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Ask HN: What discontinued company/product do you wish was still around?
911–920 of 1001 posts
Re: Ask HN: What discontinued company/product do you wish was still around?
#912Eudora! Like, classic Eudora. The only good email client ever.
Opera! Like Opera 12. The only good email and nntp and rss client ever. Full text indexed search speed and huge folder handling...
Re: Ask HN: What discontinued company/product do you wish was still around?
#913Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have a Garmin sport/smart watch, it lasts for weeks and it has always-on color display. Smart watches from other brands also last for many days or weeks.
The Fenix 3 is still going strong for me after two years with it. I don't usually use GPS on it, so I charge it about once a week when it's around 50% charge (sometimes I forget to check, which is why I plan for about weekly charging). Also, the edge is slightly raised above the face on it, so while there are a couple of nicks on the bezel, there are no scratches on the glass. The sapphire glass may also be part of t…
I got mine for running/swimming/activities but I actually really like it as a daily smartwatch. Like you said, some nicks on the bezel but otherwise it seems indestructible.
Re: Ask HN: What discontinued company/product do you wish was still around?
#914Kai's Photo Soap and Kai's Power Goo. Or anything by Kai. Especially the little tools like the texture explorer and fractal generator. The user interfaces were refreshingly unique.
I got to take the reigns from Kai for my first paying UI job ever (Redesigning Bryce) and was super honored. That man was revolutionary for his time.
Re: Ask HN: What discontinued company/product do you wish was still around?
#915Mac Pro "cheese grater" towers and arguably Apple's best Pro machine or tower ever [1]. Mojave macOS version just recently unfortunately EOL'd my last Mac Pro (Mid 2010 with no Metal capable GPU), such a nice design and powerful pro machine still to this day. [1] https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/08/07/apples-mac-pro-ch...
You can upgrade to a Metal-capable GPU, if you want.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208898
I’ve tried this recently, but then I found I needed a new PCIe power cable, which I had to order from NewEgg.
Re: Ask HN: What discontinued company/product do you wish was still around?
#916Earlier quoted context omitted.
We still exist. Look up Embarcadero: Delphi and C++Builder live on. We see increasing interest - I think there is some disillusion with some other dev tools. There's a new version coming out soon. -- David. (I work there.)
Sorry, but it's no good anymore. I cut my programming teeth on Turbo Pascal and Delphi 20 years ago, so I thought I'd help a friends daughter with her homework assignment. Could not even figure out how to create a project. I mean honestly, as a professional SW dev I could not even create a project to contain her working files, so was unable to open and close delphi and still run the files we were working on. No info…
Could you tell me what was confusing, please?
> as a professional SW dev I could not even create a project to contain her working files
I work as a product manager, and one of my aims is usability. I'm very interested in the problems you faced, in order to solve them. Could you reply, or drop me an email at david dot millington @embarcadero.com please? I am always interested in talking to users.
In the meantime, to get you going: When you start, the IDE's default blank state (the Welcome screen) has buttons to create a new project. Or, you can go to the File > New menu, and choose a Windows (VCL) or cross-platform app.
> No info tips to help figure out what all the GUI widgets do.
You are right, that may be assumed knowledge, and the names are often tied to the WinAPI progenitors of the modern day controls.
> No decent property inspection of the resulting widgets.
What is "decent" property inspection? The Object Inspector is a dockable window, shown by default when designing (default position is the bottom left of the screen.) It lists all properties and events, and is similar to Visual Studio.
> I'm solidly in favour of switching to Python.
I'm sorry to hear that. As I said, one of my roles is to improve usability and discoverability, and I'd really appreciate it if you'd share the issues you encountered. For context, I've spoken to six customers in the past fortnight about the upcoming beta release, focusing on UX, so this is something we do regularly and is a genuine offer.
Re: Ask HN: What discontinued company/product do you wish was still around?
#917Video game arcades. They were amazing during their heyday, but I was also young. I want both of those things back!
They still exist, but they're incredibly niche nowadays. Arcades are split up into two categories: small stores that cater to niches, like classic American games or imported modern Japanese games [1][2], or huge chains that specialize in 'family entertainment' [3] that include bowling and food. The arcade isn't dead yet - there's still plenty of enthusiasm for rhythm and fighting games, which I believe is actually gr…
Wow, I've completely forgotten about ArcadeUFO. Completely fell off my radar which is strange since you guys have more legacy than institutions like WNF and, in some sense, Next Level. I even still see mentions of 8otB here and there. You had a F-Zero AX machine at one point, correct?
I definitely agree arcades make a fantastic third place. Planning trips to e.g., Arcade Infinity (RIP) or a Round 1 is one thing, but having a place outside of school and home I can routinely drop in and feel welcome even when I have no particular business to do there was why I kept going to local mall Tilt arcades (and Borders bookstores while I'm at it). Even as more machines go online in Japan[0] or scenes establish other events for their game[1], I still think they're a worthwhile addition to a community.
[0]: https://medium.com/@sasuraiger/japan-trip-2017-2018-online-f...
Re: Ask HN: What discontinued company/product do you wish was still around?
#918Video game arcades. They were amazing during their heyday, but I was also young. I want both of those things back!
Inflation changes things. 25 cents back in 1984 would be worth about $2.00 now.
Not in the US.
$0.25 in 1972 (Pong) = $1.48 today $0.25 in 1978 (Space Invaders) = $0.95 today $0.25 in 1984 = $0.60
http://cpiinflationcalculator.com
Though now cabinets are bigger and the controls are more sophisticated.
Re: Ask HN: What discontinued company/product do you wish was still around?
#919Anything related to RSS, XMPP...
Re: Ask HN: What discontinued company/product do you wish was still around?
#920Pebble - they created a series of smart watches that had: - long battery life (2-7 days depending on model) - e-ink colour screens, that were always on - an extensive app/watchface ecosystem - actual attractive watches I had a series of them and was all-in on the new models announced via kickstarter, when they suddenly disappeared and were bought by Fitbit. All forthcoming products were killed off. They've been prett…
I settled for an Amazfit Bip, which is not a Pebble but in some respects it's the closest thing there is right now AFAIK. Battery lasts a month, screen is not e-ink but it's always on (I believe LCD), watchfaces are customizable but there's not a lot of good ones since the resolution of the screen and the colors aren't great. Functionality is pretty limited, but good enough for time, gps and notifications. I have one…
+1. I paid around $50 USD for my Bip, and it's great for time, step/heart rate tracking, and the occasional notification.
Battery life is ~40 days for me, which is awesome.