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Is anyone working on something that is not a website?

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Re: Is anyone working on something that is not a website?

#23

Post by nostrademons »

tx wrote: post #19
nostrademons wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I don't think an average kid out of college is capable of something like this." I've done both desktop/server software and web software, and IMHO good web software is harder. With web software, you have to explicitly think about many things that just aren't an issue with conventional software, like how to distribute the load of a million users over dozens of boxes. It helps that user expectations for UI responsivene…

"I've done both desktop/server software and web software, and IMHO good web software is harder." I can only ask what kind of software have you developed, sir? If web software was harder, you wouldn't see "products" created over a weekend shaping up into companies a week later. And don't get me started on "millions of users on dozen boxes". The primitiveness of web application development is mainly the reason why so m…

Everything you mention is true, and a huge pain when developing desktop applications. One of the projects I've worked on was to serve as the release engineer for a desktop app that involved a Winsock layered service provider, a background Windows service, a system tray icon, and a Java control application, plus a large server-side component. My job basically consisted of making a tweak to the InstallShield scripts, pushing it out to a dozen VirtualPC images, and making sure it all worked and I didn't hose anything. Then I'd find out that eg. it didn't work with Symantec Personal Firewall, because they based their code off the same sample Microsoft LSP that we did, the one that explicitly says "Do not use for production code", and didn't fix the bug that we spent a week tracking down.

But webapps have the same problem, they just push the complexity into a different area. I also volunteered for FictionAlley.org, a mid-size (110k or so registered users) web community. We would get complaints from users that the site was unreadable on their 40 character PDA screen. We'd get e-mails from blind people saying could we please make the site handicap-accessible and usable on their screen readers. We would get irate e-mails from Opera users about display glitches, or irate e-mails from Mac users wondering why the latest feature we just released didn't work on Safari. We'd get tirades from people because we added navigation bars, after getting tirades from people because we didn't have navigation bars. We'd get constant complaints about the (free) site being too slow, because we didn't have money for more servers.

Until you've actually been involved with a website that has lots of visitors, you have no idea what goes on behind the scenes to keep things running smoothly (or sometimes not-so-smoothly). Yes, desktop apps are hard. I've done them - not just the release engineering stuff above, but I also wrote the Java app included in the package, and I wrote a Netbeans plugin for my current employer, and both had to deal with the sticky platform-and-threading issues necessary for a responsive, professional UI. I still say that webapps are harder.

Re: Is anyone working on something that is not a website?

#24

Post by falsestprophet »

In addition to some web applications, I am slowly developing several products in the chemical sector. (I am a chemical engineer by training). But, the barriers to entry are so high and the risks are so great (often including literal physical danger) that software is decisively more attractive.

Re: Is anyone working on something that is not a website?

#25

Post by far33d »

danw wrote: post #18
far33d wrote: post #3

I'm fascinated by businesses that still deal in physical goods or services, but are enabled because of the web. The two best examples being netflix and city carshare-type businesses.

Don't forget threadless and moo as two other great examples of using the web to rework real world products.

Great examples. I think the most successful web businesses will be those that enhance one's "real" life.

Re: Is anyone working on something that is not a website?

#27

Post by far33d »

boris wrote: post #4

There are plenty of startups that make cool software. Trolltech, Sleepycat (now Oracle), VMWare, Coverity are just a few that come to mind. I think the main difference between software startups compared to web startups is that there is a lot more depth to them. I don't think an average kid out of college is capable of something like this. I am working on software development tools: http://www.codesynthesis.com

VMware is not even close to a startup anymore (EMC acquired, 1000's of employees, soon to IPO 10% of shares)
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