semitones

This is also probably why Google is advocating for the privacy sandbox and banning third-party-cookies, and staying ahead of the law tech-wise. Such that when the inevitable regulation of the playing field does come, they are sharing drinks and chuckling with the referees, while the other players are still struggling to figure out what their game plan is.

Why don't you be the change you want to see, and contribute constructively with your own opinion to facilitate curious and interesting discussion? Complaining about it is also not that interesting.

Also, non-powerusers will gravitate towards the simplest solution to their problem, and that will also tend to be the one that the highest number of people understand how to use.

Standards != centralization. Standards apply more to protocols, and centralization applies more to ownership of data.

For instance, there is an enormous benefit to the entire world from using a standard IP/TCP stack. Yet, we don't seem to suffer from a centralized authority making controversial or conflict-of-interest decisions regarding that stack.

So what I was suggesting is that document-editing abide by some global protocol/standard, which would include storage, versioning, and permissions. As far as the choice of user-facing interfaces and implementations of logic around those standards, there need not be just one, or even a few. Everyone can bring something cool to the table and anyone can use whichever flavor they wish.

I agree that you do not have to be a big company to make a product like that, but it seems like you have to be a big company in order to host and deliver it.

"All these services are easy to replace" - I would like to agree, but I think that statement trivializes the endeavor a bit too much.

For Docs for example: Sure, from a technical standpoint, creating a webapp that lets you modify a document, syncs over new changes on a regular basis, and lets multiple users collaborate on the same doc and the same time is certainly harder than making a hello world calculator, but it's definitely not that hard. Most of us could figure out how to do it, especially since it's 2021 and our hardware is up to the task.

However, what is stupidly non-easy, is getting billions of people to use your solution, and for it to become the "standard" in society, for powerusers and non-powerusers alike, and for it not to have hiccups when a billion people use it. Oh, also, you need to somehow pay for the physical infrastructure that supports it, and the human beings that maintain it (hardware + software).

The situation would be even more complicated for YouTube because of the nature of the content, i.e. a single video on YouTube might be viewed by billions of people, while even the most popular docs are viewed by thousands at most, and even then making a copy of a text document to then distribute off-platform is pretty trivial.

And yes, we can spit out terms like blockchain w/ proof of stake, IPFS, etc. - but the tech isn't even the hard part, it's everything else that's hard (adoption, consensus, complexity for non-powerusers, funding, etc.)

The road to hell is paved with "good intentions". We desperately need to find a globally adoptable alternative to google and the services that it provides. Docs, Sheets, Drive, etc. are fantastic services in that they work really well on a massive scale. However, Google's increasing role as an arbiter of right vs wrong and a steward of information puts too much power into the hands of one corporation, whose best interests are provably not aligned with that of the general population.

I've been working as a SWE at google (in ads...) for over two years and I've really started to loathe it over the past year. The pay is fantastic and it's really hard to walk away from that, but the idea that they are not (or at least no longer) contributing to the better world that I think we need, has started to weigh heavier and heavier on me...

We should be able to implement services like these, that are free of ads, on globally distributed infrastructure, with no central authority, to have truly free-flowing information.

edit: added quotes around "good intentions"

We're all gonna die.

Also known as a "growth mindset". From what I've seen, I believe the majority of HN readers think this way - that most things are learning experiences, and that knowledge is power.

I'm sorry to hear that, it does sound like a bummer. I grew up in a small residential community, and running around with my friends through the neighborhood from the age of 8-15 was a huge part of my development. Really can't imagine who I would be today if it wasn't for those super fun times.

I agree, it doesn't seem that extreme to me. Maybe something like letting your 9 year old get on a bus to another state, without a phone, and telling them "come back when you're done having fun!" would be extreme.

I agree, it's not necessarily the "have nots" in the typical sense of the term, crab mentality is more accurate. It's just about someone who has more of anything than you - money, power, privilege (loaded term these days), status, etc.

I was thinking something similar. If a person has the inclination to jump on the bandwagon for any given situation, they are probably actively getting something out of it.

I have a theory that it could have something to do with the haves and the have nots. Whenever some relatively public figure (by default, without critical thinking, is usually labeled as a "have"), slips up in some way, no matter how small, the have nots jump on the opportunity to join a crusade of righteousness where they strike down the goliath for abusing their unfairly acquired power.

poker is a bit more complicated. A friend and I built a site for playing poker with friends, for free:

https://justpoker.games/

imo unclever code != poorly designed / spaghetti code

Reusing variables in a way that is confusing is a code smell, and rather than being "unclever", I would characterize it more as just "bad".

In my mind, an example of code that is "too clever" looks more like this:

  while (*dest++ = *src++); 

Unless you've seen that exact pattern many times, when trying to understand it you will have to unwrap it in your mind into something that looks more like the longer, "unclever" version anyway.

SQL is a real programming language.

This is the point that RMS is trying to make. His argument (iirc) is that "rape" might be an incorrect word used to describe what happened (was it proved to be rape? The only part proved iirc were the ages), and that immediately because the person was 17 instead of 18, that word is used to describe the situation without second thought. I don't think he was saying that there should be zero repercussions, or that we should forget all about it, or that we should condone relations with minors... Just saying, when I was 17, I was well mature enough to make my own choices and to be aware of my actions. There's a HUGE difference between 17/18 and 14/15. I think this is the point he was trying to make.

Toxicity isn't a binary thing - there's levels to it. If the benefits one can bring to a team outweigh their negative attributes, then you should let them on your team. As far as how to determine whether the good outweighs the bad, that's a different topic.

He brings a lot to the table, and I don't think he should have his work and life "cancelled" because some people disagree with his opinions...

Would you make the same argument for driving a gasoline-guzzling truck? People have the right to tell you whatever you want, but you also have the right not to listen. In this case, I don't think the onus is on you, the individual consumer, to turn down their mining operation. It's problematic when something so wasteful is done on such a massive scale, as is the case with large corporate/state mining operations that are behind significant emissions..

"We are bullish about the technology stack we've built" - I would sure hope so!

Although I love the cool features, I'm worried this could potentially exacerbate situations where students already feel like they're "being watched" while learning remotely (i.e. being forced to have their camera on constantly while in class). I could imagine some students feeling anxious about having to complete assignments on a platform like this, where every step of their incompetence (due to their nascent programming skills) is available for the teacher to see. Although I firmly believe the tech is cool and useful, how helpful it is will come down to classroom policies.

I agree that the large energy expenditure required (along with other mining costs, transaction fees, transaction latencies, etc.) to maintain the Bitcoin network ultimately makes it non-tenable for permanent financial infrastructure . However, I think the article could have made that point without completely discrediting the value Bitcoin provides by calling it a "collective delusion that value can created out of nothing by convincing greater fools to buy it after you do"...

I believe Bitcoin has served its purpose by being a pioneer, w.r.t popularizing an application of an immutable distributed ledger. However, it's not the one we should use. Ethereum's model (proof of stake) allows for most if not all of the uses of Bitcoin, without the non-scalable energy requirements and transaction costs, along with smart contracts, which have many potentially revolutionary applications (voting, public records, etc.). We could have our cake and eat it too..

In FAANG for typical SWEs it is rare for to outright get fired for a mistake. How you handle the mistake matters a lot though. Usually if things are less than perfect during performance reviews, you just don't get promoted.

Looks awesome! Gonna try it out when I get home. I'm sure you're already familiar with Yousician - what would you say your app will have that they don't?