Re:Introduction to Immutable Linux Systems
by dfee on Monday September 18, 2023 @01:55AM
(#37552700)
Great link. However, I don’t know how Joel could see a newcomer can challenge an incumbent, short of reimplementing all features.
Certainly, Google Sheets didn’t do that. Nor has airtable (valuation considerations aside, it has seen some adoption).
In a new category, or a new market, there is no benchmark. So that’s the east case. But sometimes new products do displace old products, and sometimes just by distribution or pricing at the cost of features.
So how do you reconcile that, Joel?!
Re:Introduction to Immutable Linux Systems
by NavinF on Monday September 18, 2023 @02:15AM
(#37552837)
Fair point, but Sheets hasn't replaced Excel. Sheets only competes in the in-browser market and Sheets by itself does not make money for Google. If you go back a few years, Microsoft was the 80%-er that lacked features (notably real-time collaboration) whereas Google offered an entire suite of software with free real-time collaboration. People pay $6/mo to get the entire suite for their company. Gsuite is not comparable to the "lite" word processors that Joel was talking about or the open-source tools like FreeCAD that I was talking about. Both are objectively worse than their paid counterparts and extremely limited in functionality.
Also worth mentioning that Sheets has competition in this space now that in-browser 365 Excel is free. Tho neither is feature-complete vs desktop Excel
Re:Introduction to Immutable Linux Systems
by ncts on Monday September 18, 2023 @03:00AM
(#37553137)
Outside of this bubble, you see vim plugins, VSCode plugins, JetBrains IDE plugins… Photoshop plugins, Premiere plugins…
Re:Introduction to Immutable Linux Systems
by psd1 on Monday September 18, 2023 @07:46AM
(#37554918)
"What the hell, Steve, you had all week, now the fucking Bugle has scooped us."
"Sorry boss, been sorting out my init.el"
Re:Introduction to Immutable Linux Systems
by Tigress8780 on Monday September 18, 2023 @04:14AM
(#37553596)
Well, it's never the same 20%, which is precisely why we have plugins and extensions even outside of the Linux GUI bubble. This include IDEs, browsers, office suites, media production software (e.g. VST), and of course engineering software. For a complex software product, it is never possible to include batteries for everyone.
FreeCAD might not come with enough battery to power a full workflow, but I have also seen entire engineering firm not able to work without a particular AutoCAD plugin.
This sort of thing is very common with GUI software on Linux. Outside of this bubble, most software comes with batteries included. Eg Solidworks never makes me download optional dependencies, but FreeCAD made me do it literally every 15 minutes as I move to the next step in a CAD/CAM/sim/render workflow.
Also see https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2001/03/23/strategy-letter-iv...
> it’s never the same 20%. Everybody uses a different set of features. In the last 10 years I have probably heard of dozens of companies who, determined not to learn from each other, tried to release “lite” word processors that only implement 20% of the features. This story is as old as the PC. Most of the time, what happens is that they give their program to a journalist to review, and the journalist reviews it by writing their review using the new word processor, and then the journalist tries to find the “word count” feature which they need because most journalists have precise word count requirements, and it’s not there, because it’s in the “80% that nobody uses,” and the journalist ends up writing a story that attempts to claim simultaneously that lite programs are good, bloat is bad, and I can’t use this damn thing ’cause it won’t count my words. If I had a dollar for every time this has happened I would be very happy.