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OpenClaw surpasses React to become the most-starred software project on GitHub

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Re: OpenClaw surpasses React to become the most-starred software project on GitHub

#211

Post by vmbm »

SunshineTheCat wrote: post #61

I keep reading folks saying OpenClaw has completely changed their life while posting a picture of 58 mac minis on their desk. But every single use case I've read so far could be done with a pretty affordable SaaS product, Zapier, Automator (app on a mac that's existed for over a decade), or something simple you could make yourself. It also feels like people are automating things that don't really need to be automated…

I think a lot of the hype is coming from content creators who are actually finding it useful for content creation. Generating ideas, organizing notes and research, writing scripts and articles, managing schedules, editing, promoting, etc...

I assume a lot of these folks were already using LLM's quite a bit, but were using the Chat interfaces or had workflows that were split among a bunch of different services and tools. Something like OpenClaw gave them a way to centralize a lot of that and also gave them a way to use natural language to direct efforts. So for them this probably feels like a big step change.

If you are coming from a programming background you were aware that this type of setup has been doable for a while, but you were probably content sticking with Claude code or similar tools because those tools covered most of your LLM based workflows quite well.

And tying this altogether, one of the lowest hanging fruits for content creators is to create content about the tools they are using. Doubly so if that particular tool is starting to go viral. So you end up with a self feeding virality of sorts, as OpenClaw got more popular, more content creators started using it, and then publishing content about it, etc....

Re: OpenClaw surpasses React to become the most-starred software project on GitHub

#212

Post by 2OEH8eoCRo0 »

siva7 wrote: post #151
SunshineTheCat wrote: post #61

I keep reading folks saying OpenClaw has completely changed their life while posting a picture of 58 mac minis on their desk. But every single use case I've read so far could be done with a pretty affordable SaaS product, Zapier, Automator (app on a mac that's existed for over a decade), or something simple you could make yourself. It also feels like people are automating things that don't really need to be automated…

The old dudes had something they called the "Eternal September" like when ISPs began providing free internet access and discussion culture declined after forever. I starred this thread here as the start of the "Eternal March" when the open internet died forever.

We also have No Silver Bullet from Mythical Man-Month

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Silver_Bullet

Re: OpenClaw surpasses React to become the most-starred software project on GitHub

#213

Post by collingreen »

siva7 wrote: post #151
SunshineTheCat wrote: post #61

I keep reading folks saying OpenClaw has completely changed their life while posting a picture of 58 mac minis on their desk. But every single use case I've read so far could be done with a pretty affordable SaaS product, Zapier, Automator (app on a mac that's existed for over a decade), or something simple you could make yourself. It also feels like people are automating things that don't really need to be automated…

The old dudes had something they called the "Eternal September" like when ISPs began providing free internet access and discussion culture declined after forever. I starred this thread here as the start of the "Eternal March" when the open internet died forever.

September was part of the metaphor because it was a time when decent internet access was mostly via universities and September was when the new batch of freshmen "came online" and started stumbling around the places these folks were regulars at but eventually assimilated or left before the end of the school year. (I expect the same thing happens at the bar scene in college towns but I've never heard it described that way.) Eternal September is the forever version of everyone having access and overwhelming those spaces without it ever being able to recover.

Is there something I'm missing about March or is it just a diverging reference? If the wave of non technical folks being able to automate new things is here, what's the equivalent impact of that? Maybe this is the inflection point where everyone needs more tech support like some sort of post Christmas surge? Maybe less because they have the tools to help themselves without trying now?

I'm not sure we're there yet anyway; I think this is still first adopters and enthusiasts. I asked my wife and some non technical friends and none of them have heard of openclaw yet. I think the deluge will happen if Apple or Android bakes it in or one of the big ai companies makes the app good enough for a normal person to unleash it upon their life and community.

Re: OpenClaw surpasses React to become the most-starred software project on GitHub

#214

Post by skeledrew »

basch wrote: post #137
mjr00 wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It also feels like people are automating things that don't really need to be automated at all (do you really need to be reminded to make coffee?) I've posted about this before, I call it the Jarvis effect. > For years we had people trying to make voice agents, like Iron Man's Jarvis, a thing. You had people super bought into the idea that if you could talk to your computer and say "Jarvis, book me a flight from New…

I’ll disagree with you a little. The reason I don’t use voice is because of context switching. With a mouse and keyboard I can switch windows. With my voice, the computer can’t yet automatically determine if I am dictating a transcription or giving editing commands. What I really need is the interpreter listening to me to intuitively to know whether I am in the equivalent of VI command mode or insert mode. It is the…

Problem I see here is you're trying to shoehorn a voice interface onto something that's highly optimized for keyboard input. The apps need to be redesigned to be accommodating of the interface, else it's just never-ending papercuts.

Re: OpenClaw surpasses React to become the most-starred software project on GitHub

#215

Post by Sharlin »

skeledrew wrote: post #208
blenderob wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There's a reason it has so many stars and most of the people getting something out of it are not posting on X. That reason is buying stars, agent swarms, and astroturing. No project gathers 200K stars genuinely in 3 months. There are far more useful and popular projects that need 10 years to get 200K stars. When you see a project like this get 200K stars in just 3 months, you know something is very fishy.

Or you're just missing the generally wide appeal of the project.

There just aren't enough hobbyists in the world running local AI models, never mind technically savvy enough to hack something like OpenClaw and be really excited about it.

For a comparison, the local image gen interfaces ComfyUI and A1111 WebUI have a huge amount of stars (~100k and 160k respectively, accrued since 2022 or so), but they allow you to create porn customized to whatever kinks you have, not just automate things for the sake of automation. One of those is a rather bigger value prop than the other, dopamine-wise.

Re: OpenClaw surpasses React to become the most-starred software project on GitHub

#216

Post by BeetleB »

latexr wrote: post #99
pyridines wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is ridiculously more expensive and complicated under the hood, technically, but to the user, the sheer convenience of being able to text the computer "hey, when I get an email like X, inform Y and do Z" and that's it , you're done , is unmatched.

What about the convenience of having your whole inbox deleted? https://www.pcmag.com/news/meta-security-researchers-opencla... Maybe OpenClaw was just practicing a really aggressive form of Inbox Zero.

So ... don't give it write access to your email?

As I said elsewhere, complaining about this is like complaining that rm can let you delete your hard drive.

It's a tool. Learn how to use it.

Re: OpenClaw surpasses React to become the most-starred software project on GitHub

#217

Post by Volundr »

SunshineTheCat wrote: post #61

I keep reading folks saying OpenClaw has completely changed their life while posting a picture of 58 mac minis on their desk. But every single use case I've read so far could be done with a pretty affordable SaaS product, Zapier, Automator (app on a mac that's existed for over a decade), or something simple you could make yourself. It also feels like people are automating things that don't really need to be automated…

What I find crazy is the sheer amount of access and trust involved in these LLMs. Every time I think about something I might like to do with it, I think about the amount of damage the LLM could do, e.x. even with read only access to my email combined with Internet access, and nope out. It's wild to me anyone trusts these things unsupervised.

Re: OpenClaw surpasses React to become the most-starred software project on GitHub

#218

Post by scotty79 »

kandros wrote: post #73
SunshineTheCat wrote: post #61

I keep reading folks saying OpenClaw has completely changed their life while posting a picture of 58 mac minis on their desk. But every single use case I've read so far could be done with a pretty affordable SaaS product, Zapier, Automator (app on a mac that's existed for over a decade), or something simple you could make yourself. It also feels like people are automating things that don't really need to be automated…

Patterns i keep seeing: Once you get the dopamine hit of having an ai assistant do something in the real world it becomes an hammer you want to use on everything Instead of being a problem solver you start to become a problem hunter, and you invent them in order to solve them

This sounds similar to what you feel when learning to program for the first time.

Re: OpenClaw surpasses React to become the most-starred software project on GitHub

#219

Post by basch »

skeledrew wrote: post #214
basch wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ll disagree with you a little. The reason I don’t use voice is because of context switching. With a mouse and keyboard I can switch windows. With my voice, the computer can’t yet automatically determine if I am dictating a transcription or giving editing commands. What I really need is the interpreter listening to me to intuitively to know whether I am in the equivalent of VI command mode or insert mode. It is the…

Problem I see here is you're trying to shoehorn a voice interface onto something that's highly optimized for keyboard input. The apps need to be redesigned to be accommodating of the interface, else it's just never-ending papercuts.

That’s what I’m saying. Voice as the input requires a completely new ui paradigm, and chat / chatbot isn’t enough.

Re: OpenClaw surpasses React to become the most-starred software project on GitHub

#220

Post by recursive »

chaostheory wrote: post #102
SunshineTheCat wrote: post #61

I keep reading folks saying OpenClaw has completely changed their life while posting a picture of 58 mac minis on their desk. But every single use case I've read so far could be done with a pretty affordable SaaS product, Zapier, Automator (app on a mac that's existed for over a decade), or something simple you could make yourself. It also feels like people are automating things that don't really need to be automated…

this reads like “I don’t know why people are using instant messengers when you can just do SMS”

Apropos of nothing, I use SMS more than all the other instant messengers put together. It suits my purposes fine.
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