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Creators of Tailwind laid off 75% of their engineering team

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Re: Creators of Tailwind laid off 75% of their engineering team

#551

Post by acdha »

infamouscow wrote: post #483
acdha wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also the FSF squandered its opportunity being RMS’ hobby / support organization and skipped a lot of important discussions, even before the skeevy behavior they’d been ignoring came to light. I used to donate in the 90s but … really feels like that was just flushing cash.

If my timelines are correct, the FSF ousted RMS before ChatGPT came out.

ChatGPT came into the picture long after the open source issues we’re talking about were apparent. AI companies are making it even worse but solid advocacy in the 2010s or 2000s would’ve been helpful.

Re: Creators of Tailwind laid off 75% of their engineering team

#553

Post by satvikpendem »

legitster wrote: post #422
chuckadams wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you possibly enforce this? I can disconnect my laptop from the internet and the local LLM will still autocomplete TW classes. Does JetBrains therefore owe TW every time it does this? What if it was actually completing UnoCSS class names that happen to overlap? How about when it's just simple autocomplete based on what classes are visible and what I've used within the same file? These might sound like snide…

> How would you possibly enforce this? The legal system. If you see a bunch of Tailwind markup on websites without a license key, you can enforce your license. The LLMs can write the code for you, but they either have to negotiate their own license or instruct users to get their own. The comparable I am familiar with is Font Awesome. Even if you want a free plan, you still have to create an account and get a key.

Then pretty soon people will stop using Tailwind and use another OSS atomic CSS library instead, like UnoCSS. You can't stop the hydra.

Re: Creators of Tailwind laid off 75% of their engineering team

#554

Post by hackable_sand »

ryoshoe wrote: post #357
Analemma_ wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is your alternative, when the price humans can sell their labor at dips below what is necessary for them to survive? All these takes about "UBI will demolish the human spirit" or whatever are just ridiculous when the alternative is "starve to death".

Just doing nothing isn't great for the "human spirit", but UBI doesn't mean people can't find their own goals to pursue. The idea of something where people are not longer required to work to survive is hard to accept since many people haven't seriously considered how they could meaning outside of their careers

I could ask every one of my coworkers what they would do and they would have a realistic answer.

I don't really have sympathy for people attached to their careers. They did that to themselves.

Re: Creators of Tailwind laid off 75% of their engineering team

#555

Post by reddalo »

chuckadams wrote: post #375
mmcnl wrote: post #348

Wow, this is a grim reality check: AI hyperscalers taking in billions of revenue, while at the same time putting honest business like Tailwind out of work, without any form of compensation. What happened to "you wouldn't steal a car" etc.? It's only illegal if you're not a trillion dollar company? I have trouble expressing how terrible unjust it feels that AI companies are stealing money from the common people. I hav…

The ad was "You wouldn't download a car." To which my response was always a loud "HELL yes, I would!"

That was an internet meme. The real ad said "You wouldn't steal a car".

Re: Creators of Tailwind laid off 75% of their engineering team

#556

Post by hackable_sand »

spaceman_2020 wrote: post #219
blitzar wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is "progress" when tech bros displace traditional workers, but it is "heartbreaking" when a tech bro gets displaced by other tech bros. Whats the 2026 version of "you should learn to code" ?

Well, I never read the artcicle because paywall, but there is a WSJ headline today about a $160k mechanic job at Ford that can't be fulfilled because no labor

Right, that's a lie.

Re: Creators of Tailwind laid off 75% of their engineering team

#557

Post by ibejoeb »

simonw wrote: post #105

Key comment is this one: https://github.com/tailwindlabs/tailwindcss.com/pull/2388#is... > [...] the reality is that 75% of the people on our engineering team lost their jobs here yesterday because of the brutal impact AI has had on our business. And every second I spend trying to do fun free things for the community like this is a second I'm not spending trying to turn the business around and make sure the people wh…

>The docs are the only way people find out about our commercial products

Wall that's the problem, and it's tractable problem. Seems like tailwind needs a sales strategy beyond hoping people read the docs. And that it gives rise to a perverse incentive--making a less intuitive product to drive the need for documentation--is bound to affect the product.

If LLMs are really the problem, and it seems possible that they are, then you might need to lean in. Maybe selling access to mcps and skills. I'd still bet on hiring someone to chase down some contracts is going to be the easiest way out of the hole though.

Re: Creators of Tailwind laid off 75% of their engineering team

#559

Post by usef- »

suyash wrote: post #484
usef- wrote: post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn't just the product itself: he's saying traffic to the site has dropped substantially, so any product will be harder to sell now for them. Some people who would buy the higher quality templates don't know that they exist now.

I think the era of buying templates is over, when you can get a tool that listens to you patiently, iterates again and again till you're satisfied for pennies, why would you pay hundred's for a template that is there for anyone else to buy as well.

The selling feature is that it's more polished (and has good accessibility etc), they're still intended to be customised, which you could use AI for. Why use Tailwind itself when you could generate one with AI? Because it's solidly tested and polished, similarly.

But the broader, more important point: an open source project previously could be funded by using attention to sell other services or add-ons. But that model might be gone if users no longer visit or know the creators.

Re: Creators of Tailwind laid off 75% of their engineering team

#560

Post by llmslave2 »

satvikpendem wrote: post #543
mmcnl wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The business model is strong. AI is stealing traffic/money from creators. That's not a problem with the business model, it's a problem with AI. AI hyperscalers shamelessly monetize other people's work without compensation. Truly an awful dystopia.

If a business model can't withstand being disrupted, it is no longer viable. It's like Uber putting cabs out of business with something better. Selling templates is now no longer viable, and blaming AI will not do anything. As Darwin would say, adapt or die.

If the disruption comes from theft, is the business not viable?
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