Launch HN: Raycast (YC W20) – CLI-inspired desktop app for non-coding tasks

Re:Launch HN: Raycast (YC W20) – CLI-inspired desktop app fo... by sicromoft on Monday March 02, 2020 @02:00PM (#22467566)

I like the idea. My feedback: the name seems like it's going to confuse people. I almost skipped by this post when I saw the name at a glance because I'm not particularly interested in 3D graphics.

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Re:Launch HN: Raycast (YC W20) – CLI-inspired desktop app fo... by canada_dry on Monday March 02, 2020 @09:31PM (#22471300)

> the name seems like it's going to confuse people.

Agreed! This name is poorly chosen. Most people have a general familiarity with what raycasting is about and will likely be confused by this usage.

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Re:Launch HN: Raycast (YC W20) – CLI-inspired desktop app fo... by pitnikola on Monday March 02, 2020 @02:11PM (#22467688)

Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, it crossed our mind that some people familiar with 3D graphics term might get confused. I really hope that there are not too many people in our target audience familiar with it, though I might be wrong :)

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Re:Launch HN: Raycast (YC W20) – CLI-inspired desktop app fo... by colinhowe on Tuesday March 03, 2020 @02:15AM (#22472469)

If you're targeting developers then I suspect you'll find many of them have at least heard of the term raycasting from CS degrees at the least.

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Re:Launch HN: Raycast (YC W20) – CLI-inspired desktop app fo... by pitnikola on Tuesday March 03, 2020 @05:23PM (#22479303)

Fair enough! Hopefully it will not become a problem. In the end, it's just the name and we want to be defined by the product and its value rather than by the name itself.

As to why exactly we picked it: as ray casting is a way to instantly query information about closest objects, we thought it would be a good metaphor for instantly querying and accessing different third party services. Rays represent speed and focus.

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