It doesn't look like Linus Tech Tips has even published any of their own content on this platform yet (at least not that i can find with a quick google search) so MVP is probably an accurate description.

edit: or wait, maybe there is content on here but you need to sign in to view any of it? if that's the case it's not very clear.

You need to pay to the creator to see the video content that is published on the platform. Since I was a subscriber to the site, I can tell you that the site does host videos from LTT.

Where do you even subscribe? I can't find anything targeted at viewers.

It seems like floatplane is going the same route as all these other "by creators for creators" video platforms - forgetting to worry about the viewer at all, and focus solely on the experience for the creator.

As a viewer, i have no idea what i'm supposed to do on this site.

Floatplane was never about the viewer though. You should look at their video for the release of the beta[0], I still haven't watched it though, so I could be wrong on some stuff, but that video will certainly make everything more clear for you.

Essentially, Floatplane is a fail over for Youtube. It's not there to replace it, it's there to supplement it and be there in case it disappear. That means that it will never be your source to discover someone, but it will be your source to subscribe to someone that you discovered somewhere else. It's closer to Patreon in that regard (though I believe they still have a bit of discoverability, but it's certainly not your source for that).

That means that most of their function will be geared toward creator, and allow them to offer something more to their viewer (but that for sure will require an account and a paid subscription). One of their interesting current feature for example is to allow streaming to multiple platform (Floatplane, Twitch and Youtube) in parallel.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOOOfZWXPu4

I think they need to let you watch stuff (some stuff) without logging on or creating an account, or at least have a landing page that's geared for viewers. I hope eventually that's what happens.

I was also extremely confused looking at it - I wasn't even sure whether I was signing up as a creator or a viewer. Then I signed up and got in and was presented with nothing except a bunch of locked content. I had watched the video on the launch and still had no idea that it was a pay-per-month thing. I'm not against that at all - I just didn't know.

I'm extremely glad Floatplane exists. YouTube is changing for the worse IMHO - at least I no longer feel like I'm their target audience.

I hope the Floatplane guys are reading this and other places and taking all this feedback in. I'm really excited to watch this one; I can see the end of YouTube, at least as a viewer and I'm glad that people are starting to build and consider alternatives.

If you log in you immediately get brought to the list of (6) available channels. The videos then become visible after subscribing to a channel.

All of their content goes on floatplane first and then 1 week later gets reuploaded on youtube. It has been like that since they started working on floatplane.

Definitely a soft launch. The FAQ is empty. The How it Works section of the TOS is pretty edifying.

This product has been in the making for ~3 years. Luke from Linus Tech Tips used to be a video host, but has been in relatively few videos in the past 3 years because he was working on this. That's not to say those years were spent productively...

I don't think looking good is relevant to it's goals or success in any way.

It might not be relevant to its goals, but it is definitely relevant to its success (which, I would assume, makes it relevant to its goals). For example, the person you're replying to seems less likely to use it because it looks unpolished. There are a lot of people that will initially be turned away like that. That hurts its chance of success.

"Good looking" is far from the most important thing in a web site like this. But it is hard to argue it isn't relevant.

I see there's still a lot of confusion regarding what Floatplane actually is; It's not a video platform in the traditional sense, instead it's a platform for supporting your favorite video creators, while getting access cool perks (no ads, higher video quality, exclusive content ...etc) there's no algorithm, recommended videos, or trending page.

In that sense -as others have mentioned-, it's functionality much closer to a 'Video Patreon' than it is to say, a youtube alternative (AAMOF they've explicitly mentioned that several times)

When seen through that lens, it becomes apparent that "looking good" isn't really all that relevant, I mean, would the way patreon looks prevent you from supporting your favorite creator? probably not.

PS: Of course I get that good UI/UX is a must these days, my point is that they probably have much higher priority (not to mention mission-critical) tasks on their to-do list right now.

Doesn't seem to hurt twitch - The twitch UI looks like a toddler was given free rein with all the crayons.

The first thing you see when you go to twitch.tv is a live stream and a list of other live streams.

Once you view a stream the only things you see are the video player, details about the streamer, and chat.

Not sure what you imagine could be better, but if you want to know what really bad UI looks like, check out Mixer.

At least on twitch I'm able to watch somebody's video if I wanted to. Which seems like a very basic functionality you'd expect from a video website.

That's because it's not really a "video website", it's more like a patreon for video creators.

Floatplane has made a very conscious decision not to influence the user's decisions on consuming content; there's no algorithm, recommended videos, or trending page. you just have access to the videos of people you want to support.

Twitch doesn't look unpolished though. I don't like it, but its flaw isn't being unpolished.

Linus is a hardware person, not really a software person.

I mean, I wouldn't really call him a 'hardware person' either. If you consider a hardware person to be someone who does electrical or computer engineering, like designing PCBs or microcontrollers, etc. He comes across to me like a savvy consumer.

I don't remember him doing any of those things, I think Alex is their resident engineer... In my eyes Linus is just a nerd and a salesman.

That's why you hire software/design people.

He's neither.