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Ask HN: What are some “10x” software product innovations you have experienced?

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Re: Ask HN: What are some “10x” software product innovations you have experienced?

#331

Post by dopeboy »

saalweachter wrote: post #232

Modern Linux distros. Yeah, I have so many complaints about them, but for a wide range of use-cases and hardwares, they "just work" now. In the olden days, Linux desktops and servers, and especially laptops were much more "pets" than "livestock", needing constant attention and care to keep them working, correctly configured, and up to date. Half the time when you added a new software package or piece of hardware you'…

You're giving me flashbacks to when I had to compile my own kernel for ubuntu on a macbook.

All to get suspend working.

Re: Ask HN: What are some “10x” software product innovations you have experienced?

#332

Post by jaxn »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #327
SatvikBeri wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It made a big difference for me with occasional trips, I took public transportation to work, but Uber/Lyft meant I could go visit my friends for $10 and 10 minutes instead of $2 and 45 minutes. Note that a car also costs thousands of dollars a year once you factor in everything, Edmunds estimates the true cost of a corolla at $7k/year: https://www.edmunds.com/toyota/corolla/2020/cost-to-own/

I have multiple experiences with Toyota’s driven 200k to 300k miles with just standard repairs. A Corolla costs $20k? $25k? Let’s say $1k for new tires/brakes/oil changes/filters every 45k miles. That’s $333 per year for maintenance, and the car lasts 13 to 20 years at 15k miles per year for 200k to 300k miles, so let’s say $2k per year on the high end, $1,200 per year on the low end. Extremely high liability insuran…

Add parking in a major city (the places Uber/Lyft are a viable alternative).

Re: Ask HN: What are some “10x” software product innovations you have experienced?

#334

Post by dpcx »

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #319
ta1234567890 wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kazaa

The only problem I had with Kazaa is how often people would rename files for reasons I'll never understand. Like...imagine downloading "The Matrix.avi", and you start playing it, and it turns out it was actually a copy of Fight Club. WHY!?

For the same reason trolls are everywhere: because they can :/

Re: Ask HN: What are some “10x” software product innovations you have experienced?

#335

Post by core-questions »

sangnoir wrote: post #326
namrog84 wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe opera had tabs for a while before Firefox. It was one of the main reasons I think I used opera for a good long while.

You are correct - Opera had tabs way before Firefox, and Opera had a full mail client as well without feeling bloated or slow.

I strongly believe that if Opera had had a cool name, it would have been a real contender. People don't like operas, they're boring and stodgy.

Re: Ask HN: What are some “10x” software product innovations you have experienced?

#337

Post by saalweachter »

Loughla wrote: post #260
saalweachter wrote: post #232

Modern Linux distros. Yeah, I have so many complaints about them, but for a wide range of use-cases and hardwares, they "just work" now. In the olden days, Linux desktops and servers, and especially laptops were much more "pets" than "livestock", needing constant attention and care to keep them working, correctly configured, and up to date. Half the time when you added a new software package or piece of hardware you'…

Linux Mint literally just works 99.99999% of the time. It's better than windows, tbh, in terms of stability on my machines. Compare that to Ubuntu, Mint, or Fedora from even 10 years ago, and it's startling. Go back to 2004-5 when I was really into this kind of thing in college (and had time to dicker with it), and it's like they're not even the same product. You're 100% right. Linux desktops used to be pets, very fr…

Microsoft Office and most desktop games, basically.

Linux is a little too command-line happy, sure, but not being able to run Excel or World of Warcraft is a much bigger deal-breaker for most people.

Re: Ask HN: What are some “10x” software product innovations you have experienced?

#338

Post by SahAssar »

roadbeats wrote: post #169
deliriousferret wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was Gmail really 10x better than Hotmail?

Hotmail was 10x worse than all alternatives. It was an ugly web page, not an app. Gmail took XMLHttpRequest and its ActiveX fallback (we used to call this “comet”) and proved the world that we can ship a robust app inside a web browser. It was well designed, had no ugly banners like Hotmail did, it was really fast, simple and working like a desktop app.

For historical context: XMLHttpRequest was invented for outlook web access, so the idea and usecase preceded gmail.

Re: Ask HN: What are some “10x” software product innovations you have experienced?

#339

Post by chrbr »

jakevoytko wrote: post #17

Gmail. Using web-based email clients was a nightmare before Gmail. They had limited storage space, and the UX was pretty bad, they were hard to search, etc. You spent all your time figuring out what you wanted to delete, or seeing your emails bounce when people had full inboxes. If you didn't log in for a while, your account would disappear. And then suddenly, you got a GB of storage. For free. No questions asked. An…

They announced it on April Fools. And it seemed like a joke - 1GB for email? Yeah. Right. Hotmail had, what, 10MB? 15?

Best April Fools joke ever.

Re: Ask HN: What are some “10x” software product innovations you have experienced?

#340

Post by jaxn »

Heroku. We used to Colo servers or rent dedicated servers. You had to setup linux/apache/database, etc. Manage logging and backups. And then to scale up you had to do it all over again. First you split the dB onto its own server, then start sharding/load balancing/replicating. And then you take the whole site down by letting a log file fill a disk or something.

Heroku and 12-factor apps easily made building a business 10x easier/faster/cheaper.

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