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What even is an OS now?

310 points · 479 comments · fratellobigio

  1. c-hendricks · · focus · HN ↗
    > Forget the map, just tell me if I should get off the Eisenhower Expressway and take Roosevelt, Madison, or Lake back home?

    > Is there a meeting happening anywhere right this minute that I’m supposed to be in?

    > You can go on and on like this. These all sound trivial. That’s the point. They’re normal-life problems nobody would have built serious programs around, because the audience sounds too small.

    Waze and Calendars. Both have huge audiences.

    1. tptacek · · focus · HN ↗
      Waze does not answer my commute question for me. Waze finds what it believes to be the quickest route from west loop to my house, but that route is virtually never reasonable. There's only 4 reasonable routes; I just need to know which one to take.
      1. mitxela · · focus · HN ↗
        You're right, "tell me which of these four preconceived routes is fastest" is much nicher than "telly me the fastest route"
        1. tptacek · · focus · HN ↗
          You get that this is a commute, right? Not charting a course through unfamiliar territory. A drive I've done thousands of times. I don't care if Waze thinks I should be on Harrison or Race. Fuck you, Waze. There's 4 reasonable routes; I just want to know which one.

          It's an app with an audience of just me. That's the point. You're not supposed to want it. You have your own problems.

          1. c-hendricks · · focus · HN ↗
            FWIW I do kind of see your point. I have lots of software / hardware with a user base of one to a handful of people. I also know it sucks having to maintain software that drives your life, even if that maintenance is AI supported.

            Just with the bit I quoted above, that seemed like a big misread of the market and the implications of everyone writing their own apps.

            In this future, are people paying the API pricing of traffic providers? In this future, who's supplying the traffic data if no one is using their mapping apps?

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