A Look Inside Apple’s New Campus • Hacker News Board

Re: A Look Inside Apple’s New Campus

#181

Post by jseliger » Tue, May 16, 2017, 5:13 PM UTC

linkregister wrote: post #153

macNchz wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the linked article re Cupertino: > For a fast-food restaurant, the city demands one space for every three seats; for a bowling alley, seven spaces per lane plus one for every worker. I've read a bunch of articles about the negative externalities of minimum parking requirements, but haven't really seen one explore the why behind these rules. What does it matter to the city if a bowling alley doesn't have enough p…

I lived in a city that had a revival of its industrial area. There was no parking garage for the new bars and restaurants, so all visitors simply parked in the residents' neighborhoods. Quality of life drastically declined for those residents, and I ended up having to leave due to family members being unable to find parking in under 30 minutes in the evening. Public transit in the city was underfunded so it was only…

There was no parking garage for the new bars and restaurants, so all visitors simply parked in the residents' neighborhoods

This is a solved problem: Charge for parking and the shortage goes away. Meter technology is decades old and well understood. https://www.amazon.com/High-Cost-Free-Parking-Updated/dp/193...

Re: A Look Inside Apple’s New Campus

#182

Post by gertef » Tue, May 16, 2017, 5:13 PM UTC

njarboe wrote: post #171

"Jobs was adamant that the new campus house indigenous flora, and in particular he wanted fruit trees from the orchards he remembered from growing up in Northern California." A perfect example of a the stereotypical Californian mindset. Indigenous is what California was like when one first experienced it and everything should remain unchanged into the future. Edit: On second thought, this is just a statement from the…

Nothing in Jobs' quote says "everything remain unchanged"

Re: A Look Inside Apple’s New Campus

#183

Post by abakker » Tue, May 16, 2017, 5:14 PM UTC

I do some small amount of woodworking on the side of my main job, and as a result I have a large envelope CNC router in my garage. I occasionally post ads for craigslist looking for odd jobs.

About a year ago, I was approached via craigslist by a contractor working on this campus to help make some plywood parts for concrete forms that they couldn't figure out how to mark and measure on site with a jigsaw. They were to be used to make the main curved staircases in the entryway to that campus. I ended up cutting about a hundred different stair forms, and a bunch of templates for the various treads.

I love that I ended up contributing in some small way to this building.

Re: A Look Inside Apple’s New Campus

#184

Post by valuearb » Tue, May 16, 2017, 5:14 PM UTC

teniutza wrote: post #69

eddieroger wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it? The large corporation I work for doesn't have an onsite childcare center. Instead we offer discounts for child care elsewhere, near the office, but not in. For a company as private and secretive as Apple, why even expose themselves to the risk of having people walking around a campus that they don't need to be if they can meet the need elsewhere, offsite?

I don't work for a big company. Every morning I take my daughter to daycare before going to work. Although not far from where we live (2 km), I still need to drive in the opposite direction. This means an extra ~20 minutes per morning. That's just the trip. Add to it the lack of parking spaces and rapidly decreasing chance of finding one after a certain time point. Not to mention that I need wake up a 3 year old at a…

Why should the company spend millions a year on a perk you can take advantage of that I can't? And let's not assume you can take advantage of it, given there will be a waiting list.

Why do people want a return to the "company town" model just to save a few minutes?

Re: A Look Inside Apple’s New Campus

#185

Post by dingo_bat » Tue, May 16, 2017, 5:14 PM UTC

valuearb wrote: post #170

alberth wrote: post #20

Hardly any pictures " inside Apple's new campus"

Disappointed no pictures of the pods

There is indeed a picture of a "pod". It is a claustrophobic closet with glass doors. I have been in elevators I'd rather work in.

Re: A Look Inside Apple’s New Campus

#186

Post by valuearb » Tue, May 16, 2017, 5:14 PM UTC

ensiferum wrote: post #77

All nice and fancy. Probably great for the upper level management. They can take a stroll in the park between golf games. For the grunt workers it's still just another cubicle hell where you crunch away some crappy code or TPS reports.

Pods, not cubes.

Re: A Look Inside Apple’s New Campus

#187

Post by valuearb » Tue, May 16, 2017, 5:14 PM UTC

jonknee wrote: post #90

asimpletune wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, how can you say that? There is absolutely nothing but love put into this building. Jobs spent his last years on earth dedicated to it, to every single last detail, because he wanted a home for apple, a real home. It's easy to be cynical, but I think it's hard and therefore admirable to rise above that tendency when something truly beautiful and genuine comes along. Now I don't blame you for feeling that way…

It's still a car focused suburban office park with an open office floor plan... No amount of love is going to change the fundamentals.

It's not an open floor plan.

Re: A Look Inside Apple’s New Campus

#188

Post by rgreasons » Tue, May 16, 2017, 5:15 PM UTC

valuearb wrote: post #170

alberth wrote: post #20

Hardly any pictures " inside Apple's new campus"

Disappointed no pictures of the pods

There's a slideshow that includes pictures of the pods. They just chose to start with a nondescript picture of Tim Cook instead of pod guts.

Re: A Look Inside Apple’s New Campus

#189

Post by gertef » Tue, May 16, 2017, 5:15 PM UTC

MattRogish wrote: post #63

timc3 wrote: post #19

I am wondering why I find it kind of odd that it doesn't have a childcare center.

I was talking with a friend about this, that works at a big SV company that is known for high comp. Why don't they have a child care facility? Surely they can afford it! His response was - paraphrasing - "What happens if someone quits, or is fired? In SV/SF, waits for child care facilities can easily take 6-12 months. If someone is terminated from our company, the last thing we want for them to do is have a crisis ab…

Same reason companies shouldn't provide healthcare. Macroeconomics is complicated.

Why can't there be onsite third-party childcare? The problem here is the concept of a surburban "company town" office, instead of having an office building integrated into the wider community.

Re: A Look Inside Apple’s New Campus

#190

Post by valuearb » Tue, May 16, 2017, 5:16 PM UTC

jshevek wrote: post #93

asimpletune wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, how can you say that? There is absolutely nothing but love put into this building. Jobs spent his last years on earth dedicated to it, to every single last detail, because he wanted a home for apple, a real home. It's easy to be cynical, but I think it's hard and therefore admirable to rise above that tendency when something truly beautiful and genuine comes along. Now I don't blame you for feeling that way…

Easy to be cynical, hard to admire? No. It's easy to be a fanboy, hard to take an honest look at how this is just a prettier beehive for the drones.

Since you didn't read the article and don't know what the "beehive" is really like, it's easy to be cynical.