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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?

#681
post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Found this CNET article: https://www.cnet.com/news/google-to-offer-gigabyte-of-free-e... They say 2 MB Hotmail, 4 MB Yahoo. Gmail went straight to a gigabyte.

It was so crazy people wrote code to use gmail as a network drive.

Ah, those were the days... ;)

http://web.archive.org/web/20070708004553/http://richard.jon...

http://libgmail.sourceforge.net

https://pramode.net/articles/lfy/fuse/pramode.html/

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

#682

- Git Single handedly let me both reap the benefits of SVN but opened up shared code, and a greatly simplified setup and management. - Linux (Linux Mint - Ubuntu) After years of crashing Windows and Mac's, finally getting on Linux was a dream. App installs, native tools (git), server and database support being top-notch, etc... (ie, my desktop environment was the same as my server!) - VScode After years of struggling…

Oh man, Macromedia Fireworks was great. Folks made the most beautifully unique websites with it. I wish the app, and those design sensibilities could have survived. The web and app ecosystem today would be less monotonous and more fun to make.

Macromedia made the web a fun place on so many fronts. I really do miss Flash development (and Flash) too.

In an alternative universe we're all just using Macromedia tools and are being very productive and happy.

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

#683

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks so much for this detailed explanation, it really helped underscore the differences! Do you run ZoL or use FreeBSD?

I use both. On Debian stable, ZFS is a piece of cake, because the kernel version never changes. You just install the ZFS package (which is actively maintained) and call it a day. I imagine on something like Arch it could become quite a pain, though (never tried it myself).

A few more questions if you'll indulge me. First, how do you actually install ZFS on Debian? I understand you can install the ZFS package, but that in and of itself won't change the underlying filesystem on disk. Also, doesn't Ext4 also support checksumming? (See https://ext4.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Ext4_Metadata_Checksu...).

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

#684
I’d say the little known pricespy. I barely even check product reviews any longer because the popularity ranking will always have the highest score for the best product and the filters are almost always spot on.

Before I’d spend weeks researching things, making my own spreadsheets. Now it’s just a five minute ordeal to find the best gift.

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

#686

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> visual-space-inefficient If you’re referring to the oft discussed “information density” issue, my goodness, scroll a little. That spacing is good for usability and, yes, accessibility. Those larger action targets and the space between them are not only good for us with vision impairment but for people whose only computing device is a phone.

I’ve noticed a pattern of what I get downvoted for and it doesn’t reflect well on this community. 1. Asking people to show a little empathy to others (eg use your scroll wheel so people can benefit from reading a thing or clicking it at all) 2. Asking people to show a little empathy to others (eg recognizing that people who have violent ideologies are dangerous and don’t deserve free mandatory amplification from othe…

You jumped to a conclusion about what was said (the informational issue). Then you very combatively and rudely dismissed that idea.

It reads like you had a bone to pick with the information density argument, and just wanted to get into a flamewar when you saw someone who perhaps disagreed with you. I expect people weren't downvoting empathy. I think they were down voting a rude attempt at starting an off-topic flame war.

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

#687
ZFS, so many problem got solved for me all at once: no more having to spend money on hardware RAID cards, or having them end up being the single point of failure... so having to spend more on RAID cards. zfs-send really streamlines the backup process as well - so it actually happens. It basically made it possible to build an enterprise class SAN that I wouldn't have been able to otherwise afford. So not technically a 10x, more like a 10(x+1).

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

#688

Firebug. Every developer from around 2006-2008 knows what I'm talking about. Debugging JS in IE6 was like trying to build a house blindfolded with both arms tied behind your back. Firebug is when JS went from just a web augmentation toy that could silently fail and your web page would still mostly function to becoming a critical function for a web page (many will see this as all a big mistake).

Debugging safari on ipad issues without a mac is still like that. ilibmobiledevice stops working all the time

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

#689

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The first time I saw it was in Google's Orkut, their first failed social network. But it did have cool AJAX.

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

#690
post #412
post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

in sf, pre uber, taxis just didn't come. They were extremely unreliable -- call, and they'd come if they felt like it. maybe. and on their own schedule. Also, they were run by utter assholes who knew you had 3-4 companies to choose from, and they all sucked. uber and lyft later turned it into a service that was highly reliable (came, or at least told you if they weren't coming). It seriously enabled the use of taxis…

This describes the taxi experience I've had in every city the world over. Not that I've been everywhere, but places in Europe, Asia, North/Central America, that's been my experience. Small towns are generally better because the taxi driver isn't anonymous.

They're fairly polite in Japan and don't try to rip you off, but many taxi drivers are 900 years old and have incomprehensible accents (Japanese ones, not foreign) so it can be a little hard to explain where to go.

I think they're fine in the UK too. But they absolutely aren't in California, Uber was a godsend and far less criminal even considering all the stuff they have done.

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