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The Ongoing Battle: NY vs. SF Tech Scene

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Re: The Ongoing Battle: NY vs. SF Tech Scene

#51

Post by carriemelissa »

jtoeman wrote: post #14

Is there a "battle"? I mean, a battle to me means there is a likely winner, and people are pushed into making decisions and taking sides. In 15+ years working at tech companies, I've never had to "pick" - I choose to live in SF - thats it. Further, I've literally never, ever, heard a person who is actually running or employed at a startup consider it a battle. But it does seem like a good headline for getting lots of…

I heard it referred to as a "debate". When I got there, people were asking me left and right about what I thought was different, so it seems like the comparison is already being made.

Re: The Ongoing Battle: NY vs. SF Tech Scene

#52

Post by jacques_chester »

carriemelissa wrote: post #50
jacques_chester wrote: post #31

When all you have is a slightly upgraded monkey brain, everything looks like a status play. Edit: Apparently humour needs to come with captions now. This is a play on the "hammer/nail" truism, observing that folk love to frame things as X vs Y zero-sum games. Possibly because of the human fondness for associating the status value of markers (places, brands) with the status value of our own selves. Thus arguments over…

Ha, I thought it was kind of funny and I wrote the darn thing. For the record, I did hear someone refer to it as "the ongoing New York/SF debate". This isn't something I just invented. I had personally never thought there was any comparison to be made until I heard that people out there make it all the time.

I only knew it was "a thing" from HN, actually. I recently took a holiday to visit both NYC and the Bay Area and I liked both of them a lot.

Re: The Ongoing Battle: NY vs. SF Tech Scene

#53

Post by Aloha »

seiji wrote: post #9
Aloha wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Discounting the sleeping giant works great, until they eat your lunch. Microsoft has an enormous capacity to innovate, mostly thru brute force of the billions of dollars they have sitting around, but still, innovation is innovation.

Not to tear you to shreds, but Microsoft sure did great at popularizing tablet computing, next generation phone supercomputers, hardware industrial design, stores with the highest grossing margins per square foot in existence, and raising their market cap 50x to 100x since 2001.

Microsoft is in nearly every enterprise anywhere, partially due to inertia, but also do to the fact that no one else offers a complete solution - Office is ubiquitous because it was better than all of its competitors, and largely still is. Outlook/Exchange from a objective point of view is horrible - but there is no other complete solution that matches its features.

In every one of their traditional markets they have blasted every incumbent away and largely kept any new competitors from entering in any meaningful way, That said, from about 2001 - when entering new markets they've been like a rudderless ship sailing around in circles. However, there is a changing of the guard coming shortly, one that I think could change the direction of the company in ways that could cause sea change in any new market is chooses to enter. Once Microsoft can figure out how to work with itself again - god help any part of the technology sector they choose to target.

Re: The Ongoing Battle: NY vs. SF Tech Scene

#55

Post by seiji »

Aloha wrote: post #53
seiji wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to tear you to shreds, but Microsoft sure did great at popularizing tablet computing, next generation phone supercomputers, hardware industrial design, stores with the highest grossing margins per square foot in existence, and raising their market cap 50x to 100x since 2001.

Microsoft is in nearly every enterprise anywhere, partially due to inertia, but also do to the fact that no one else offers a complete solution - Office is ubiquitous because it was better than all of its competitors, and largely still is. Outlook/Exchange from a objective point of view is horrible - but there is no other complete solution that matches its features. In every one of their traditional markets they have…

Office is ubiquitous because it was better than all of its competitors, and largely still is.

...which was entirely a result of their abusing monopoly power.

god help any part of the technology sector they choose to target.

With the march onward past Windows 95, they set in motion a plan that kept progress in personal computing from advancing for about 15 years.

Now, I don't believe they sat down and actually said "We are going to halt progress for 15 years." They just sat and grinded on their install base without any reason or motivation to innovate.

Let's not let that happen again.

Microsoft is in no way a good thing for the world. The only saving grace at this point is they are full of silly old people who can't think in a world where everybody has an iPhone in their pocket and an iPad at home.

Re: The Ongoing Battle: NY vs. SF Tech Scene

#56

Post by calciphus »

hkmurakami wrote: post #32
berberous wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the tech scene out there like? It's 30 degrees here in NY :(

Lots of media/content space companies from what I've gathered in the few months living here.

Agreed. Santa Monica is is a solid spot for media startups or a handful of mobile apps. Some good work being done in the recommendation / metasearch space, and a handful of crowdfunding startups. Safe to assume everyone funding you has ties to Hollywood, since that's the majority of the VC money down there.

Re: The Ongoing Battle: NY vs. SF Tech Scene

#58

Post by hkmurakami »

calciphus wrote: post #56
hkmurakami wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lots of media/content space companies from what I've gathered in the few months living here.

Agreed. Santa Monica is is a solid spot for media startups or a handful of mobile apps. Some good work being done in the recommendation / metasearch space, and a handful of crowdfunding startups. Safe to assume everyone funding you has ties to Hollywood, since that's the majority of the VC money down there.

And that's a perfect way to differentiate themselves from SF/SV, much like how many of the most prominent fashion startups have been born from NYC. :)

Re: The Ongoing Battle: NY vs. SF Tech Scene

#59

Post by eshvk »

bradleyjg wrote: post #25
eshvk wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am surprised that the rent is lower if you are living in NYC proper. I have one sample point for a friend who lives I think in the East Village. He pays $2300 for a studio. That seems about SF standard. (Well, not in the nicer parts of SF anyway.)

What exactly do you think the boundaries of NYC proper are? The East Village is one of the most expensive neighborhoods, not a typical one.

So I don't know enough about NYC to define what a expensive neighborhood is. However, $2300 is about mid range SF neighborhoods. Not highly desirable ones like the better of the mission, Pac Heights etc but something on the intersection of less desirable (deep inner sunset) and actually livable.

Re: The Ongoing Battle: NY vs. SF Tech Scene

#60

Post by eshvk »

fennecfoxen wrote: post #41
w1ntermute wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would say both are lower in NYC. Salary is definitely lower, and rent is as well because the infinitely better public transit in NYC gives you more living options that have a short commute.

I'm making comparable salary in NYC, and rent is pretty much in line with San Francisco area standards: $2300/mo studios in desirable areas... the difference in the housing market are these. First, there are more medium-awesome areas to choose from close to town (head to Astoria or East Williamsburg and you might shave $500-1000 off that studio, but you can still catch the N train to get to work and the neighborhood'…

> First, there are more medium-awesome areas to choose from close to town (head to Astoria or East Williamsburg and you might shave $500-1000 off that studio, but you can still catch the N train to get to work and the neighborhood's reasonably cool).

Would this be like living across the bay in Oakland or something? The flipside of such a situation would be that you get back home from SF at midnight before the last BART or you would have to be stuck when BART decides to strike.

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