Microsoft Removes the Option to Opt Out of Windows 10 Free Upgrade? - <AUTHOR> http://techfrag.com/2015/10/16/microsoft-completely-removes-option-opt-windows-10-free-upgrade/ <comment><USER2> Is this story true? If so, can anyone find a more substantive source for it?

In the meantime, we added a question mark to the title.

<comment><USER3> Ars Technica is saying that they contacted Microsoft and got a statement that it was a "mistake": [http://arstechnica.com/information- technology/2015/10/window...](http://arstechnica.com/information- technology/2015/10/windows-10-upgrade-installing-automatically-on-some- windows-7-8-systems/)

edit: that's from October 15 (Thursday) and might or might not be the same issue, hard to say.

<comment><USER2> Ok, in that case this submission is a dupe of [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10400807](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10400807). Thank you!

<comment><USER4> yes, this is correct.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> > While switching to a new OS, especially Windows 10 is definitely a good move

Who is claiming this? Maybe for hardware known to have good Windows 10 support it's a good move. For me, I've had more blue screens in the last month than I had in the 10 years before that. Lots of poor driver support (fingerprint reader doesn't work, touchpad reverts settings after every boot, crashes).

The user experience is an upgrade from my perspective, but the upgrade has been anything but painless.

<comment><USER6> When I installed windows 10 last week I had the .. pleasure... to look at the various privacy options.

During the installation, Windows uses weasel words to present the user with privacy settings hiding the option to change them at all. Take a look:

[https://jonathan.porta.codes/images/posts/2015/07/window-10-...](https://jonathan.porta.codes/images/posts/2015/07/window-10-privacy- settings-1.png)

In "express settings":

* Send contact, calendar and input data to Microsoft

* Send typing and inking data to Microsoft

* Let apps use your Advertising ID for "experiences across apps" (I'm not making this shit up)

* Send microsoft and "trusted partners" location data

* Turn on SmartScreen (Admittedly I don't know exactly how it works but seeing as it's in those options I can take a horrifying guess on the implications)

* Send your browsing data to Microsoft to "make your overall experience better" (WTF wording)

* Autoconnect to shared networks

* Autoconnect to suggested open hotspots

Damn. And then, one that's not in there which you have to find for yourself, if you even know about it: P2P share windows updates with _any windows computer on the internet_.

Ho-ly-crap. I like W10 as an OS so far but this stuff is just insane.

BTW, the only reason I went with W10 was that W7 doesn't support GPT.

Sources:

[http://www.howtogeek.com/224352/what%E2%80%99s-the- differenc...](http://www.howtogeek.com/224352/what%E2%80%99s-the-difference- between-windows-10%E2%80%99s-express-or-custom-setup/)

[http://www.howtogeek.com/224981/how-to-stop- windows-10-from-...](http://www.howtogeek.com/224981/how-to-stop- windows-10-from-uploading-updates-to-other-pcs-over-the-internet/)

Edit: Yikes: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_SmartScreen#SmartScr...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_SmartScreen#SmartScreen_in_Windows_8)

<comment><USER7> I posted this in a different thread yesterday but am reposting here for the folks that do move to Win10.

\--

PSA: For people with Windows 10 installed, I've found the following tool quite useful in shutting down the large amount of information collected.

[http://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10](http://www.oo- software.com/en/shutup10)

<comment><USER6> Thank you. That looks great.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Old and inaccurate: [http://arstechnica.com/information- technology/2015/10/window...](http://arstechnica.com/information- technology/2015/10/windows-10-upgrade-installing-automatically-on-some- windows-7-8-systems/)

Microsoft has said the force push was a mistake. I suppose you could argue their sincerity on that, but the fact remains that they did remove it.

<comment><USER9> That was about Windows Update "mistakenly" installing Windows 10.

The OP is about GWX removing the option to delay the upgrade.

<comment><USER10> I wonder how all of the Microsoft haters who think this is "not a mistake" feel about other conspiracy theories?

What do you know about lizard people?

<comment><USER11> You may be interested in this older documentary: [https://youtu.be/DfsK6DuNhnc?t=2208](https://youtu.be/DfsK6DuNhnc?t=2208) about the psychology of conspiracy theorists. The psychologists claim that they can predict who will believe in conspiracy theories, and they use as a dividing test the following question to separate conspiracy theorists from healthy trustful people:

"The government is using mobile phone technology to track people all the time. Yes/No."

Also includes an interview with David Icke.

I don't think that question is decisive anymore...

<comment><USER12> It's a pretty sad world when the conspiracy "nutjobs" turn out to be right..

<comment><USER13> Don't worry there's still plenty of wrong out there to be ( www.abovetopsecret.com )

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> This would run afoul of the European 'cookie law' (the name is a bit of a misnomer as it applies to more than just cookies). In short: Microsoft needs express permission to store/modify files on _my_ computer.

It will probably be spun like Windows 10 is a security update to old OS's, but that is simply not sincere. Given the problematic privacy/sharing/phone-home settings on Windows 10 one can hardly call it a security improvement.

      You must tell people if you set cookies, and clearly
      explain what the cookies do and why. You must also get
      the user's consent. Consent can be implied, but must be
      knowingly given.

      The same rules also apply if you use any other type of
      technology to store or gain access to information on
      someone's device.

[https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to- pecr/cookies-a...](https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-pecr/cookies- and-similar-technologies/)

      [Under the cookie law permission is needed to] store
      or gain access to data on the peripherals of a user
      through an electronic communication network.

[http://www.justitia.nl/cookiewet.html](http://www.justitia.nl/cookiewet.html)

      Article 5.3) Member States shall ensure that the use
      of electronic communications networks to store
      information or to gain access to information stored in
      the terminal equipment of a subscriber or user is only
      allowed on condition that the subscriber or user
      concerned is provided with clear and comprehensive
      information in accordance with Directive 95/46/EC,
      inter alia about the purposes of the processing, and
      is offered the right to refuse such processing by the
      data controller.

[http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:...](http://eur- lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32002L0058:EN:HTML)

<comment><USER14> The total of fines Microsoft has already faced from the European Commission is €2bn. It's mostly for forgetting to give the browser choice in Vista, if I remember well, after doing it properly in XP, and for not publishing the documentation of an API. On the other hand, given automatic upgrades are now a habit, and given Microsoft's monopoly is on a very narrower market (so, not sure it's a monopoly), I'm not sure they can be pursued, if the story is confirmed. Unless we also pursue Chrome's automatic updates.

<comment><USER11> Most users will (rightly so) view this as an OS upgrade, not as an update. You already gave MS permission to provide you with security updates. You did not give MS permission to upgrade your OS. I feel the difference is of importance as updates are often necessary, while upgrades are not.

      This update installs the Get Windows 10 app, which
      helps users understand their Windows 10 upgrade options
      and device readiness.

[https://support.microsoft.com/en- us/kb/3035583](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3035583)

<comment><USER15> One type of update is fixing a defect in the original product -- closing a security vulnerability that should never have been there, fixing some function that didn't work as advertised because of a bug, that kind of thing.

Another type of update changes to the product in ways that are not necessary for the original product to be used as intended. They may be desirable for the customer and/or the developer, and there's nothing wrong with that. However, from the point of view of things like consumer protection law that says you should get what you paid for and it should work as advertised, these two cases look qualitatively different to me.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Personally after KB3035583 that I had hidden before, was re-enabled and installed automatically, I started feeling bothered by that fact. That was the final push that led me to nuking my Windows 7 partition and jumping to Xubuntu GNU/Linux.

<comment><USER17> I'm getting _so_ bored of having to click on every knowledge base article to see exactly what each of the updates do, in order to hide (week after week) the two or three that try and sneak Get Windows 10 in. I'm getting less and less likely to install _any_ updates.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> My concern with Windows 10, and I expect it to get addressed, is having a platform underneath me keep changing. I don't want to get in my car one day and find out that the gas pedal has changed positions with the brake. I expect my OS to be just as consistent in this regard.

So, for me, I need a way to say, "I don't ever want to upgrade automatically. I'll upgrade when I'm ready".

<comment><USER19> On a tangent, how do you feel about Tesla doing OTA updates for core functionality on their cars? Stuff like "autopilot" and whatnot.

<comment><USER18> In this specific instance, it sounds like an "extra" and not a "change". So, I would be okay with that. However, I don't own a Tesla so I can't say for sure. For me personally, I don't want upgrades that throw away all my muscle memory in the name of "design". As more and more people enter the software development ecosystem, they're going to need to learn (the hard way) that sometimes "boring" is the right thing to do.

<comment><USER20> The update also apparently changed the dashboard and rearranged common things like your current speed.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> This article seems to be light on specifics and completely devoid of verifiable sources.

If Microsoft actually did force an involuntary upgrade this, it seems likely they would be on the receiving end of real lawsuits or even facing criminal charges for unauthorised access to computer systems (particularly if they did it to anyone who had actively avoided installing or keeping earlier updates related to Windows 10), not to mention any later formal data protection complaints over Windows 10's privacy implications, opening the floodgates to complaints under consumer protection legislation, and other risks. Even given that I wouldn't trust Microsoft as far as I could throw it at this point, I still doubt they're arrogant/naive enough to go that far.

Is this just a vaguely rehashed story about one of the optional updates being ticked by default from the other day?

<comment><USER21> I'll be an anecdotal, but verifiable source.

"[...] since whenever you restart or shut down your PC, the next time you use it, the machine will start installing Windows 10".

This is absolutely false on at least 2 PCs I manage (one Win7 home, one Win8.1 home, both have had the tray icon offering the free upgrade for months). They have both been restarted in the past couple days and neither has upgraded itself to Win10.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> _While switching to a new OS, especially Windows 10 is definitely a good move_

Microsoft would certainly promote that view, but is it really? Am I one of the minority of users who prefers a stable environment customised exactly as I want it, instead of "latest and greatest"?

<comment><USER23> There have been some pretty significant under-the-hood security upgrades in each new version of Windows. So while the UI changes are what users notice, the new security features are probably the more important reason to upgrade.

<comment><USER22> The security features seem to be more about protecting users from themselves and other users on the same machine than remote exploits though, which may be OK for "average users" and terminal-server type environments but definitely a negative for advanced users/developers who don't want the OS thinking it knows better than them, and are probably the only user.

Remote exploits that don't require any user action (i.e. simply be connected to the network and get pwned) are the _really_ important ones to worry about, but are thankfully very rare. Newer versions of Windows come with more network services that only add more, unknown, attack area; and they are seldom actually needed because I have no use for those features.

<comment><USER24> Even power users are still vulnerable to exploits that are executed by a site you're visiting or image/video you're viewing. And exploits that take advantage of privilege escalation don't just protect multi-user systems, they protect you if you're running as a limited user or if you're using UAC. It's a scary world out there for everyone, even if you don't run plugins in your browsers.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> I'm assuming this didnt apply to enterprise customers? The move from xp to 7 was a big deal for IT departments everywhere. I cant imagine them moving on from 7 anytime soon.

<comment><USER26> Windows 7/8/8.1 Enterprise don't have the upgrade option. I installed Win8 Enterprise over a year ago, it's never mentioned an upgrade.

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> I wonder if the license allows this. "We can arbitrarily change the OS version that you are running."

Since you bought (a license) for Windows 7, I would think if Windows 10 degrades your experience sufficiently, you might prevail in small claims court.

</comment><comment><USER28> This must be false, or a mistake on MS' part. For example, what about the users who have perfectly valid full Win 7 licenses (that you can move from a PC to another) would be forced to upgrade to a partial Win 10 license that invalidates as soon as they do major hardware upgrades?

</comment><comment><USER29> This is criminal. I think a case could be made here for unauthorized access under the CFAA for users who don't want to switch but are switched anyway. Microsoft is clearly overstepping its bounds and accessing files that it has no permission to. In fact, there's no way to know what it's accessing and W10 can actually be seen as malware that intentionally sends data to MS (which it does).

The only reason we're not looking at criminal charges here is because this is MS. There is absolutely no difference between this W10 behavior and malware except that most malware is nowhere near this harmful. And in this case, we know that MS has both a motive and actual intent to do harm and access a system it was not given authorization to access.

</comment><comment><USER30> Up until 2013 or so, I was always a PC guy. I _wanted_ to be a PC guy. But Microsoft did, and continues to do, everything in their power to change my mind about that. I still have one old laptop running Windows 7, the instant they force-upgrade that is the instant I bid adieu to the last remnant of Microsoft in my home computing life.

<comment> vezzy-fnord Speaking of which, using the term "PC" to describe x86 Windows machines somewhat compatible with IBM PC standards (a.k.a. "Wintel") desperately needs to die.

<comment><USER28> Yes. It is infuriating to hear the phrase "PC or linux"

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> I'm skeptical. If it's true then Microsoft's legal department dropped the ball: lawsuits of the class-action and anti-trust variety would promptly follow such a move.

</comment><comment><USER32> I've gone to great lengths to avoid Windows 10 and its back-ported features but installing patches marked "Security update" now tries to download and install Window 10. Enough!

 _My story:_

A few months ago, I trusted MS to provide necessary updates to my system. This means when they said something was an improvement, I accepted this and installed the update. For my trust I got the Get Windows 10! Ad-Ware installed. "'Reserve' your copy today" it said. Sounds good, I can reserve the free upgrade but wait to install it until the dust settles and I can make a reasonable decision about those apps that won't work any more. I "reserved" my copy.

What this really meant is that I had scheduled the upgrade. Windows Update had now become Microsoft's beachhead for capturing my PC. The release date came and Windows update was going to go ahead and install Windows 10. No prompt. No choice to leave it on my hard drive and install later. It was doing it... right then and there.

I rolled the system back to a restore point and hid the upgrade. No matter. Win Update had its heart set on getting Win 10 installed. Those new security patches... Nope, Win 10. That update to the keyboard drivers... Nope, Win 10. So I rolled up my sleeves and began hours of research and diving into forums and the registry and reboots and...

I uninstalled the updates for the GWX application. Removed its registry keys, cleared its directories, uninstalled the preparatory updates related to it. I marked them all as hidden. Success; Windows Update was doing normal updates again.

Then Microsoft back-ported the "user telemetry" system from Windows 10 to Win 7 and pushed it as a pair of updates. "Eases the upgrade experience" their KB article said, but I knew enough now not to trust that. I had to find alternative reviews of every KB. Now every update MS pushed was suspicious. The software that was supposed to keep my machine secure and running properly, was now the software attempting to erode my control over my hardware. Even though I had hidden the updates for the GWX app and the user telemetry "enhancements" Microsoft put them back in the update queue by reissuing them. _Hide_ says I.

Now, with the latest round of updates, I carefully select only those marked as "Security updates", having read the KBs and confirmed them with non-Microsoft sources.

 _Update_

      Downloading Windows 10

Whisky Tango Foxtrot! I click stop. I write this.

I hate what Microsoft is doing here.

</comment><comment><USER33> I guess i'm the only one who's happy enough with Windows 10. What i'm not happy about is lazy companies not making updated drivers for Win10.

TP-Link i'm looking at you

<comment><USER34> I've been very happy with Windows 10, it has completely revitalised some 9 year old hardware I still have. But I've been very lucky, I can't expect manufacturers to keep writing drivers for free for a decade. Seems that if Microsoft wants to keep consumers upgrading, they also need to continue driver compatibility so the old hardware still runs.

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> This "free" upgrade is currently disabled on "Pro" Versions of Windows.

If anything like this happens on those versions a lot of business might get into trouble.

<comment><USER26> Enterprise version, actually. Pro still pushes the upgrade.

</comment></comment><comment><USER36> Let's see them upgrade my XP

Switching to osx at the end of year anyway, never realized how linux-like the back-end was, I would have switched sooner.

</comment><comment><USER37> I'm glad I waited. Perhaps I am one of the few who is ..ok with using Windows 8. I don't feel the need to upgrade, and I'm deeply hesitant to upgrade for fear of something like this. I am taking risks with security, but it's either this or go Linux; I'm terrible with the command line.

</comment><comment><USER38> I run Windows 8 inside Virtual Box but the Windows 10 upgrade won't install due to a graphics driver issue. Hoping that is fixed so I don't get left out in the cold.

</comment><comment><USER39> What about people with bandwidth caps?

<comment><USER40> Take Microsoft to small claims court for any over-limit fees caused by forced downloads.

</comment></comment><comment><USER41> Absolutely no sources.

</comment><comment><USER42> I don't see the problem TBH. It seems that hey should be forcing upgrades so people will finally stop complaining about IE and other outdated stuff.

Guess some can never be satisfied no matter what.

</comment><comment><USER9> Thus far I have been spared the plague because my Boot Camp partition has less than a gigabyte of free space, so Microsoft can't install Windows 10 for me even if they want to.

</comment><comment><USER43> On the one hand, Microsoft gets criticized for abandoning millions of machines by dropping support for XP. Then, Microsoft gets criticized for not letting that happen with Windows 7 and 8 by keeping them up to date.

Do people tend to complain about Chrome's auto updates?

<comment><USER9> OS upgrades aren't directly comparable to automatically-updating software. They bring big changes and break compatibility. In the case of Windows 10, it merges two UI paradigms together. When software updates itself, it doesn't typically hop to the next major version, anyway. Chrome and evergreen software like it are exceptions.

This is especially true for Windows, which doesn't have a seamless upgrade process.

<comment><USER44> Not only is there an issue of the user interface changing significantly, but there are also driver issues when manufacturers are slow to release updated drivers (big problems for older devices). Anecdotal, but I have heard many people complain of increased blue screens.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER45> I may have some of the facts wrong here, but I think this means that upgraded systems will also start to run Microsoft's evergreen browser Edge, in place of IE, as the default browser.

It seems like this aspect, at least, could be a very good thing. Thinking about the very non-technical and casual user who uses the default IE and doesn't upgrade/switch for no particular reason other than some mixture of doesn't know it'll be better/afraid of breaking something/doesn't know how.

It'll just kill all those IE 8s/9s/10s still running out there that, really, should be replaced. Yes, it's a little brute force, but I can't see this being anything other than a good thing for (the vast majority of) these users and for developers.

<comment><USER46> > I can't see this being anything other than a good thing for (the vast > majority of) these users and for developers.

For developers? I think they are quite capable of deciding for themselves.

For users? Here I can see where you're coming from, but let's think this through:

\- Some users know how stuff works. They'll upgrade when they want to, no need to force them.

\- Some users have no clue about how stuff works, but they know someone who does (e.g. my grandma and me). If there would be an opt-out of this forced upgrade, that someone (me) could perform that on their computer and upgrade them when they're ready. But there is no opt out, so instead they (me) will have a hell of an explaining job on their hands. It might actually be the perfect excuse to install Ubuntu since the only reason not to is because they're "used to Windows now". And remember, this group didn't need a forced upgrade in the first place since they have someone who helps them stay up to date and does stuff that needs doing.

\- Some users have no clue and have nobody to help them. There's no point trying to get them the latest updates when they'll click accept on anything their screen tells them to accept (e.g. fake flash update). Some protection is better than none and thus Edge is better than IE8, I agree on that, but I'm not sure there is that much of a point. And they may become unable to use a computer altogether with a disruptive change like this.

In other words, nobody benefits. Maybe not even Microsoft, but I can't tell yet.

<comment><USER45> > For developers? I think they are quite capable of deciding for themselves.

Sorry, to be clear on this I mean devs building the stuff users use, as in no more need to support older, less standards-compliant, less fully-featured browsers. It saves an incredible amount of effort, time, money and stress.

I'm not even saying Edge is good, I'm just saying it's evergreen and regardless of its current state you'd hope it will only improve in these areas over time, and getting users on it removes the upgrade issue now and forevermore.

As for the three categories, I'm emphatically talking about the last one, which is absolutely massive. I used to work at a company where a significant proportion of our userbase was composed of this type of person. Lots of money is wasted on this problem, which is so easy to fix. It's a hugely important consideration, unless your market is developers or technologists, in which case this isn't an issue at all.

<comment><USER46> > I'm emphatically talking about the last [category], which is absolutely > massive. I used to work at a company where a significant proportion of our > userbase was composed of this type of person. Lots of money is wasted on > this problem, which is so easy to fix.

I see what you mean but still, an opt-out button would pretty much solve everything. Forcing everyone is just a bad move I think.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: Football statistical analysis - <AUTHOR> Hi HN, I have asked around my local network, but no one seems to be able to point me in the right direction.
I was a High School football coach for about 10 years, but now I am self employed and am doing some analytical work for some local football teams.
Anyway, in football when breaking down an opposing teams offense, you have a bunch of data. What I think is happening is that the opposing coach is calling plays to the right and left in almost 50/50 split, you can see it in the data.
I want to be able to compare the other teams decision with a truly random data set.
So, if the coach calls three Right plays in a row, how does this compare to his decisions in the past AND how likely is he to call either right or left on the next play.
I was told it had to do with some Bayesian statistics, but I am not sure.
Here is some example data of a recent breakdown I did last season:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3m9mr24rahwwzoz/St%20Thomas%20Aq%20Break%20down%20data%202016%20copy.xlsx?dl=0 <comment><USER2> Looks to me like you're trying to figure out the conditional probability of L/R given a bunch of other factors, and you're looking to tune the model using historical data.

Your factors look to be both categorical and numeric. E.g. off-play and yard line. This given, I'd start by training a conditional inference tree with 60% of the data. Amongst other things it'll give you a good idea of how your factors are related to each other and which matter (ctree is not difficult to interpret). You can then use the other 40% to test how well your tree predicts. Then, you might try other in a more informed manner.

If the above paragraph made no sense it may be advisable to out-source the task. There's quite a lot to the modelling effort.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the feedback. Ideally, I would like to do it the way I think you are describing it. Get a bunch of factors and see how they all interact with each other. And try to get the probabilities of all the different scenarios.

For example, if the coach runs the ball to the right in the red zone, what is the probability that he runs it again to the right on the next play.

The problem with trying to input a bunch of factors and trying to get the conditional probabilities of all those situations is that it can get exceedingly complex and I don't think it will be particularly useful given my small data sets.

I normally only have about 100 offensive plays to analyze and use data from.

My theory is that if I compared the R/L direction of the plays that the opposing coach has historically done in the last two or three games with a truly randomization of R/L data, that the coach will severely regress to the mean because he doesn't like the idea of going 5 times to the right in a row.

However, I need some type of percentage comparison or data analysis to show this instead of a subjective picture.

<comment><USER3> What usgroup said is correct. To give a little more background, this is a classification problem (predicting L or R) and it is a supervised learning problem (since you are training it on historical data).

There are many supervised learning models that can be used for classification. The simplest ones that first come to mind are logistic regression and decision trees. If you want to get into more complex models, look into boosting models and random forest.

I'm not sure what your programming background is, but creating classification models is very easy in Python using the scikitlearn library. Creating the features that are used to train your model would be more difficult, but you can always start with something simple and iterate.

It's also important to know how to measure the performance of your model. In this situation, plain accuracy will probably be OK assuming predictions are roughly 50/50 chance. But AUC is typically the standard used to measure model performance.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> While I'm a novice in this area, you may want to look into Markov Chains. It only looks at the last state before making a decision but you can determine how big your state is. You could have 3 plays be a single state and go after which three plays come after, for example.

<comment><AUTHOR> Great, thanks for the idea. I will look into Markov Chains.</comment></comment>


Jetbrains MPS: Create Your Own Domain-Specific Language - <AUTHOR> https://www.jetbrains.com/mps/ <comment><USER2> I'll take Lisp over this. Sorry.</comment>


Ask HN: How Reddit and Hacker News store their news and comments? - <AUTHOR>

I have some doubts about how Reddit and Hacker News manage to store such amount of news and comments while keeping all their rankings updated. I guess they must keep everything in memory using some kind of Tree structure, right? (news are parent of comments which are parent of other comments, etc.). Do they keep all news in memory? or just the last ones? do they constantly update all news ranking? or just the last ones? Hope you can help me. Thanks! <comment><USER2> Reddit's open source so you could actually look:

<https://github.com/reddit/reddit/wiki>

Edit: daleharvey beat me to the punchline.

</comment><comment><USER3> hacker news and reddit are both open source

<http://arclanguage.org/> (stored plain text files which are hot loaded into memory I believe)

<https://github.com/reddit/reddit> (probably a database)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks! I have found both sources but I am java developer. I guess I should learn python or arc to find it out.</comment></comment>


Programming is a dead end job (2014) - <AUTHOR> http://thecodist.com/article/programming_is_a_dead_end_job <comment><USER2> Agree. Programming is not a white collar job. Yes, it's well paid. Yes, it's done in an office. And yes, it's relatively safe and it looks like a white collar job. But it's not. Traditionally, blue collar workers are equivalent to worker bees. They are the ones that fix and make things. White collar jobs mainly manage the bees. If you're a programmer, you make things and fix things. It's a blue-collar job. It's important to you and your future to keep that clear in your mind.

</comment><comment><USER3> Discussion at the time (over 180 comments): [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7691332](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7691332)</comment>


Show HN: OAuth microservice for FB, Twitter, etc. - <AUTHOR> https://login-with.com <comment><USER2> The information on `/login` should probably be on / so I can read somewhere what "Stateless authentication microservice" actually means.

Also maybe a sentence why this is neat and should be used...

<comment><AUTHOR> Would be great if you could create an issue and write some more details about your requirement.

<comment><USER3> Does "put information about the service on the front page" really require a ticket?

<comment><USER4> Nope, but a ticket helps them track it, helps make your request more durable, more likely to be developed into a higher resolution of detail, and ultimately more likely to be fulfilled.

<comment><USER3> Thanks, but I know what trouble tickets are.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> So what's exactly the use case for this? I'm not entirely sure.

Let's say I deploy it. Users of whatever service I provide use this to login to Google, Twitter, etc, then what? do I need to also implement something on the servers I'm protecting behind a login? I.e. some "verification" method that checks whether the client's JWT tokens are valid so I can grant them access?

<comment><AUTHOR> It's helpful if you want your website/webapp to support login with X (Google, Facebook, etc). Your services on the same domain can than use these credentials and eventually use the respective API's with the per-user key.

All you need to do is: a) get key/secret for the respective service b) deploy this microservice with the respective env variables

<comment><USER6> This kind of explanation would be really useful on the website. Right now it has nothing to describe what it is/does.

<comment><USER7> The explanation you replied to didn't say anything I didn't find obvious from the tag line.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I found the GitHub link to contain a lot of useful info about what this is: [https://github.com/lipp/login-with](https://github.com/lipp/login-with)

Very nice work!

</comment><comment><USER9> This is really cool. I was looking for something like this a few days ago for a side project. Great job!

<comment><AUTHOR> THX!

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> [https://github.com/bitly/oauth2_proxy](https://github.com/bitly/oauth2_proxy) is a good one as well.

</comment><comment><USER11> How does it handle revoked and expired sessions?

From my prior research this seems to be a problem with the JWT which would either require distribution of ever growing blacklists or session verification through shared server side sessions.

Would also love to see some API documentation.

I really like the idea and always reimplementing login services seems like unnecessary hassle.

<comment><USER12> Expired can happen clientside, just check the timestamp. Revoked would be a short blacklist that lasts the duration of the session, once a token is expired it no longer has to be revoked.

But I'm also curious how a revoked list would be handled with this service.

<comment><USER11> That's only true if you do not allow for long running sessions which are commonplace today. And it still requires a lookup every time to see if a particular session is blacklisted.

From what I could grasp there's no mechanics for blacklists/revocations in the current implementation of this service.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Could be useful in my current project, but I need LinkedIn also.

<comment><AUTHOR> Created an issue [https://github.com/lipp/login- with/issues/21](https://github.com/lipp/login-with/issues/21)

:)

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> I cannot wait to allow a bazillion fake Twitter and FB accounts from the Eastern Bloc countries to pour into my website and bigly MAGA. Thanks, social sign-on!

<comment><USER15> What's stopping people from creating fake accounts without social logins?

<comment><USER14> Administrators and community moderation who pay attention to their own access logs rather than ambiguous Facebook Review Teams who look the other way.

<comment><USER15> There's nothing stopping admins or mods from policing people who happen to use social login.

<comment><USER14> Except that they don't.

Account identity and authentication being outsourced to Facebook means your community maintainers don't get to notice the fact that those 100 MAGA- spouting dimwits are from Romania. They don't get that information in the first place.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Cannae Drive: new space-propulsion method?  - <AUTHOR> http://www.cannae.com/

<comment><USER2> Is it powered by Steorn?</comment>


Show HN: Splitter – Real time A/B testing + making of (Serverless backend + IOT) - <AUTHOR> https://splitter.appdrag.com/ <comment><AUTHOR> I'm Joseph Benguira, Founder & CTO of AppDrag Cloud CMS & Cloud Backend

I started to work on Splitter after a friend and bussiness partner, Maxime Seligman, challenged me to produce very quickly an A/B testing tool that he will be able to present to a big public webmarketing event : 12th Annual MEGAComm Conference on Feb 15 2018.

This was the perfect occasion to test real-time technologies like AWS IOT with MQTT and prototype all of that very quickly in AppDrag Cloud Backend. I consider this as an experiment and a side project and a complementary tool for AppDrag users but also for anyone wanting to do A/B testing for free.

I intend to keep it free, active and maintained as a side project for AppDrag, so feel free to use it and to give us your feedback</comment>


Ask HN: Anyone Use Tray.io? - <AUTHOR> Wondering what the differences are between them, Zapier, and Parabola. <comment><USER2> It depends on how far you want to make it before your outgrow Zapier. We switched from Zapier to Tray.io and have found dozens of new ways to connect systems that were never possible with Zapier. In addition to using Tray.io to move data around my ecosystem, I use it as a configuration and reporting tool as well since it has so much functionality. It's an incredibly robust ETL tool an has become the most utilitarian and powerful tool in our entire SaaS arsenal.

</comment><comment><USER3> It appears that Tray.io is mostly situated for enterprises that wish to automate their API connectors using a GUI tool they created; allowing easy creation of APIs for businesses.

But compared to the competition however, Tray.io is has less supported APIs, no starter / free trials or signups (You must get a quote from them) and they are somewhat less flexible in customization options when compared with the other alternatives.

At this point, I would choose Zapier over Tray.io, since Zapier is basically the same thing but can be used by many developers from freelance to enterprise, free trial to try it out and supports more connectors. I cannot comment on Parabola.io though as I have not used it yet.</comment>


Ask HN: Customers say they want to buy but never execute - <AUTHOR> Something we run into from time to time when selling our software in person is that quite often we will have a great meeting, with decisonmakers/purchasers, they tell us they like the product and are ready to purchase. Then nothing happens and they fall off the earth. This has happened enough that we are starting to question our sales approach. Even in follow ups weeks later they say that they want to but just haven't gotten around to it.
We always make sure our leads our qualified to purchase and have the proper authorities to purchase so it's rarely the case where they just couldn't get it approved. We also make sure to "close" by signing them up on site - however the payment is always something they want to do on their own time and our system is built in a self service way anyway.
Anyone run into this or have ideas on how to get people to pay after they said they would? <comment><USER2> One concrete suggestion I would make is to watch Steli Efti's presentation on sales made to YC. It's filled with great info about how to qualify, follow up, pitch and in general, close sales. Steli is a master at that and maybe watching this will help you understand where things fell apart in your case. It's hard to say where it went wrong but I'm guessing with this info, you may be able to identify it better:

[http://blog.close.io/y-combinator-sales- school](http://blog.close.io/y-combinator-sales-school)

<comment><USER3> Big Steli fan here :)

Take a look at these

[http://blog.close.io/hot-prospect-turns-cold](http://blog.close.io/hot- prospect-turns-cold)

[http://blog.close.io/postponing-the- purchase](http://blog.close.io/postponing-the-purchase)

<comment><USER4> Thanks! :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Several questions/items:

1\. If you are "signing them up on the site" and they aren't paying, are they continuing to use the site? If so, just suspend their account until they pay or if they don't pay after that close their account.

2\. Is it a product that you are getting signed contracts with an agreement to pay? If so there is always the possibility of that you could pursue a legal angle.

3\. I would focus on finding out what their hold ups are on paying by digging deeper. Offer to hold their hand on the payment process. From what it sounds like these customers potentially like your product and may see an initial use in it, but it is not something they are willing to pay for and are trying to be nice and hope you go away by just not paying.

4\. In the future you could raise the price of your product and offer then offer various discounts for paying on-time or early.

5\. Is it a one-time fee or subscription service? You may try playing with the pricing and payment terms (i.e. if you only offer a monthly price try adding additional terms like quarterly or annually. Or if you only offer a one-time fee try breaking it up over time).

(Edited to fix typos)

</comment><comment><USER6> To count as a sale, walk away with:

Signed & enforceable contract for service, or

Filled out Credit Card auth form (paper & signature works)

'We can invoice you, no problem, but we need a CC & auth today to turn on your service immediately. We promise to only charge the CC when we don't receive payment after the invoice is past its due date and will email you 2 business days prior to charging your card. My accoutning group tells me we rarely have to charge the card, but it ensures uninterrupted service due to some small accounting issue.'

Dont pay out/promise commissions until you get paid! See also clawbacks for terminations. Sales needs to get the money fully across the finish line.

best of luck

</comment><comment><USER7> Sounds like:

1) don't have an upfront contract and agenda when the meeting is setup. OR

2) your "customers" didn't realize the purpose of the meeting was to actually buy. OR

3) you don't know what your customers internal purchasing process is. OR

4) ???

There are so many _books_ written about sales, read a few more.

Sales is harder that tech people believe.

But since you say "from time to time" \- that sounds like you are successful in part at closing deals. What is the difference between the meetings that result in a purchase and one that doesn't?

</comment><comment><USER8> I work in a country where late-payments are everyday story so it's quite standard procedure. My advice is to use a good lawyer, if the contract is signed, there is little that can be done on their side.

The April number of Harvard Business Review had a bunch of good ideas and talks on the sales process, it may be a good read:) [https://hbr.org/archive- toc/BR1504](https://hbr.org/archive-toc/BR1504)

</comment><comment><USER9> Deals aren't closed until the money changes hands. The terms and conditions of your offer should stipulate when payment is due in accordance with your goals. There are plenty of businesses that won't pay until the last minute, if you float them, you are essentially their bank. If you're in the banking business that can work. If you aren't it usually doesn't.

Good luck.</comment>


Nintendo Switch game cartridges taste offensively bad, trust us - <AUTHOR> http://www.polygon.com/2017/3/1/14784140/nintendo-switch-cartridges-taste-awful-psa <comment><USER2> tl;dr: They coat the cartridges with a bitterant, Denatonium Benzoate, 1000x more bitter than Quinine.

As a Canadian, I knew better than to put it in my mouth, thanks to a Canadian PSA that played during many commercial breaks in my youth helpfully titled "Don't you put it in your mouth". Totally unrelated, but hilarious and worth a watch:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyl5Mwr84MA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyl5Mwr84MA)

</comment><comment><USER3> Seriously?

<comment><USER4> TL;DR: it's a feature, because you're not supposed to do that. This is how you send this message even to toddlers.</comment></comment>


Why I Decided to Spend More Time Working from Home - <AUTHOR> http://www.sachinkamdar.com/why-i-decided-to-spend-more-time-working-from-home/

<comment><USER2> I've worked at home full time for the last 2.25 years or so, and it's been the most productive working experience of my 15 year career. I think there are some misconceptions and hidden benefits that I held before being in a long full-time WFH situation that I'm sure others hold also. I've been meaning to write up a longish post on my thoughts/experience, but here are some brief notes off the top of my head:

1\. I think the tv/fridge/playstation distraction thing is a myth. I think maybe it's a problem when you WFH occasionally because you're not used to being productive at home and you can make it up tomorrow at the office.

2\. WFH has the benefit of forcing you to be vastly evaluated on your work product. This is seven million kinds of awesome. I have lots to say about the benefits of this, but one thing is that it changes the way I make things. I think differently about how my colleagues (and not just developers) consume and interact with my work. I care about _their_ FTUE when running my code or trying a new tool more than I used to.

3\. Your commute is killing you. You probably don't think this is true. I didn't. I loved my train ride. Now I can't believe I gave that much of my life away. It really makes me sick. I'd trade 25% salary for no commute in a _heartbeat_ now that I've tried both. Hell, probly 50%.

4\. Everyone asks if you miss social interaction. I don't, because it's not missing. I interact more with my current team than any other team I've ever been on. We idle in chat all day, and I probably have an avg of 2-5 VOIP quick conversations or meetings daily. The interactions are more intentional, and valuable (socially and work-wise).

5\. I'm a better writer now and my task management skills are much improved, for obvious reasons. More asynchronous work means less walk-by task management and more thoughtful emails/tickets, etc.

6\. I don't burn out nearly as easily (in the short or long term). 12 hour days feel like 9 hour days used to. Five minutes petting my dog is vastly more psychologically relaxing than a walk to the water cooler or an office game of foosball.

<comment><USER3> I've been working from home now for 6 years.

I agree with all that you have said, but I do see negatives more prominently, so I'll list those as a balance point. Keep in mind as you read these that I live more than a day away from where I work, so that adds an isolation factor that not all home-workers will suffer.

1\. Probably the biggest thing I miss is the informal conversations. The hallway conversations. I've become very detached from what is going on in my department, and I no longer have the pulse of what is going on.

I used to occasionally stop by my manager's office and chat for a few minutes, just an informal query of how business is going, what I've been doing, toss out some wacky ideas for improving things, etc... A phone conversation is simply not the same.

2\. I miss going somewhere else to work. I can occasionally rectify this by going to panera's or a coffee shop, but it's not practical to do if I'm going to be having meetings that day. And I do get random calls from coworkers and managers...

3\. I have become a bit of a recluse. I have this as a natural tendency to begin with, but now that I work from home, I don't even have work to get me out of the house.

<comment><USER2> I did fail to mention I visit the office (a 2hr flight from home) for a week out of every six or so.. which helps me with some of the things you mentioned. I do have random conversations when I'm up there over beers or dinner that wouldn't likely happen via phone calls or on Skype. It's definitely nice.

Another downside that gets me sometimes is that I miss shared whiteboards. I'm a pretty visual/physical thinker. It's nice to have a whiteboard you can both see. We mostly supplement w/ screen sharing or SMSing iphone images of sketches. It works but it's not ideal. One of the things I'd love to work on someday is tools to make remote-work better/easier. For instance, I think it's rad that many of the 37signals folks work remotely and build tools that scratch that particular itch.

<comment><USER3> I make extensive use of screen sharing, OneNote, and a wacom tablet. It works out pretty well, but you are right, it's not as nice as a whiteboard.

I've toyed around with the whole wiimote / projector idea as a cheap collaborative whiteboard. Sadly my company is not as open to "out of the box / off the wall" ideas as I am. It wouldn't be as useful if the other side didn't participate in the same way.

Perhaps there is a product / startup idea here. A projector with a camera built in, or something like that.

The HP Touchsmart computers would probably be an easier way to go. It would be nice if somebody marketed touch capabilities as an augmentation to traditional computer interaction rather than as a primary interface.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> The fact that working from home is still, relatively, rare in 2012 is baffling to me. When I think how many useful team interactions I have in a day vs. the amount of waste on meetings that either aren't necessary at all or could be more easily done via IM / e-mail it always surprises me. Of course this relies on self-managing, responsible individuals and a team with a good level of trust / communication, so perhaps that is where the fundamental difficulty lives. That and it does make it more apparent that some people aren't really required except to manage the overhead (bureaucracy) they themselves generate.

<comment><USER5> There is something to be said about work-life balance too. When you work from home, it's really easy to let other things distract you, because "it's ok, I'll just work more latter to make it up." Then you end up working 12 hours, because of all of the interspersed distractions. If this happens too often, then you run into issues with the barrier between work and home breaking down.

I've personally, experienced this, and I've seen people comment on HN about having experienced it too, so this isn't just a hypothetical situation.

That said, I know people that successfully work from home, and do things like have a separate office that is only for work. I was just talking with someone over the weekend about how he took a bunch of time off of work, and at the end realized that he hadn't even entered that room the entire time (emphasizing how much of a separate "I'm at work" space it was).

<comment><USER4> Yes, it is true that working from home is not some panacea, there are simply different issues. Like all engineering, there are no solutions, only trade- offs. That said, for someone like me, who has no kids (just 2 dogs) and a g/f that works out of the home during the day, I have little to no distractions at home that I can't manage and I find I get MUCH more done, and MUCH more efficiently when working from home.

I am sure at the start of the industrial revolution there were people that complained that migrating to some remote location to work was 'unnatural' and 'full of problems' and it could never compete with someone working at 'home' (on the farm or in some small scale industry). They were both right and wrong and industrialization and centralization of the work force served a good purpose. I believe modern 'knowledge' work (I don't like that term, but whatever) again tilts the pendulum towards the 'work from wherever you prefer' kind of situation. We have ways of communicating and coordinating work even across the world. The fact that teams aren't routinely made up of members all over the world is somewhat surprising to me.

I realize there is overhead with coordination, but having essentially a 24 hour 'someone's always working' situation seems far more beneficial than 'everyone is working between the hours of 9 and 5, inclusive!!' (perhaps in two time-zones, so we have coverage approaching, but not quite reaching '24 hours'). Also coordination really isn't that big of an overhead as long as all people are professional and responsible (which, as I said before, is perhaps the bigger problem :))

Again, I am hand-waving over the complexity of how you get a team to work well in that situation. I think it takes a group of people with great respect and trust for one another, so perhaps the best idea is to work together for some period of time (say a ship cycle, a year, whatever you think is best) in a traditional setting to get those normal human bonds you form by working directly with / seeing people day in and day out, then let them scatter and continue the relationships over mail/IM/Skype/IRC/etc... if they wish.

The idea that great coders have to move geographical location to pursue some jobs in a connected world just seems very depressing to me.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> The problem with working from home is not getting no work done because you're too busy drinking beer and playing xbox. It's sticking to an 8 hr work day instead of working all day around the clock. It's putting the mouse down and spending time with your family. It's stopping yourself from returning to work after dinner.

<comment><USER7> Yeah, I've basically had to institute a 'no working after dinner' rule for myself. If I have extra tasks to get done, I get up early - sometimes very early - but an early morning start feels far less intrusive on my family life than working in the evening. (It's an easier rule for me to keep than it would be for some, since I'm a morning person, and the evening is a low-productivity time for me.)

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> I'm working from home full time right now, and I've found a few things which have made it productive _for me_.

1) An office. Granted, the office is also my man-cave, so it's full of distractions: books, posters, a gaming rig, and comfy chairs. However, it protects me from human distractions (such as my wife), which are the biggest barrier to getting work done.

2) Dressing for work. This is just jeans and a t-shirt, but it's exactly what I'd wear if I was working in an office as well.

3) Working on something interesting. Even if there's grunt work, if I'm having fun getting to a goal, distractions aren't an issue.

4) Balancing work and fun. I work until I need a distraction, and then distract myself. When my mind is ready to get back to work, I get back to work.

The end result is that I get all of my tasks done in a week, even if I don't work every day, and I have fun doing it.

<comment><USER9> The office and actually getting dressed for work in the morning make all the difference for me. Even if I end up on the couch with my laptop watching Mad Men at the end of the day, starting that day in the "studio" with a cup of coffee sets the tone for the rest of the day. It's a symbolic reminder that I need to focus on my work.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Tidal's dev team loves working from home! I agree that "work is modal" -- I even wrote a [post]([http://burakkanber.com/blog/staying-productive-while- working...](http://burakkanber.com/blog/staying-productive-while-working-from- home-or-why-we-need-workspaces/)) at one point about it, and how important maintaining a workspace is.

We've also started using a version of the pomodoro technique. We take :55 - :05 of the hour off to do whatever (check emails, talk to each other, eat a sandwich, workout, etc), but what has increased productivity for us the most so far is scheduling out our day hour-by-hour the night before. Combining that with the rigid :55-:05 break schedule has really kept us on track (not a single dev delay since we started). I think it's the combined effect of having to plan out your tomorrow at night (forcing you to think about priorities, rather than guiding by gut), and the fact that when you're working during the day, you don't need to take any time to figure out what to do next--all you have to do is look at your calendar. We've been incredibly focused and on- target as a result, so if you're looking for another productivity hack I'd try that :)

Edit: another positive side effect of scheduling out your day is the fact that it forces you to get really, really good at setting personal expectations, and it helps you be more realistic about what you can accomplish in 50 minutes. No more are the days of mis-estimating how long a task will take

</comment><comment><USER11> For me, the best place to work is where I can be in a "work" environment, but without worrying about anyone disturbing what I'm working on.

Living in a studio and a half apartment means I'm either in the room I sleep in or the room I do everything else in. It's not a good environment for me to work, and I really don't like bringing work into that environment, either.

Working in an office with a certain kind of culture can mean that you're expected to be available and to respond to any inquiry via email, IM, phone, or someone walking over to your desk at any time. This really doesn't work for me, either.

So working at that kind of job means I really find I work best when I'm completely disconnected (phone off, email not open, not signed into IM) in a cafe. I have my laptop, and that's all. No distractions, pure focus.

The absolute ideal for me is an office environment where I can work in blocks of at least a couple of hours without being expected to respond to any non- emergency immediately.

Does anyone else have a similar experience?

<comment><USER5> I have to agree with the idea of being in a place where you can be isolated to focus on work. When working in an office, I've often found that the best times to work are either early in the morning or late at night when the office is basically empty[1].

That said, I think that if you are disciplined enough, you could work in the same place that you live (even as someone that finds it difficult to keep work/home from blending). If you set up a routine that you do when you wake up on a work day, and stick to the routine, you could 'trick' your brain into differentiating the space based on what you are doing. The thing is that you would need to have a certain level of discipline to pull this off.

[1]: It also helps that I find the sound of an empty space with just the HVAC noises as background sort of soothing. I liked just stalking empty classrooms, etc at university too.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> Where are people finding all these 100% work from home jobs?

Whenever I suggest it to HR/recruiters they just aren't interested. Most places will only allow a day or two working from home, if that.

<comment><USER13> I worked 100% from home/remote for almost a decade. I found it via connections/chance... I'd emailed someone I read about in a magazine, we kept in contact, a few months later he asked if I'd like to help _his_ friend with a small website project. Apparently they liked my work, because they kept sending me more of it.

<comment><USER12> Yeah, I'm getting the impression it's usually a more casual deal or something you grow into after 'proving' yourself at your current work-from-office position.

Perhaps it's a niche for a jobs board? If you try and search for remote/telecommute jobs at the moment all you seem to get is spam.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Working from home is great! You also cut down on commuting time, which can be a big source of unhappiness in your life:

[http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2011/06/perils- commu...](http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2011/06/perils-commuting)

Also, a +1 on the pomodoro technique. It helps me get back on track if I _accidentally_ open up FB or HN. :-)

</comment><comment><USER5> I've found that some people are perfectly fine working from home without a separate 'work' space, and some aren't. It definitely feels like something that varies from person to person and situation to situation. For example, working at home when you live by yourself is different than if you live with your wife (stay-at-home mom) and child.

I've found that I need to be in a certain mindset to really focus on work, and sometimes that's hard to achieve at home. I found myself really forcing myself to work against my focus, and that tended to cause stress. (Though it's also possible it was just an indicator that I needed to find another job)

I also think that working remotely without much physical contact with 'the office' is definitely a detriment. Going to 'the office' once every couple of months can help you feel more in-touch with your team/co-workers.

</comment><comment><USER15> Most organizations spend an enormous amount of money on offices. Offices can be argued are temperature-controlled, resource-hogging (if not LEED certified), calibrated, noise-attenuated (sometimes), free of most distractions (possibly pre-Facebook [1]), constrained, regimented environments with strategic floor layouts designed precisely to get people who are paid a salary to focus and produce value for their company. Schools are similar (witness the backlash against home schooling). Focus is very important but as the OP posits - it is a matter of learned self-diligence and control.

[1] The companies I've heard of that block Facebook, personal email et al. (e.g. financial institutions) typically make it near impossible for work to be brought home (which can be good - separation of work and home).

<comment><USER16> Is that actually true? Seems to me the typical office is an ergonomic nightmare designed to tickle some manager's social dominance instincts at the cost of a hefty productivity hit (and schools are similar indeed). Obviously there are companies like Fog Creek that do optimize offices for productivity but I was under the impression these are still exceptions?

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> I posted this on the blog:

I worked remotely frequently at my last job (which I left a few months back, so the experiences are still pretty fresh). I discovered that being in the right environment is absolutely key…and absolutely non-static. I did some of my best work on the bus to the coffee shop (and in those same coffee shops as well). Conversely, I've hardly been able to work while at home because of the lack of noise (weird, I know.).

White noise and chatter helped me think, and fending off the distractions was pretty easy because I was in a zone where I was most productive.

Nice reference to the Pomodoro Technique; I've, unknowingly, done variations of this technique and it works really, really well. It's exactly like exercising.

</comment><comment><USER18> I work from home for a company that is 100% remote (even the local guy) with all of its 60+ employees (almost entirely developers).

We basically just work regular hours like any normal job, except no commute. Seems to work very well (at least for me).

</comment><comment><USER19> I've worked remotely for most of my career.

I've had companies that didn't care where my 'remote' was (my home, a coffee shop, my farm, etc), but I've had companies get really anal about where my 'remote' was.

I'm working a mixed-mode gig now -- in the office two days a week, remotely the rest -- and I'm far less productive when I'm on-site than I am when I'm working from home. (For example, I'm on-site today, and they're watching Spaceballs on the tv nearest my cube -- so the next two hours are a total wash to me; as a consultant, I couldn't really ask for anything better)

</comment><comment><USER20> Great article - off topic and feel free to ignore (assuming the author is listening) - but I find your product, based on your website, very difficult to understand. Description on the homepage left me with questions. Finally went to the tour, and got an idea what it is, but not why I would use it, or how it actually integrates with whatever CMS I'm using.

All that being said, after I figured it out, it looks like a cool product.

<comment><AUTHOR> Appreciate the feedback (author, here). It is optimized for our qualified leads which are the top online publishers on the web. However, we've heard your feedback a few times in the past. We're working on a revamp to make it more descriptive for anyone who hits the site.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> For me it's less about the distractions and more about not having people to pull me out of the rabbit holes I fall down. At the office I have constant reminders that I shouldn't be spiraling down into wikipedia hell while at home I don't.

So my solution was to download a chime app that sets off a bell every hour on the hour. Now every time I hear that I find I automatically turn productive again.

</comment><comment><USER22> I honestly think the best approach is a blended one. Some time physically in person with your team, and the rest of the time WFH. I find my occasional trips into the office (2 hours away) to be incredibly useful and productive. The key is finding the right balance between in office and WFH to get the most done and benefit the most psychologically.

</comment><comment><USER23> I just want to say that I fondly remember Gramstand from around 2008-9. That was such a nice little cafe to work in.</comment>


Consul Service Discovery with Docker - <AUTHOR> http://progrium.com/blog/2014/08/20/consul-service-discovery-with-docker/

<comment><USER2> One small thing that makes Consul exciting (especially when compared to etcd) is its -bootstrap-expect flag [0].

It's the recommended way to stand up a Consul cluster without a risk of causing split brain if it turns out multiple nodes are coming up at the exact same time, and it achieves that without an external / pre-existing coordination service.

In comparison, etcd's recommended way to bootstrap a cluster is to use CoreOS' "discovery" service, which is great, but does constitute one extra dependency.

\--

Now, the downside of Consul is that it seems etcd has _much_ more momentum.

      [0]: http://www.consul.io/docs/guides/bootstrapping.html

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah, and actually, that bootstrapping was previously a manual process, but thanks to DigitalOcean I had my summer intern Robert (@robxu9) implement and submit the patch for -bootstrap-expect.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Consul is pretty neat, and in my experiments with it, it's really easy to spin up and modify a cluster. It seems like they really thought through the procedures.

Another mature option for service discovery that this port doesn't mention is AirBnB's SmartStack: [https://github.com/airbnb/synapse](https://github.com/airbnb/synapse) and [https://github.com/airbnb/nerve](https://github.com/airbnb/nerve). Here's a talk from DockerCon about using SmartStack and Docker: [http://blog.docker.com/2014/07/dockercon-video-building-a- sm...](http://blog.docker.com/2014/07/dockercon-video-building-a-smarter- application-stack/)</comment>


11 Tech Talent Relocation Trends in 2018 - <AUTHOR> https://relocateme.eu/blog/11-tech-talent-relocation-trends-to-expect-in-2018/ <comment><USER2> What's about the relation to integration and how welcome the country may be to foreigners?</comment>


Calm Before the Storm - <AUTHOR> https://www.typeinvestigations.org/investigation/2019/09/30/calm-before-the-storm/ <comment><AUTHOR> "What's more, Florida Power and Light has also applied to build two new reactors at the Turkey Point site—and the documents supporting that application rely on a projection of one foot by 2100. The NRC accepted that estimate after a year and a half of reviews that included hundreds of pages of scientific analysis, but there's scant reason to believe the projection will hold. Over that same period, cities and counties in South Florida use a projection of between 2.6 to almost seven feet, based on the best available projections from climate authorities including NOAA and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)."</comment>


Smartbox by Inbox by Gmail by Google - <AUTHOR> http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2015/03/smartbox-by-inbox-mailbox-of-tomorrow.html

<comment><USER2> I feel as if google's april fools jokes get progressively worse every year.

<comment><USER3> The thing about April fools jokes is that they need to catch you unaware but since Google does this every year it doesn't seem too surprising.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I remember the time where they were using April 1st to release real products... Like Gmail.

<comment><USER5> I'm wondering if they could genuinely pull one impossible-to-believe-btu-real service each year for an April 1 launch date?

<comment><USER6> A lot of the announcements they have made on April 1st have turned into real projects

<comment><USER7> such as?

<comment><AUTHOR> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_hoaxes_and_east...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_hoaxes_and_easter_eggs#Real_April_Fools.27_Day_product_launches)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> The first part of this -- the ability to check whether there is mail in the mailbox -- seems useful.

<comment><USER9> Yeah, when I saw that I thought "oh, useful!" except for the fact that I always at least have some junk mail which would ruin it.

I wish I could just completely opt-out of physical mail, but the USPS won't allow it: [http://www.insidesources.com/outbox-vs-usps-how-the-post- off...](http://www.insidesources.com/outbox-vs-usps-how-the-post-office- killed-digital-mail/)

<comment><USER10> I never even realized Outbox had died out; I just assumed it was another one of those "indefinitely US-only for now but we'll expand real-soon-now" services.

If the USPS didn't like their business model, why didn't they just try to start with some other country? I would love to get this in Canada, for example. (We have a half-assed attempt at this in the form of Canada Post's "epost", but it only does bills by partnering and prearrangement, rather than actually scanning anything.)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I wish I commented frequently enough on HN to have earned the downvote button by now...

I feel like the only proper way to treat April Fools jokes is to bury them.

<comment><USER12> Even then, there is no downvote button for submissions - only for comments.

<comment><USER13> That's just wrong, there is a flag button just like there are for comments.

<comment><USER11> It seems there is no downvote button for stories, per the FAQ.

That said, I wouldn't flag this, just try to push it off the first page. People can share what they like.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Google has crossed a threshold where it loses more goodwill than it gains with these lame April Fools jokes.

</comment><comment><USER15> I don't get it, the post is clearly dated March 31st.

<comment><USER16> Read the title: "The mailbox of _tomorrow_ , today". They probably do need to get it out there into the world as it becomes April 1st somewhere on earth, but that doesn't prevent them from using that as a meta-joke.

Now, of course, I will just avoid HN and any other source of news in English for the next 30hrs or so...

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> So it begins... Prepare yourselves brethren

</comment><comment><USER18> I want that in my car</comment>


Are technical certifications of any worth?   - <AUTHOR> http://techslam.net/2012/06/are-technical-certifications-of-any-worth/

<comment><USER2> Even degrees don't mean much. It's not like you get to skip the fizzbuzz and trivia/whiteboard gauntlet by virtue of a fancy CS degree from Yale. Obviously certifications are worth less than Ivy League degrees, so that should give some idea what certifications are worth.

The basic issue is that there are plenty of people with certifications and degrees that can't produce, they are completely helpless. And there are plenty of people with no certifications or degrees that are top notch producers. There's no correlation. You have to test each person, you can't rely on the paperwork from some third party to mean anything.

A related issue is it is not uncommon at all to find people creating certification sets and teaching university classes who have no experience doing design or development of real projects. Their experience is non- existent, also known as academic knowledge. It's not surprising that many students doing well grade-wise in these programs can not do real world work, other than perhaps pursue the PhD and join a university themselves to pass on their academic perspective, devoid of real world capability, to the next generation of academics.

On the other hand, a portfolio of their own work and past creations is a pretty good indicator of actual talent. People know what John Carmack, Larry Wall, and Linus Torvald's skills are, and it has nothing to do with any degrees they may or may not have.

<comment><USER3> _There's no correlation_

I would guess that there is a very high correlation between CS degrees and programming or problem solving ability. I've worked in a pretty good lab full of grad students and their average skill level was dramatically higher than what you find at an average company (or at least, what I've seen working at half a dozen or so places), let alone what you see from average job applicants. Upon graduation most of these people easily found jobs at places like Google. They didn't get stumped on FizzBuzz because they had spent their time on abstract academic problems without real-world application.

There are definitely some people with CS degrees who cannot code, and you don't want to hire those people. The existence of these exceptions however doesn't mean that degrees aren't a strong positive signal when you are looking to hire somebody competent.

I think there's at least some reactionary bias against formal qualifications in the software industry and in startups. Some of the old professions like law or medicine do go too far the other way, but it's just as wrong to fetishize "real world experience".

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> In my experience, there are three kinds of people who get certified:

1) The highly competent who happened to be bored an afternoon and got one as a joke, or just to check how easy it was to get one, or as a result of a stupid bet. These people usually never mention their certifications on their resumes.

2) The competent people who were forced by their company to get certified for whatever reason. If you ask them they'll tell you, and it might be on their resumes, but as a footnote.

3) Finally, the incompetent people, who think the certifications are actually worth anything. They'll proudly highlight what they got, thinking other people will be impressed. When hiring, this is obviously a strong negative marker.

<comment><USER5> > 3) Finally, the incompetent people, who think the certifications are > actually worth anything. They'll proudly highlight what they got, thinking > other people will be impressed. When hiring, this is obviously a strong > negative marker.

Don't forget jamming all of the their certs onto their business card like they have a PhD, MD, JD....except it reads some other string of acronym vomit made up of decidedly less impressive acronyms like: John Smith MCSE, CISSP, MCA, GSE, RHCE/RHCA, ITIL.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Certs are a weird beast. If you are competent and working at a high level in your field, certs not only don't mean anything, they're a negative signal.

However, if you've banged around in dead-end entry level jobs till you're 40, didn't go to uni, and are desperate to break the $40k/yr barrier because you've racked up a history of ex-wives and expensive child support payments and spending yet another 5 years renting the room above your now elderly parent's garage...they can mean the difference between $20/hr and a proper full-time job with benefits and an actual real salary.

At those kinds of employment levels, and for those kinds of employers, we're not talking about staffers or employers who are passionate about their IT systems or development staff.

At those levels IT is a cost center, barely tolerated but necessary. Think "IT guy for a department store". Managed at corporate by somebody who made a name for themselves by being the top floor salesperson of ties and suspenders and who told his manager one day in passing that he can copy CDs to mp3 files and is therefore qualified to run the regional IT systems.

Both the employees and the employers in these situations simply have entirely different life priorities than most of the folks here. To these folks the certs are extremely valuable, perhaps a 20-30% pay bump on both sides.

To the corporate IT manager he gets to tell _his_ bosses that he has certified staff (and not part-time hobbyists he wrangled up from the Geek Squad when the local Best Buy closed up shop). This metric, at those levels of abstraction is important.

To the employee it's a big pay bump, and opens up lots of mediocre, but better paying jobs.

If you think of the IT world as analogous to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, the folks on this board are near the top, seeking Self-actualization, but the broader IT world is closer to the bottom of the pyramid and is therefore composed of many more people and positions in that pyramid.

Some folks are just simply destined to dwell in the lower levels of the pyramid, either by circumstance or poor life choices, and the cert _might_ be just enough to move them up a level.

</comment><comment><USER6> Typically, no. In my experience, anyone who hires you for the cert over experience, you don't actually want to work for. Using the cert as a conversation tool will usually get you shunned by people who work on whatever you're certified in day to day.

Yes, the certs are often hard to attain, but for the most part experience trumps them all and the only thing a cert proves is that you had time to read the books and take the tests.

The one exception I make is for Cisco/Juniper certs, if you have a cert you can jump ahead in the support queue. This could potentially save you hours/days in the dealing with support and is generally worth it in terms of time for you and your employer.

<comment><USER7> I would think that certs would be useful in signaling commitment for people wanting to join that workforce.

<comment><USER8> Whatever marginal value they have as a signal of commitment is swamped by their negative signaling. Top caliber talent won't usually be certified; why waste the time getting "certified" by organizations that are probably less competent than you?

Successive rounds of adverse selection produce a "certified" pool of candidates who are unwilling or unable to achieve a basic level of facility in their field on their own, which is its own negative signal.

<comment><USER6> I agree with that basically. I've spent the last 10 years kinda being a "fixer" but mostly a network engineer. I haven't had time for any certs, I'm too busy working... When I have time for certs, who knows what'll be going on.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> You can see from the answers in this thread that certifications, if worthy of anything at all, are deeply looked down upon by the same kind of people who read HN. And more often than not, these are the kind of people you want to be working with/for.

Generally, certifications, however, are appreciated by the stereotype of the HR department and non-technical managers of large organizations. If you have a certification from a brand name stating that you know how to use a particular technology, then no one is going to be blame for hiring you, even if it doesn't work out. That's the stereotype and unfortunately, it is far from uncommon.

You were spot on that people "can just clear this certification program just by preparing through previous question dumps. Does this do any good to anyone", but that's a broader problem relative to standardized test. To a large extent the same could be said about your degree.

Finally, as mentioned globally in the comments, experience is far more interesting than certifications. However, I may add that, for programmers, nothing, absolutely nothing, beats a code portfolio.

</comment><comment><USER10> When asked by folks I occasionally give advice to, I try to push them towards creating something new and talking about it, writing an article, or contributing to an open source project. This is a much better way to join a professional community than attaching a certification to your name.

I've met (and worked with) folks who gain certification after certification. In the information security industry this is very rampant. Unfortunately, certification programs feel like empty knowledge. It's a lot of trivia, in some of the better ones there is hands-on, but I'd argue that once you have a foundation (from somewhere: school, work, cert program?) that you're better off improving yourself and demonstrating your worth by contributing to the community. Collecting more merit badges from cert providers doesn't really improve you as a professional beyond a certain level.

</comment><comment><USER11> Certs help you get the interview, they don't mean you can do the job and that's the real crux of them.

Most (not all) are pointless multiple guess waste of time and passable by anybody compitent after they have drunk a bottle of vodka, been up for 5 days straight etc etc.

Some are actualy using real good practical exams and those have some crdability though they are few and washed by the tarnshish of certs being crap since the MCSE multiple guess muppet days. I've been a situation were the MCSE guru was unable to resolve a windows problem and me as the UNIX guru solved in a minute using common sence and understanding computers. That to me highlighted why alot of certs are bad.

Now sadly certs help you get past the HR people who have no clue about IT and over the past 10-20 years grown into a egotistical power-house that controls things they have no clue upon. 20 years ago I had a job interview, I was in my late teens and was a etchnical position. HR interviewed me first and there attitude was so sucking even saying I dont see why somebody your age should be paid this amount. i then had te technical interview with the person who was the manager for the job and his contractor and blew them both away with my skills that they offered me more than I was asking for. I turned them down just becasue the HR department pissed me off that much. So Brown and Root engineering, you missed out there.

Sadly HR have grown and so have a whole generation of IT managers who don't know IT or can use word and think that is knowing IT. These sadly have no clue and will look at a CV for certs.

Bottom line if they need certs then generaly they are not a company that you want to work for and if they dont demand certs and do proper technical interviews/screening, then they are the ones you want to be working for. Anything else is extra crap/stress you will never be paid to endure.

Remember that there is only one real certification that carry's any real weight and needs to be respected and that is the certification of sane and insane. Respect them both as one bites and the other knows somebody who bites.

How to get a interview and bypass HR, now that is a certification I'd study for thesedays.

</comment><comment><USER12> I consider the mid or high level Cisco certifications to be meaningful (I don't have one yet, and wouldn't require one, but most CCIEs I've met have been pretty good at networking.).

CISSP, CompTIA, A+ seem to be inversely correlated with competence, although government and some employers require them (hence, I have CISSP). The CISA is pretty much just for tech auditors (which is why I have one), and only seems correlated with "able to be corporate and write reports" vs tech skills.

The Glock Armorer's cert is superior in its domain to any short tech cert.

</comment><comment><USER13> There are very few circumstances in which certifications are useful. Many companies will, however, pay for you to get certified as part of their employee benefit, so you should definitely take advantage of that. It will give you an opportunity to work on a new technology or develop a skill in an officially sanctioned way that can also be used during things like annual performance reviews.

Additionally, if you are any sort of consultant, having certification can help you acquire contracts.

Mainly, I've found certifications to be useful only when working with non- computer folks. Against your own peers they seem to have little to no weight. Fortunately, they don't really have any negative weight either, unless you go around flaunting them.

</comment><comment><USER14> There's a certification that always seems to be overlooked in these discussions but seems to be much agreed upon and present in other discussions, though for some reason its rarely mentioned in this topic.

When hiring my company's policy is that a _code sample_ is a perfectly acceptable certification, often far more acceptable and telling than some of the more expensive forms.

And I think that we should all think of code samples as such. Especially if the code is public, or accepted into a (large/open source) project. A code sample is a certification, and one that is literally put to use in a production system/application has got to be one of the most valuable kinds of certification - that is, social proof - that one can achieve.

</comment><comment><USER15> Certifications are proof that you passed a test. This either means that you memorized a battery of questions, or you actually know the material.

Going with the latter (as the former would be weeded out nearly immediately on the job), it means that you know at least something about a topic, and are able to be trained on it.

Certs are more useful/common in the ops word. Personally I do the training/certification when I want to learn how to run a new operating system or application. It's a motivational time limit, and should teach you the basics at a minimum.

The other reason they're popular is they're a way to jump up the ladder at various workplaces that don't allow other methods of internal advancement, which is pretty dumb.

</comment><comment><USER16> Certification is a form of social proof, and a shortcut to find people who might be qualified in some industries.

They are worth it if your 'customer' (employer, actual customer, other) cares. But, thinking about acquiring social proof rather than certifications leads to a more interesting set of ideas.

For eg., you can acquire Salesforce certification for their platform or you can build a Salesforce app that customers use and rate highly. In turn, you would use the app to generate revenue or give it away for free so you can get multi million consulting contracts(slight exaggeration).

If you are looking to be cool with the tech crowd, no they are never worth it. If you want to provide a service to customers, social proof matters.

</comment><comment><USER17> I am in a technical field (ops) full of them and I have none. I don't see much worth in certs. Ability should be pretty obvious by performance in entry level positions.</comment>


Ask HN: How much equity should I give my new co-founder? - <AUTHOR>

I'm solo-founder and everything goes good for now. But I'm very stressed now and I think it would be better if I would have a co-founder. Our startup is ready and already launched 2 month ago. I found a good guy, that I think he can help me to grow our startup. Now he asks what part of my startup I'm going to give him.
I can't decide how much percent equity should I give him.
He is startup-savvy guy, knows SEO, online marketing strategies, online business growth-hacking etc. No coding skills.
Our startup is SaaS but our business model isn't on recurring revenue. Clients make one time payments.
Margin profit now: 80% revenue (team= me(founder)+3 employee+ 2 long-time freelance developers + tax)
Real revenue in first 2 months:
Oktober - 1st month – 1230 $
November - 2nd month – 9820 $
Revenue Prediction :
3rd month – 11000$
4th month – 20000 $
5th month – 25.000 $
6th month – 35.000$
7th month – 40.000$
8th month – 45.000$
9th month – 50.000$
10th month – 55.000$
11th month – 70.000$
12th month – 80.000$
13th month – 90.000$
December 2015 – 14th month – 100.000$
Total Revenue on end of 2015: 662.050 $ <comment><USER2> There isn't a formula that will work for everyone. It heavily depends on the company, it's niche, it's potential of growth, personalities of owners, and much more.

If you are looking for a simple formula, here is one that I see regularly on HN:

Will you pay him a salary, or just equity?

If it's just equity, %50, with vesting.

If it's salary, than between %0 and %50, with vesting.

</comment><comment><USER3> You do not give us enough data to help you. What difference will that person make?

A real cofounder should get 10-50%. But first, you should work together for 1-3 months minimum. Once you know you are a good fit, vesting will protect you. Remember that 40% vesting over 4 years isn't that much if you fire your cofounder after one year for lack of performance. That's really just 10% equity for a full year of work, not bad for you. And if it works out, everyone is happy.

<comment><AUTHOR> in first 1-3 month, should I pay him monthly as employee?

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Don't agonize over it too much. Be generous. Are you paying him a salary as well?

<comment><USER5> I actually disagree. Once you give equity, you are stuck for better or worse. Make sure you have a vesting schedule in place and pay more salary and keep as much equity as you possible can.

<comment><USER4> S/he should get the right people and pay them what they're worth. Trying to under-pay people results in sub-par people or good people leaving. 80% of nothing is a lot less valuable than 60% of something successful. Great people are absolutely vital at an early stage.

I'm not making things up here, either. Every successful entrepreneur I know agrees with that sentiment, as does the prevailing philosophy of investors[1][2], thought leaders[3], and serial entrepreneurs[4].

I have never once seen anyone successful say to hoard your equity, especially if you're bootstrapped and cash-flow positive. Greed is a great way to kill morale.

1\. [http://hunterwalk.com/2014/11/26/one-founder-told-me-he- want...](http://hunterwalk.com/2014/11/26/one-founder-told-me-he-wanted-to- overpay-his-employees-so-we-invested/)

2\. [http://blog.samaltman.com/employee- retention](http://blog.samaltman.com/employee-retention)

3\. [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8109](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8109)

4\. [http://jamesaltucher.quora.com/The-Ultimate-Cheat-Sheet- For-...](http://jamesaltucher.quora.com/The-Ultimate-Cheat-Sheet-For-Starting- And-Running-A-Business)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I wouldn't give him any equity. Since it sounds like you can afford it, why don't you just hire him on a contract basis and pay him hourly?

</comment><comment><USER7> Is the projected revenue based on what you expect to make with or without the assistance of a marketing-focused cofounder?</comment>


LibraryBox: Portable Private Digital Distribution - <AUTHOR> http://librarybox.us/index.php <comment><USER2> Hello all! I'm the creator and director of the LibraryBox project. Sadly, the project is mostly ceased for a handful of reasons. As noted here, Matthias stopped production of Piratebox code, which was the underlying basis for LibraryBox.

When the FCC passed the rule a few years back that 5Ghz chipsets had to be firmware locked, the hardware that we mostly relied on dried up. Rather than producing 2.4-only devices or leaving the 2.4 unlocked, manufacturers like TP- Link just firmware locked everything. This killed the MR3040 and MR3020, and without those as primary hardware targets, development stalled.

LibraryBox never pivoted to the RPi, for a few reasons...the biggest being that for most of our development, the RPi didn't have onboard wifi, and driver support for USB wifi dongles was a horrorshow. The other big driver was that LibraryBox always focused on the lowest possible price point devices, and the RPi was never the cheapest, so it was never our focus.

The project is "dead", in that there's no ongoing development (unless someone out there wants to jump into the GitHub). But I'm keeping it up because there are still pockets of the hardware out there in the world that people might want to convert.

<comment><USER3> That's a shame, and although I never set up a LibraryBox, got some very good ideas from the concept. Thanks for the opportunity and inspiration though!

I also ran a PirateBox for a while and recently set up a "sharebox" based on an Onion Omega 2P which worked well. The biggest obstacles I found were that people were generally unwilling to connect to an unsecure wireless access point, even when the SSID was more "benign" than "PirateBox". Also, the struggle to deal with the increasing de-popularisation of HTTP in favour of HTTPS. Android phones also tended to not want to stay connected to devices that "weren't connected to the Internet".

The irony is that with the way the online world's going, the need for LibraryBox and similar devices is going to be greater than ever.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> This is a lovely project. I made a couple of these back in the day but sadly PirateBox on which LibraryBox was based on, ceased development as the tireless dedicated Matthias Strubel [https://github.com/MaStr](https://github.com/MaStr) had to restore freetime [https://forum.piratebox.cc/read.php?9,23070](https://forum.piratebox.cc/read.php?9,23070)

</comment><comment><USER5> I can't seem to reliably source the hardware mentioned on the site. Mainly, the TP-Link MR3040. I want to set a few of these up to distribute ebooks for free. Anyone have experience with the other HW listed in the "Downloads" section?

<comment><USER6> It's an older model, very popular for pirate box etc.

You can find similar openwrt compatible hardware on openwrts hardware page. Just make sure it has usb and similar specs.

<comment><USER7> Raspberry PI including Zero W seems to be supported by openWrt [https://openwrt.org/toh/raspberry_pi_foundation/raspberry_pi](https://openwrt.org/toh/raspberry_pi_foundation/raspberry_pi)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I love this project, I've always wanted to combine something like this with a mesh network. Then you can provide "village-wide" WANs that are repositories for local Info (for residents and tourists).

</comment><comment> m-p-3 Interesting, I was recently looking for an alternative to the recently abandoned PirateBox.</comment>