The recent discussions about Google etc made me remember this gem from way back.
Now the site told me this has been posted a year ago, I’ll take the risk and repost it for all the new lobsters.
Stories with similar links:
- Groupware Bad (2005) via calvin 7 years ago | 7 points | 6 comments
Perhaps the most relevant bit, especially in these heady times:
Like, I cannot begin to describe the amount of bullshit marketing most companies have (internal and external) to hide the fact that their software isn’t going to get their users laid.
Nobody is delighted by your React framework. Nobody is made happy by your e-commerce solution. Nobody suddenly goes from having a bad day to a good day because their query had syntax highlighting. Nobody was kept from killing themselves because you properly categorized their usage patterns on your site.
The absolute best we can hope for is to not waste their time and add insult to the injury of their being kept doing work.
The software we write, in almost all cases, is just another tool people use to shovel shit before they get back to the important parts of life: getting laid and having fun.
(games are a notable exception, as is demoscene art.)
My point is that because email and calendars and such are unsexy, Google had the perfect opportunity to find gold for their shady purposes.
Would the world have evolved enough that someone would do the same work for self-hosted systems? Is there something out there?
I have yet to get laid due to good ansible scripts. :|
I mean wpuld the world be so disgusted by its own state that EFF or somesuch would shell out the bucks to have replacement software made without getting laid?
I think we’re closing in on that, but so far any startup, or other company I suppose, will say self-hosting email and calendars is not the core business and therefore can’t be a cost center :(