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Ask HN: What are problems that need to be solved?

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Re: Ask HN: What are problems that need to be solved?

#101

Post by alalonde »

nostrademons wrote: post #66
mixmax wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can only second edw519's comment, and add a bit to it. Building enterprise software is not only about building software, it's also about processes. Every company with more than a dozen employess has processes for dealing with just about everything. How information flows from A to B, who controls it, who can edit it, who can view it and who approves it. This is primarily a strategic decision. Enterprise software has…

This is a large portion of why enterprise software sucks - accommodating all those processes is a huge pain in the ass, it tends to scare off many of the people who think that software should be elegant, and it tends to result in overly-complicated, byzantine software from the rest. There's a lot of money to be made for those willing to cut through the bullshit, but be aware that there's a lot of bullshit to cut thro…

Absolutely. I think the hardest part would be defining requirements that nail the most important 90% of functionality. You would need strong mentorship from several experienced enterprise veterans to even stand a chance, though.

Re: Ask HN: What are problems that need to be solved?

#102

Post by hooande »

edw519 wrote: post #6

Enterprise software sucks. We don't talk about it much here at hn, but think about it. Every man-made object you encounter every day was manufactured somewhere. And moved, more than once. Now add in all the sales, marketing, customer service, operations, accounting, finance, human resources, etc., etc., etc. needed to support that manufacturing and distribution. Next, add financial markets, healthcare, energy, entert…

Enterprise software sucks because corporations have little incentive to improve it and it's almost impossible for a startup to gain a foothold in terms of sales and adoption. There are so many smart hackers and the problems are so obvious...if they could have been solved with better software, it would have been done long ago.

If you try to make any kind of software that competes even tangentially with SAP, Oracle, etc...you lose. If someone at a big corporation hasn't already heard of your company, the odds of them using your software drop to almost nothing. Because no one has ever been fired for going with IBM. Because big companies are playing strategic games many levels up and don't care about day-to-day employee software usage. Because a startup with a silly name just seems silly, and people willing to fight for adoption from the inside are few and far between.

I'm staring to think that the real game isn't figuring out how to make enterprise software better, but to figuring out how to hack the system itself so that new ideas even have a chance.

Re: Ask HN: What are problems that need to be solved?

#103

Post by stcredzero »

joshu wrote: post #96
stcredzero wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And all of this needs software. And most of what they have sucks. I mean really sucks. That's because Enterprise Software is actually an arbiter of controlling people through controlling workflow. It's solidified corporate politics! Entrenched interests within a company don't want to optimize the company's bottom line. They want to optimize to further their own interests. I once posted about a transatlantic E3 line t…

Coase disagrees. Transactions get expensive.

I thought the Japanese achieved more granular capitalism through long term relationships. This lowers transaction costs while maintaining the pressure for suppliers to keep up their performance levels.

Re: Ask HN: What are problems that need to be solved?

#104

Post by dockd »

jasonlbaptiste wrote: post #15
edw519 wrote: post #6

Enterprise software sucks. We don't talk about it much here at hn, but think about it. Every man-made object you encounter every day was manufactured somewhere. And moved, more than once. Now add in all the sales, marketing, customer service, operations, accounting, finance, human resources, etc., etc., etc. needed to support that manufacturing and distribution. Next, add financial markets, healthcare, energy, entert…

Another trend I noted after sitting in on a VC pitch: Look where people use Excel as some sort of database/process management system because an existing app isn't there or just sucks. That probably spells out opportunity. The world's most used database isn't Oracle or MySQL, it's Microsoft Excel...

It seems like another major use for Excel is its ability to allow people type text in tables. That's using a big hammer for a rather small nail.

This fails in Word--it tries to make the table fit onto a printed page--about 6" across. It doesn't work very well in my [old] copy of Dreamweaver.

Re: Ask HN: What are problems that need to be solved?

#105

Post by rokhayakebe »

brg wrote: post #51
rokhayakebe wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a conversation with a friend and asked him if sleeping was a disease. I firmly believe that one day human kind will solve both the need to eat, sleep and death. Meanwhile you can stop trying to be more productive. It is really overrated. Try taking a Saturday off and do nothing but read, watch good movies you have been putting off, and just relax overall.

Why would anyone who loves what they do stop trying to be more productive? When I say more productive I mean I want to read more, have more conversations, identify and solve more problems, write more papers. Taking a day to 'relax overall' is the least appealing thing I can think of at this moment.

I apologize. I thought you meant productive as in more work (you know more code, more marketing etc..).

Maybe I am abnormal here, but there is nothing in this world I could enjoy doing everyday for most of the day.

Re: Ask HN: What are problems that need to be solved?

#106

Post by bdickason »

jasonlbaptiste wrote: post #15
edw519 wrote: post #6

Enterprise software sucks. We don't talk about it much here at hn, but think about it. Every man-made object you encounter every day was manufactured somewhere. And moved, more than once. Now add in all the sales, marketing, customer service, operations, accounting, finance, human resources, etc., etc., etc. needed to support that manufacturing and distribution. Next, add financial markets, healthcare, energy, entert…

Another trend I noted after sitting in on a VC pitch: Look where people use Excel as some sort of database/process management system because an existing app isn't there or just sucks. That probably spells out opportunity. The world's most used database isn't Oracle or MySQL, it's Microsoft Excel...

Also look for places where small businesses use paper :) My fiance and I started a salon together and we started out using an appointment book and client rolodex to track their customers because the software all sucks.

Two months later, I built some software for it with some friends and now we're getting close to being able to launch it to the world :) Every day I walk by 2-3 barber shops and salons in NYC without computers or with old Windows 3.1-esque programs.

Re: Ask HN: What are problems that need to be solved?

#107

Post by johngalt »

hugh3 wrote: post #79
orangecat wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And it will continue to be until we institute severe rationing, or cure aging. I vote for the second.

Cure aging and you either: a) Have a quite sudden and very severe overpopulation problem, or b) Are forced to ration babies. Both of these are pretty damn dystopic. Don't get me wrong, I'd like to live forever, but not necessarily at the cost of having everyone else live forever too.

Consider how much time/energy humans spend in training/development. Imagine having 30 years to get your PHD without the pressures of having to start a family in the same time frame?

It's truely a very short "maximum productivity time" we have. Possibly as little as 10 years. And in many cases it's that very time where most real progress is made.

Could you imagine if Einstein were still at work today with the mind of a 25 year old? Or Von Neumann with today's technology?

I think that most problems presented in this scenario could be solved.

Re: Ask HN: What are problems that need to be solved?

#109

Post by danielrhodes »

edw519 wrote: post #6

Enterprise software sucks. We don't talk about it much here at hn, but think about it. Every man-made object you encounter every day was manufactured somewhere. And moved, more than once. Now add in all the sales, marketing, customer service, operations, accounting, finance, human resources, etc., etc., etc. needed to support that manufacturing and distribution. Next, add financial markets, healthcare, energy, entert…

Enterprise software does suck, but not in the way that most people think it does.

Companies are willing to pay any price for a piece of software, but only if it meets their needs. As a result, products come out which are made to meet every possible need, which is sort of the opposite of what a good consumer product tries to do. The software sucks as a result.

My opinion is that it's not the software that sucks, insomuch as the process behind it which makes it suck.

Re: Ask HN: What are problems that need to be solved?

#110

Post by cmars232 »

Censored information can be distributed anonymously in the small, but in practice, in the large, censorship still works to marginalize content to a medium that is not readily accessible, save to a technically savvy few (Tor, freenet, I2C). For 99% of the intended audience, it can still be effectively censored.

Is it possible to have anonymity, security and generally-usable accessibility? Not necessarily speed -- latency can be acceptable when the user isn't stuck waiting in real time on a spinning circular icon.

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