askafriend

A nightmare client would be a nightmare client regardless of the technology involved. I can definitely believe that it's way more annoying with the false confidence effect it tends to have for non-experts.

25 years ago, you were 25 years younger. Maybe it's not the computers that you miss.

You can see their ego trying to protect itself.

The AI makes an indecipherable mess

Humans are perfectly capable of this themselves and in fact often do it...

I think it’s exactly like going from paper spreadsheet to Excel in some very important aspects of engineering (but not all).

I really encourage you to update your priors since capabilities are very different than even 6 months ago.

Why didn't you ask to get the accounts provisioned?

I bet poor investment planning and low-paying roles despite the years of experience.

Heavy is the head that wears the crown, I guess.

The entire car dealership lobby hates Tesla, for example.

Why shouldn't the author use LLMs to assist their writing?

The issue is how tools are used, not that they are used at all.

If it conveys the intended information then what's wrong with that? You're fighting a tsunami here. People are going to use LLMs to help their writing now and forever.

It's because A LOT of people are. I can't imagine doing it any other way now that I've adopted all the tooling.

I haven't hand-written more than a dozen lines of code in months. The models are really really good now if you can learn to use them. There's definitely a learning curve though as is true with anything new.

I'm actually quite familiar with the history of app stores and getting people to pay for software on the internet. I grew up in this timeline so I have first-hand experience too.

Before the App Store, the picture was mostly a disaster of security, reliability and quality. There was no trust and so people didn't bother parting with their credit card information to buy software...especially not on their phone.

Apple's App Store model dramatically grew the pie because it was one of the few platforms that people were willing to actually transact confidently on and trusted. This is why millions of developers flocked to the platform. This is also why Apple has traditionally maintained an iron grip on it; it was beneficial for everyone involved.

Over time, they are being proven right as more open platforms realize that openness at the expense of trust doesn't work for the masses.

Great thought, that seems very likely since so many "founder stories" are heavily spun tales.

Developers want a stable, secure platform where they can reach customers that trust the platform and are willing to transact. Everything is downstream of that, including any philosophy around control.

Developers are businesses and the economics need to work. For that, safety and security is much more important than openness.

While I understand the author's point, IMO we're unlikely to do anything that results in slowing down first. Especially in a competitive, corporate context that involves building software.

The thing people seem to forget about Jobs is that he really was that good, that obsessive/dedicated and that visionary. It's that simple.

His process resulted in some of the most transformative products humanity has ever known.

Exactly this.

It's inherent in the process and way of thinking. It's a dangerous path to pursue for entrepreneurs. How can the results be anything but disposable and frivolous when the process treats them as such.

Well also SpongeBob is excellent and one of the greatest shows ever made.

This is even funnier.

Definitely this. A total lack of awareness and tact demonstrated by OP.

Doesn't every city feel mismanaged though? If you asked people from SF, Seattle or NYC - they might all say the same. They'd think they were the most mismanaged in America.

I'm genuinely just curious what makes you think LA is uniquely mismanaged in a way that other tier-1 cities in America are not. I don't have too much experience with LA but am familiar enough.

I find joy in the process of surmounting difficult things. I think there's a lot of intrinsic satisfaction in knowing no one can stop you.

I like your comment and framing, I think it highlights a lot of salient points about the device. But to be fair similar-style criticisms were levied against the iPhone (right down to price point, nerd-factor, lack of physical keyboard etc). So it's important to see the promise in things too.

As the other poster mentioned, young people are not going there. What happens when they grow up?

AI?

Look the reality is yes Instagram and TikTok have extremely problematic incentives built into their products. But they're also remarkably useful, entertaining, and fun products too. Both are true.

Do you think multi-billion-user products can exist without "slop"? What do you think the average person wants to consume? The equivalent of salad? Have you met the average person?

I think people have fundamental misconceptions of the average person's desire.

By that metric, "Phone" has been over the moment iPhone was released. Because it's a computer, not a phone.

Its been over for almost 2 decades so not sure what the point of calling that out is.

Yes, TikTok and Instagram...some of the most valuable media, entertainment and communication businesses in history.

Interesting but feels Un-American as a concept.

Overall, would you recommend Manhattan (or nearby) with kids? What's your experience been like and do you see staying long term?

Hope you don't mind me asking, I'm just super curious about this topic!