suboptimal's comments

Secret to life: it's about the stories.

Fifty years from now will you remember that day spent coding, or will you remember your adventure in California?

I agree with the others--video presentations take too long to parse.

Besides, I only watch videos from the 70s. If you want me to watch your video comment you'll have to travel back in time and appear on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert or The Old Grey Whistle Test.

Hey guys, the typo in my search "slicehost\" generated:

OMG... You killed the server! We'll get right on it...

Everybody Wang Cheng tonight!

Very useful--nice job, guys.

Is that what happened to the Wikipedia article? I thought the list used to be more comprehensive.

The "News" link on YC points here, so I assume this is intended to be the place for YC company headlines, but I wish there was a more traditional "Press" or similar page on the YC site to track news about and announcements from the participants. An alternative would be some type of parameterized link filtering the results for relevance, but in its current form it just dumps one into the news pool here (which presently looks like _another_ company's Press section!).

Timely ideas.

I was wondering if you could license it to others (Edmunds, etc.) but I guess it depends on them. Maybe with your industry experience you know something about that.

Anyway, good luck!

Hey mn,

Java used to be "Oak," and according to our good friend Wikipedia it was created in "June 1991." I thought it was later but guess not. It had the whole set-top box history, and would eventually run our fridges and toasters in the 21st century.

Seriously though, do you remember when Java was released? It was fun! And definitely considered the "hip" language at the time, much like Ruby is now.

I think it's interesting that so many in the Java camp have jumped ship to Ruby, because what is said about Ruby now, was said about Java then.

But they're still nearly the same age, so the ten-year spread in their respective heydays is sort of amusing. It's like Roger Moore supplanting Connery as Bond ten years later, despite the fact he's older. ;)

Cool idea.

From your initial description I thought maybe you were comparing specific makes and models. This would be more difficult, because you'd have to obtain (and maintain) this data from somewhere, but it's probably doable.

In that case, you could help potential buyers decide between one vehicle purchase and another based on fuel costs (not that your app can't do that now--the users just have to get their data someplace else). Nice of me to expand your project's scope, eh? ;)

Yes. Yes I do.

But you should really eliminate the source of pain so you can get back to reading HN guilt-free (if that's possible).

BTW they sound more like short projects if it's only two weeks (unless they're larger projects crammed into a two-week timeframe!).

Java was the Ruby of its day (even though they're almost the same age!).

I love this article and wish there was more like it--thanks for posting.

I also wish Piotr Wozniak would write a book (even though he'd probably consider it a waste of time). Work like his is so important, and positive, and humanitarian. Even if he's just doing what he enjoys, I believe we're all the better for it.

The article actually discussed this very issue.

I think r7000 (a significant improvement over the earlier r6000 model) was referring to the shamefulness of plugging his/her _own_ software. ;)

So no Mac version? The site mentions an in-progress Linux version but it sounds like it's not happening.

It sounds like you've identified someone's "pain." Have you further explored that idea? [A lot of startups begin with a story like yours!]

Are you looking for a PHP5 version? Here's a fork:

http://kohanaphp.com/

Haven't tried it yet.

Shhh, don't tell anybody--it'll just ruin it.

brent, why not an MBA? With your finance background and (I presume) a bunch of undergraduate business courses under your belt it should be quick and easy. There's no degree requirement for hackers--"MBA coder with financial sector experience" sounds pretty good, and you can keep working on your HNd here among like-minded comrades. You could also try to use the program as a platform to launch your startup: business plan competitions, networking, possible co-founders or employees among your fellow students, etc.

I'm sure you've considered this--I'm just surprised you (or anybody else) didn't mention it.

That was my impression, too--the article seemed to focus more on the VC path to success, which is like making it big as a professional athlete or entertainer.

For contractors and ISVs, I suppose you have to find a profitable niche.

I think in the right sort of corporate environment, a bit of initiative can give you a lot of opportunities the less-motivated might not have (or want). You also can learn how to work in a team, and probably have better hours than your startup counterparts, giving you more time to work on outside projects--such as your own startup--or in general to just have a life, meet people and pursue hobbies.

I like having some distance between me and management when I'm working as an employee, because then it doesn't grate on my nerves that I'm not working on my own startup while watching someone else run theirs, with the knowledge that they're using me to make their own dreams come true. I'd rather not see that, and in a large organization you don't have to because they're somewhere else, in a different building perhaps, or political appointees, for example.

"It depends."

Taking a contrarian point of view, at the major corporation you might find yourself on a smaller team not unlike a startup, with supportive management, opportunities to work on diverse projects and a clear path for career growth and advancement.

I worked at a company with several thousand employees that was much like the above. I bailed after a few months to go back to doing my own thing, but in retrospect it would have been a great company to continue working for. Several managers asked me to stay, not because I'm Mr. Wonderful but rather because they genuinely cared about keeping people on-board. One day after I left I had a voicemail from someone at the company, and I never returned the call because I figured it was some HR flack doing a survey or something. I later looked up the person's name and learned it was the Senior VP--that's how much they cared about losing an employee.

I also worked at a small startup that kept us working 7 days a week, including holidays, for several months, then made a bad deal and dumped us all.

"It depends."