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Write libraries instead of services, where possible

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Re: Write libraries instead of services, where possible

#221

Post by potta_coffee »

whack wrote: post #131
kybernetikos wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right. The fact that people can make outsize rewards from subscription services are the reason that even small single use tools are now 'services'. I have a piece of software that removes the background from my video feed. It's a subscription, and it regularly phones home. I have a piece of software that lets me visually combine, rotate and reorder pdfs. It's a subscription. Even the simplest things, like a 't…

> It's miserable fighting off a million people who want to help me for 'less than the daily price of your coffee'. Is it also miserable "fighting off" a million companies who want to sell you stuff for the daily price of a coffee? Stuff like T-Shirts, books, newspapers, candy, etc? You seem to have a patronizing attitude towards software products/services. You seem to think that they are so simple, that they should b…

The parent isn't arguing against paying for software, they're arguing against the subscription model.

I was a professional designer once. I happily purchased Adobe software to do my job; it was the best out there. Adobe switched to a subscription model and I no longer use their products. Thankfully, alternatives have presented themselves, and there are now capable software suites that I can pay a fair price for.

Re: Write libraries instead of services, where possible

#222

Post by cratermoon »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #102
devit wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty sure there is normal software for those uses, and you can get free/open source apps with no ads from F-Droid for all basic needs (such as a "torch").

Unfortunately, normal software cannot afford the marketing budget a service can (particularly a VC-backed service).

There's a bible app called YouVersion that's by far the most popular app on both iOS and Android.

"YouVersion Bible is notorious for privacy violations and dangerous data collection. Yet, here it is: still seated firmly in the Play Store, racking up over 100 million installs with a whopping 22 permission requests."

https://www.cnet.com/news/why-so-many-android-christian-apps...

They company owns the bible.com domain. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. billionaire founder/owner David Green as supported it.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2012/09/18/david-g...

Re: Write libraries instead of services, where possible

#223

Post by potta_coffee »

yabudemada wrote: post #115
kybernetikos wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right. The fact that people can make outsize rewards from subscription services are the reason that even small single use tools are now 'services'. I have a piece of software that removes the background from my video feed. It's a subscription, and it regularly phones home. I have a piece of software that lets me visually combine, rotate and reorder pdfs. It's a subscription. Even the simplest things, like a 't…

MS Office is a great example of this because they squeeze money out of folks when it seems the features added are minimal. The only interesting aspect is cloud-collaboration, but that could be P2P instead. I'm willing to wager most folks still use the same subset of office functionality: page layouts and fonts and such have been around for a while; financial formulas rarely change; etc. But yet, they are charged an a…

Lambda is absolutely the worst thing to happen to software engineering in recent memory, IMO. I've seen it used well, but only a tiny percentage of the time. The rest of the time it's tortured and abused and the project turns into a sadistic exercise in forcing the problem to fit the desired solution, instead of the other way around.

Re: Write libraries instead of services, where possible

#225

Post by rightbyte »

carmen_sandiego wrote: post #171
OkGoDoIt wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not hard to find a T-shirt I can wear over and over again without having to keep paying for it. Nowadays it’s nearly impossible to find software that lets you pay once at a reasonable price. So yeah, it is very frustrating to fight off subscriptions.

So write your own software for your needs and sell it for a one off price? But you presumably won't because the incentive isn't great enough. Which is exactly why people milk subs. And if you're not willing to do it for the incentive of a one off price, why should anyone else be?

> So write your own software for your needs and sell it for a one off price?

Should he tailor his tshirt too? It is totaly fine to whine about something without fixing the industry by yourself.

I for one don't like the movement of commercial software to forced cloud integration. Big or small business. What would have been shareware or naggware would today be SaaS and be gone the day the server shuts down.

Re: Write libraries instead of services, where possible

#226

Post by thaumasiotes »

kybernetikos wrote: post #81
ganafagol wrote: post #20

> A service has constant administration costs which are paid by the service provider. A properly designed library instead moves these costs to the users of the library. I agree with the articles point, but this introduction, right there, is why it's not happening. SaaS turns your startup into a unicorn and yourself into a rich person. Or at least that's what you are hoping/aiming for. A library is not going to make y…

You're right. The fact that people can make outsize rewards from subscription services are the reason that even small single use tools are now 'services'. I have a piece of software that removes the background from my video feed. It's a subscription, and it regularly phones home. I have a piece of software that lets me visually combine, rotate and reorder pdfs. It's a subscription. Even the simplest things, like a 't…

> I have a piece of software that lets me visually combine, rotate and reorder pdfs. It's a subscription.

That's on you; you can easily get software to do that for free.

Re: Write libraries instead of services, where possible

#227

Post by b3kart »

selfhoster11 wrote: post #5
101008 wrote: post #2

I like the approach and it seems to be definitely better for everyone, but how you monetize a library?

Does everything have to be about money? This is "Hacker" News, not "Monetize Everything" News.

Landlords don't accept GitHub stars as rent payment, unfortunately. Unless they do in the Bay Area...?

Re: Write libraries instead of services, where possible

#228

Post by abraxas »

Yeah, the "everything service" mentality is getting a little out of hand. The most recent, egregious example I heard of is the "language server" in VS Code. What used to be a plugin/library functionality has now been turned into a distributed computing problem with all its warts and gotchas. I've no idea who makes these decisions on a project like that and how they justify them.

Re: Write libraries instead of services, where possible

#229

Post by munk-a »

ajfapoiawejf wrote: post #212
whack wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's miserable fighting off a million people who want to help me for 'less than the daily price of your coffee'. Is it also miserable "fighting off" a million companies who want to sell you stuff for the daily price of a coffee? Stuff like T-Shirts, books, newspapers, candy, etc? You seem to have a patronizing attitude towards software products/services. You seem to think that they are so simple, that they should b…

I pay for a T-shirt, then I use it for as long as I want. I don't pay every month to wear the T-shirt.

That's fair - but if you tear that shirt through your own usage or because it was poorly made - that's on you.

There is a very fair expectation of continued support when it comes to software, this doesn't need to include new features, but security issues in libraries should continue to be fixed. That implies an ongoing cost that might not have an ongoing revenue stream to sustain it.

When it comes to shirts there is no similar expectation of ongoing maintenance - Nike isn't going to come to your house and resew a seam because they did a shoddy job the first time.

Re: Write libraries instead of services, where possible

#230

Post by a1369209993 »

naveen_jain07 wrote: post #169
redkoala wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

App stores should really prevent these type of no value add apps.

And after that you will say big giant tech companies controlling our businesses.

App store monopoly and monopsony status is a seperate (albeit related) problem from app stores having no or shitty quality control. If a non-monop'y app store wants to control peoples' business... well, they can't; people will just use a different app store; that's the point.
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