar design, on the used market without paying a fortune.

The Electrical Guitar Company makes new aluminium-neck guitars, if that's something you're interested in. https://www.electricalguitarcompany.com/models/

Re: Ask HN: Which great products didn't succeed?

#535

Post by guaka »

Deivuh wrote: post #533

Google Talk (client). It was the best IM out there back when MSN started to get bloated with features and plugins like MSN Plus. I remember that when I switched to GTalk, I still kept MSN for some of my contacts that I still chatted with, but eventually those people switched too and there was nothing left in MSN for me other that contacts with long and overly decorated status messages. The official GTalk client was s…

Plus Google Talk was XMPP compatible for a long time.

Re: Ask HN: Which great products didn't succeed?

#536

Post by badsavage »

Lowkeyloki wrote: post #335

Ubuntu's Unity desktop. People really hated it because (IMHO) it had a really rocky launch. Ubuntu replaced a very usable GNOME 2.x desktop with an alpha-quality replacement. And Canonical was riding high from having "won" the Linux for desktop game and was pushing their weight around, giving the impression that they were ignoring the feedback from their users. Unity wasn't without its missteps. But it matured quite…

Unity still has the smoothest 3x3 desktop experience ever made. It is also fantastic with touchscreen. I hope they will recover it some day..

Re: Ask HN: Which great products didn't succeed?

#537

Post by ohazi »

Deivuh wrote: post #533

Google Talk (client). It was the best IM out there back when MSN started to get bloated with features and plugins like MSN Plus. I remember that when I switched to GTalk, I still kept MSN for some of my contacts that I still chatted with, but eventually those people switched too and there was nothing left in MSN for me other that contacts with long and overly decorated status messages. The official GTalk client was s…

I would argue that GTalk is not still alive. They sneakily replaced it with Hangouts, which brought multi-way video, but was otherwise worse in every way.

Re: Ask HN: Which great products didn't succeed?

#538

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

neuronic wrote: post #488
r3bl wrote: post #413

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rolex is a terrible example. On top of their products aiming to last generations (nobody's going to leave Apple Watch to their grandchildren), they're also well known for not reporting any sales figures what so ever. Nobody can tell you how many Rolexes there are in total, let alone the sales figures of a specific model of a Rolex. That's partially what makes them so valuable. People usually don't change Rolexes ever…

Changing an Apple Watch/Android Wearable even once every 3-5 years must be the 7th circle of hell for someone like Dieter Rams. It's incredible how normal it has become to switch out $500-$1200 products at such a cycle. Wasteful, next to no functional gain (certified electro-cardiography being exempt in my books), supporting narcissism... It's consumerism to the max. We should all take a step back and think about wha…

You could (and are) say the same things about Fashion, since that's pretty much what the Apple Watch is: a fashion statement.

Re: Ask HN: Which great products didn't succeed?

#540

Post by rbritton »

_s wrote: post #202
rbritton wrote: post #164

iPod Nano (6th gen) and to a lesser extent, the iPod Shuffle. It’s the best clip-on music player I’ve ever used, and there’s a void now with it being fully discontinued. I’m not a fan of their intended replacement (iPhone + Bluetooth headphones) due to weight and the headphone options available.

The replacement is more likely the Apple Watch and wireless head / earphones.

Good point — I missed that option. That’s at least a less expensive change than a phone, but it’s still a minimum of $400 vs the $150 of the nano. It’s vastly more expensive for those solely wanting a music player.
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