‹ BackHN Continuity

Thread

What even is an OS now?

310 points · 479 comments · fratellobigio

  1. einpoklum · · focus · HN ↗
    > Consider: what does computing look like in a world where many (maybe most) applications have an audience of just 1-2 people? How is software distributed? What does it run on?

    The same. The slop apps remain just that. They may do something useful for you, but that's it. A bit like a branch in a repository.

    1. tptacek · · focus · HN ↗
      Have you thought carefully about this? What does it mean to call a piece of software that solves a real problem you have in your life "slop"?
      1. itgoon · · focus · HN ↗
        It's the same thing as looking down your nose at people who use Excel as a database because it's not a "real" database.

        Yes, I'm sure we all have horror stories about spreadsheets that got out of hand, but that ignores the thousands (or more) spreadsheets that are silently productive everyday.

        1. einpoklum · · focus · HN ↗
          That's a pretty good simile in fact. Excel programs are very useful to the people who write them (including myself sometimes); and yet - almost none of them are widely shared, becoming fundamental tools.
        2. yencabulator · · focus · HN ↗
          People worry when very important things are done with Excel because it has practically no mechanisms guiding the user toward avoiding mistakes.

          <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;eusprig.org&#x2F;research-info&#x2F;horror-stories&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;eusprig.org&#x2F;research-info&#x2F;horror-stories&#x2F;

Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.