Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

star-history.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

301–310 of 388 posts

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

#301

Post by sethjgore »

0x457 wrote: post #273
Anon1096 wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't believe that I haven't seen the obvious answer, that OpenClaw is simply more fun to use. Sure, you MAY be able to do what OpenClaw does through 5 other dedicated tools, but you are going to take way longer to do so with a ton more drudge work. And above all else: it is extremely enjoyable to talk to the computer in normal language and just have stuff happen. And it's got a personality that you can tweak to your…

OpenClaw in most cases also going to use the very same dedicated tools, maybe variation of those tools dumbed down for LLM. Almost every time I have an idea for AI Agent, I end up just making a script/binary that does the same, but so much faster that adding AI to it feels silly. Recently I made a tool router that runs locally for such tools. Some tools have no arguments at all. Claude created a quick overlay where I…

Can you give an particular example?

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

#302

Post by theshackleford »

BeetleB wrote: post #283
theshackleford wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> no, I'm not going to manage TODOs on my phone - whole other conversation I will. Far simpler, far more secure and far less wasteful than inserting some additional and unrequired LLM loop + hardware/virtualisation layer on top to do something I've already been able to do for years. > But until you've had it on you for a while, you can't comprehend the utility. You've not yet described anything that literally 99% of…

> Far simpler And far less capable. I have a whole system for managing TODOs, notes, etc, and I've not found an app that fits my needs (especially given that the system evolves over time). But I agree - if you have a flow that works great for you with just a phone, then I wouldn't recommend OpenClaw for that use case. > You've not yet described anything that literally 99% of the population can not already do with the…

Well, i'm happy for you from the respect that as someone with ADHD, getting a working notes and TODO system for me was life changing, and was something that in fact took me years, and I still tend to occasionally uproot my system, so I can understand that getting to somewhere it works for you can be of tremendous value alone.

> I have a whole system for managing TODOs, notes, etc

So do I and it can already accept input via text or voice from my phone and so I’m just not seeing the benefit of inserting an additional LLM orchestration layer just to route tasks into it.

> And far less capable.

My current setup can already capture voice and text, and can route it automatically into Logseq, Trello, or even org-mode. These all can be viewed from the same (or other) devices. Honestly, I would have to think it was of more usage in retrieval than submission if I was to ever go that route. Like instead of reviewing my todos/schedule manually.

> And in the early days, literally everyone I knew who owned an iPhone also owned a digital camera and a laptop. Why pay some crazy amount for a fancy phone?

A Phone enabled entirely new behaviors that were not possible from my laptop or camera at the time. Persistent connectivity, real-time location services and on device image capture, edit and sharing just to name an incredibly small few. It created use cases that weren’t practical or even possible previously.

I’m open to being convinced, but I haven’t yet seen an example where OpenClaw enables something meaningfully new rather than repackaging something I can already do right now. Perhaps i'd be more open to it if it not literally everything I could think of using it for did not lead to atrocious security implmentations.

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

#303

Post by Xirdus »

DomB wrote: post #285
Xirdus wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any examples of 20th or 21st century breakthrough technologies that started out as toys? I can only think of 3D printers.

Drones

A cursory glance at Wikipedia tells me the technology to make drones (I assume by drones you mean quadcopters) was well known all the way back in the 50s. You could say the technology ultimately ended as nothing but a toy, rather than started as one.

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

#304

Post by tehlike »

theshackleford wrote: post #294
bwb wrote: post #60

I'm blown away by the comments. This is a cool project someone created with clear warnings about its current state (beta), and the community is being utterly disrespectful. They are building something that many people find useful/fascinating/intriguing/fun. Come on HN.

I am under absolutely zero requirement to glaze some random piece of software because you or anyone else personally find it interesting.

negativity rarely gets you far in life, however. Think about it. I don't use openclaw, don't see the need in my personal life, but i am also not shitting on it.

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

#305

Post by BeetleB »

theshackleford wrote: post #302
BeetleB wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Far simpler And far less capable. I have a whole system for managing TODOs, notes, etc, and I've not found an app that fits my needs (especially given that the system evolves over time). But I agree - if you have a flow that works great for you with just a phone, then I wouldn't recommend OpenClaw for that use case. > You've not yet described anything that literally 99% of the population can not already do with the…

Well, i'm happy for you from the respect that as someone with ADHD, getting a working notes and TODO system for me was life changing, and was something that in fact took me years, and I still tend to occasionally uproot my system, so I can understand that getting to somewhere it works for you can be of tremendous value alone. > I have a whole system for managing TODOs, notes, etc So do I and it can already accept inp…

> A Phone enabled entirely new behaviors that were not possible from my laptop or camera at the time. Persistent connectivity, real-time location services and on device image capture, edit and sharing just to name an incredibly small few.

All of these things were doable without a smartphone - just very inconvenient to do so.

And all of these things are potentially dangerous ;-)

> Perhaps i'd be more open to it if it not literally everything I could think of using it for did not lead to atrocious security implmentations.

I was like you - seemed too scary (and expensive) to use. But given its traction, I figured I may end up at a disadvantage if I didn't at least learn it. So when I had some time, I simply looked at it, felt installing a VM is (relatively) low risk, and tried it out.

It's a very open ended tool. Ideas will come as you explore its capability. When LLMs came out, people (including me) said "Neat gimmick, but is it actually useful?" and stopped using it a month or two in. It was about 6 more months before I found a real use case for LLMs, and slowly I found more and more use cases.

And so it is with OpenClaw. For me, just being able to query it for the exact weather information I need is great - if you live in an area where knowing this stuff is important.

I have yet to find a tool that is good in converting receipts into the form I need. I spend time each month doing it manually. LLMs may get me there, and if it does, I'll likely hook it into OpenClaw.

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

#306

Post by furyofantares »

siva7 wrote: post #146
laweijfmvo wrote: post #54

Does this mean that the creator of OpenClaw qualifies for that free Claude Max trial?

No, Openai employees are banned by Anthropic from using Claude.

OpenAI employees are also banned from using Claude by Pete Hegseth, according to Pete Hegseth

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

#307

Post by UqWBcuFx6NV4r »

latexr wrote: post #86
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…

> Automator (app on a mac that's existed for over a decade) Two decades! It will be 20 this April. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automator_(macOS) Though technically it’s deprecated in favour of the clusterfuck of bugs and limitations that is Shortcuts. But you’re right, OpenClaw seems to be another fad being used mostly by “influencers” and “thought leaders” to show how awesome and productive they are at… Writing bl…

I tried making a very simple Shortcut the other week and gave up after over 2 hours. I even resorted to reading the docs, which revealed absolutely nothing.

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

#308

Post by monkpit »

Xirdus wrote: post #191
jasonshen wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many breakthrough technologies appear initially like toys. And this certainly qualifies. I've never been able to code anything more complicated than a memory game in javascript but I have worked with engineering teams for my entire professional career. But prompting my agent to write python scripts to pull down data from various tools via API without having to read docs, do trial and error for hours / days / indefini…

Do you have any examples of 20th or 21st century breakthrough technologies that started out as toys? I can only think of 3D printers.

3D printing started as aerospace tech, I’m pretty sure.

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

#309

Post by navaed01 »

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 agree in part with the hype train thesis, but what I hear is that open claw is better at solving problems and people love the interaction pattern - that may not be any new invention but it is what will mean we go from having Claude Desktop use mainly by engineers to something used by many. This will not be the final iteration of it, but it seems to be the direction of this to come

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

#310

Post by monkpit »

vmbm wrote: post #211
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 too…

For 99% of my use cases, Claude Code is the clear winner. So, when I tried to use OpenClaw to test it out, it just seemed like a worse, slower, less-capable version of Claude Code. And it is. I haven’t seen the use case where OpenClaw can really shine yet, but I’m sure it’s coming. Like others are saying, I’m willing to be convinced, but so far it hasn’t happened.
Post reply on HN