Windows NT4.
In two years we went from Win3.11, delightful cooperative multitasking et al. Via Win95. To something that would survive a nuclear bomb.
Then security happened.
Ask HN: What are some “10x” software product innovations you have experienced?
371–380 of 818 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are some “10x” software product innovations you have experienced?
#372Modern 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'…
Reading your comment (and replies to) is a bit interesting because I almost never see an admission that Linux is anything but gods gift to humanity. (yes, I exaggerate, bot not too much). It's nice to see more reflection and honesty about various annoyances that came with it.
I remember being told (circa 2005) that my PC issues would be resolved if I just switched from Windows to Linux.
I tried Linux a few times back then, and it never stuck. I would hit some small issue that I couldn't solve and eventually I'd give up and go back to Window (which certainly had its own problems, but I wasn't under any illusion that it was a flawless)
I use Linux more now (mostly as part of WSL) and I really enjoy it when I get to use it.
Re: Ask HN: What are some “10x” software product innovations you have experienced?
#373control^r in bash - literally 10x faster to type things which (ideally) makes 10x more productive :) control^r is reverse search in the command history (for UI people out there).
It's also Undo in Vim. Cheers!
Re: Ask HN: What are some “10x” software product innovations you have experienced?
#374Earlier quoted context omitted.
I completely agree. I was an early adopter of a Sony HDR10 set and am pretty worse off for it. Genuinely curious though as to what you consider a good HDR tv though.
The only way HDR looks good is on an OLED screen with perfect black levels, in my opinion. When the entire screen can be pitch black, and a single pixel can be fully lit up, that's when HDR really shines. All of the LED/LCD HDR solutions look like shit, in my opinion. Even the screens touting a hundred different lighting zones. Nothing compares to OLED.
OLED is about double the price, but IMO, it's worth it.
Being able to have TRUE blacks with no light bleed anywhere is amazing. Yeah, you've got TVs with a hundred zones as you said, but that just means you get blocks of grey when there's something on top of true black. Depending on the scene, that compromise can look even worse than just allowing all the black to be grey from the backlight.
Re: Ask HN: What are some “10x” software product innovations you have experienced?
#375Earlier quoted context omitted.
I remember developing in the early 90s and there was no open source coding tools. It was miserable. One had to write everything from scratch or buy expensive libraries.
> I remember developing in the early 90s and there was no open source coding tools. There were open source coding tools in the early 90s (a lot of the GNU tools, including Emacs and GCC, were first released in the mid-to-late 1980s.)
I know what you're saying but the discoverability of such tools, especially on DOS, was poor. Everyone I knew was buying compilers or, ahem, downloading them from other than authorized sources. It was unreal when I was able to buy a RedHat CD-ROM for a few bucks (from Tucows?) and get access to a full tool suite. You couldn't get huge software packages over 56K modems from BBSes.
Re: Ask HN: What are some “10x” software product innovations you have experienced?
#376Earlier quoted context omitted.
This was the entrypoint to Firefox for millions of people. Unlike today, back then Firefox had a clearly expressive value proposition: Use this! It has tabs! It will change how you browse the web! Now the only value proposition is some wishy-washy privacy stuff that is much harder to sell people on, even if it's in their best interest.
> Now the only value proposition is some wishy-washy privacy stuff that is much harder to sell people on, even if it's in their best interest. They'll still use Chrome or Edge/IE, but will use NordVPN or ExpressVPN after seeing their favorite YouTuber claim that the VPN protects their data and gives them privacy... ...while still not using an ad blocker, which makes the VPN almost entirely worthless from a privacy pe…
That's not totally fair. They also hide your IP from sites you access. So if somebody sent me a link to an IP logger and I clicked it, they would not know what city or state I actually live in, for example.
Re: Ask HN: What are some “10x” software product innovations you have experienced?
#377Earlier quoted context omitted.
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!?
A large chunk of the internet exists for the lulz. Imagine having to postpone your phone calls for an entire weekend in order to download a 1GB copy of Final Fantasy 7 on a crappy 32 kbps dial-up connection, only to open up the game and realize you got Leisure Suit Larry 6.
I was lucky enough that we had a second phone line dedicated to the modem.
Re: Ask HN: What are some “10x” software product innovations you have experienced?
#378Version Control. Imagine going back to FTP-ing updated files onto servers not knowing if you've overwritten someone else's work. Or not being able to see a file's history.
Re: Ask HN: What are some “10x” software product innovations you have experienced?
#379Earlier quoted context omitted.
>1. Automatic device discovery and driver installation (e.g., with USB devices (also USB device categories, etc.)). Instead of trying to find a driver, things just worked. I remember well when installing Windows went from "make sure you have all the driver CDs before you start" to "just make sure you have the network card driver and the disk driver (if needed)" and then it went to "as long as you can connect to the i…
In my experience, you'll still want to go to the NVIDIA/AMD website to download the latest drivers. What you get from Windows Update is likely 6+ months out of date.
True, but you at least have a functioning display out of the box, which lets you get to that website.
Re: Ask HN: What are some “10x” software product innovations you have experienced?
#380Not a single mention of Spotify, the first version was magic, click a song and there were no lag, started to play instant ..