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

Did we lose our way in making efficient software?

rufatmammadli.medium.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

351–360 of 515 posts

Re: Did we lose our way in making efficient software?

#351

Post by stale2002 »

Aaron2222 wrote: post #299
fragmede wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't sign your binaries on macOS, the friction for the user to run your app is prohibitive, outside of developer-focused communities.

Yes, it definitely adds quite a bit of friction. Though my other points about not needing to pay for the Apple Developer Program unless you want to codesign (at a much lower price than what you pay for a codesigning certificate suitable for signing Windows programs) and not having to pay Apple 30% (or 15%, or anything) on macOS still stand.

Your point doesn't really stand, no.

Your solution solves a made up problem that nobody cares about, and doesn't solve the one that actually matters, which is to successfully make and distribute good software to users.

Someone shouldn't have to add the the fine print line "Assume I am talking about things that matter, instead of things that don't" to every statement or opinion that they have.

Re: Did we lose our way in making efficient software?

#352

Post by blackeyeblitzar »

s1k3s wrote: post #6

I want to make native apps but Apple and Microsoft seem to be trying really hard to stop me. I have to buy developer accounts, buy certificates for signing binaries, share 30% of my revenue with them for barely any reason and so on. Not to mention the mess they've introduced in their APIs - especially Microsoft. So of course we choose the much simpler, much cheaper way of the web.

We need freedom and privacy oriented general computing hardware and software again. Not these locked down operating systems tied to one walled garden.

Re: Did we lose our way in making efficient software?

#353

Post by ornornor »

edanm wrote: post #344
ornornor wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 2) Google Search is better at giving you what you want in the fewest number of keystrokes than any search from any other company including app store search boxes That seems to be contrary to the general opinion (at least on HN): google has become utterly irrelevant, serving mostly content farm AI generated junk type of blogspam, and google is more concerned about ad revenue than anything else (including results qua…

I mean, this is a very HN-bubble thought. Even if people here actually think that, just look at Google's revenue or usage numbers. Clearly a "few" people are still using it! People here might say that Google has gotten terrible, but I would bet 99% of HNers still user Google dozens of times a day, just like everybody else in the world.

The HN-crowd tends to be more demanding and sometimes ahead of the curve, but it's a general trend. I also wonder how much people enjoy using Google vs suffers through it because they don't know any alternatives.

I remember reading that even Google is worried about how crappy their results are becoming and at least some of the company sees it as a threat to itself.

But yes, you're right, Google is still very much mainstream and the #1 search engine. I'm just not certain it's because it's an amazing experience rather than "no other options".

Re: Did we lose our way in making efficient software?

#354

Post by bobim »

bojan wrote: post #151
hn_version_0023 wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The alternative that exists today that I can buy and all the apps I need for work will actually exist and function correctly is called…

Fairphone 4.

With which OS to have both privacy and Banking apps running in a jailed-signed container? (Genuine question)

Re: Did we lose our way in making efficient software?

#355

Post by darylteo »

lr4444lr wrote: post #8

I think about this a lot, and the conclusion I've come to is that the market (simply meaning the popularity) rewards features and intuitive UI above everything else. I think we've been on this trajectory for some time: getting users with less and less actual computer literacy to do more and more with computers.

The market rewards VALUE.

The rest are simply modifiers on that value. More intuitive UI allows users to gain value more efficiently. Performance allows users to gain value more efficiency.

Efficiency is important, but Value more so.

Re: Did we lose our way in making efficient software?

#356

Post by prmoustache »

The big problem with the software industry, is it is working with a developer first, not customer first approach. Every technology or process is chosen for the benefit of the developers, to save them time, not for the end user.

Some will argue that it is indirectly benefitting the users who can get more features quicker. But most people care more about stability and not having to upgrade their computer yet again than features.

Re: Did we lose our way in making efficient software?

#357

Post by ThalesX »

a2128 wrote: post #14

I may be way off-base here but this is what I imagine the problem is: 1. Company executive decides their developers need top-of-the-line hardware to remain competitive in today's market 2. Developers make web apps on their company-provided M5 Ultra Pro Max 128GB RAM powerhouse laptop 3. They never test it on their father's old 2010 family PC, or at least they don't test often/thoroughly enough to realize many parts a…

This is easily fixable.

I develop using Dev Tools set to mobile and throttled connection. This way mobile-first responsiveness (limited screen-estate) and potential problems with bad connections are first class citizens.

Now, what usually happens is that I signal problems to the product owner and they wave them away. So I might update your third point that sometimes they do test it on their father's old 2010 family PC but it's not of concern to more relevant stakeholders.

Re: Did we lose our way in making efficient software?

#358

Post by franciscop »

prmoustache wrote: post #356

The big problem with the software industry, is it is working with a developer first, not customer first approach. Every technology or process is chosen for the benefit of the developers, to save them time, not for the end user. Some will argue that it is indirectly benefitting the users who can get more features quicker. But most people care more about stability and not having to upgrade their computer yet again than…

> "But most people care more about stability and not having to upgrade their computer yet again than features."

Gonna need some data on that assertion, since there is surely some "balance point", that probably depends on the industry/software, it's not all to one or the other.

As a personal example, these days I've been using Apple Pages (or whatever is called) and it crashes around once in an hour. But it has some features that allows me to quickly iterate over some document, so I am back to cmd+s as in the old days, vs using LibreOffice interface where it would take me an estimate 2x-5x more time.

Re: Did we lose our way in making efficient software?

#360

Post by nox101 »

cosmotic wrote: post #206
s1k3s wrote: post #6

I want to make native apps but Apple and Microsoft seem to be trying really hard to stop me. I have to buy developer accounts, buy certificates for signing binaries, share 30% of my revenue with them for barely any reason and so on. Not to mention the mess they've introduced in their APIs - especially Microsoft. So of course we choose the much simpler, much cheaper way of the web.

Devil's advocate: you now get a lot of tooling for 'free', which used to cost hundreds or thousands of dollars.

On which platform? On Apple's there cost is part of the premium you pay for the device. Cheapest Mac is $599. Cheapest windows machine is $199? $99. So arguably some of tbat $400-500 is for the extra software. Or would compare against Linux where you could also get a machine for $25
Post reply on HN