Wufoo (YC W06) integrates Notifo (YC W10) for form notifications - <AUTHOR> http://wufoo.com/2010/11/02/notifo-integration/

<comment><AUTHOR> Wufoo also made great partner and integration pages for us:

\- <http://wufoo.com/partners/notifo/>

\- <http://wufoo.com/docs/integrations/notifo/>

</comment><comment><USER2> For lack of a better word, this YC "synergy" is a HUGE competitive advantage for YC startups. Rock on.

<comment><USER3> And a disadvantage to non yc start-ups

<comment><USER4> Startups aren't a zero-sum game. If you're in direct competition with a YC startup, the synergy _might_ hurt you (though everyone says not to worry about competitors anyway). But if you're not going after the exact same segments of the same market as a YC startup, their success isn't hurting you one bit.

<comment><USER3> By definition, if start-up x has an advantage over y, y is disadvantaged relative to x. With all due respect, I don't mean to argue over minor things or 'knock' yc. But surely this is a statement of fact. If not, please prove otherwise.

<comment><USER5> > By definition, if start-up x has an advantage over y, y is disadvantaged > relative to x

Yes, it is a tautology. Why state it? To what end?

My guess is that GP is a reaction to the implication that you are begrudging YC companies their success...

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I'm skeptical about efficiency of Notifo: 1) news.ycombinator.com is integrated with Notifo 2) Audience of news.ycombinator.com is very computer savvy. 3) It looks like only few HN users are getting notifications about replies to them on HN. 4) Wufoo users are less computer savvy. That means that very few Wufoo users would use Notifo.

I think until Notifo makes it possible to flawlessly setup notifications straight from thrid-party site (such as Wufoo), the adoption of Notifo would be quite low.

<comment><USER7> Efficiency is an odd word choice, but I do agree with your usability criticisms.

What I love about Notifo is that it exposes a web service that lets me push arbitrary messages to my iPhone (e.g., I have an autorun batch file that lets me know when my son is on his computer, just to make sure he isn't getting up at 6AM just to play games). Getting that working wasn't difficult, but definitely non-trivial. Stepping back a bit, looking at notifo.com and the different services that work with it (pushly, HN, etc.), getting all the pieces to talk to each other is definitely a bit head-scratchy if you're non- technical.

I think this is a place where large companies have the benefit of scale such that a small service like Notifo can become a part of a broader online portfolio like Windows Live or Google. Otherwise, the mental burden in installing Notifo, registering a Notifo username, and figuring out where to enter that in on another service seems too high for casual users.

I suppose that Notifo's long term plan is to be acquired, but the downside is that I doubt agreements like what they have with Wufoo and HN would survive the transition.

<comment><USER8> Why would their agreements with current web apps not survive the transition?

<comment><USER7> Just a speculation. Look at drop.io as a recent example. Large enterprises tend not to allow their service to be used as "loose" tools. Instead, they would rather keep the tool as something that plays well with their own services.

I could be wrong, but I have a hard time seeing something like Notifo survive in the state it's in under the banner of a company like Microsoft or Google.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> This is going to be very useful to me...</comment>


How to work with me - a no BS approach - <AUTHOR> http://nullisnull.blogspot.com/2011/07/how-to-work-with-me.html <comment><USER2> I don't care how good you are, how good you _think_ you are, or how lucky you think I am to be working with you, the tone of this "list of rules" comes across as rude, and being rude to your underlings just isn't a good way to get them to work effectively (at least not in most cases).

The actual suggestions are pretty reasonable, though. As a fun exercise, you could rewrite this list so it sounds helpful and polite rather than rude and egotistical.

I've been around academia for long enough to have met a lot of really first- rate minds who are polite and humble, and a lot of second-rate minds who are rude and arrogant. And maybe I've met some first-rate minds who are rude and arrogant as well, but I haven't noticed because I've mentally sorted them into the "overcompensating second-rater" category.

tl;dr: Don't be a cunt.

<comment><USER3> > As a fun exercise, you could rewrite this list so it sounds helpful and > polite rather than rude and egotistical.

Okay:

\-----

Hi! I bet you're super nervous about meeting me, but please don't be -- I'm just a big dork. And don't take it personally if I'm terse or appear impatient with you. 99% of my time is spent in meetings, so it's extremely helpful if we both skip straight to the point .. or "cut the bullshit", as my grandmother used to say. Here are some other tips:

If you have bad news, please just come right out and tell me immediately. I promise I won't blame the messenger, and I might even know a quick fix. If we have a regularly-scheduled meeting, don't wait for it; interrupt me with time- critical issues. Also, don't be afraid to ask questions or disagree with me; I promise I won't get upset. If, post-meeting, you find yourself regretting not having spoken up or asked a question, come right back and correct that problem. I'm a big follower of the philosophy that there are no stupid questions.

I've found note-taking to be extremely fruitful. Please bring a pen and paper anytime you meet with me; it impresses the heck out of me when someone catches everything the first time and I don't have to repeat myself.

If you have an appointment with me, and I'm in another meeting, go right ahead and interrupt it. Your time is important, too. But be prepared for someone to do this if _our_ meeting runs late.

Often, there's only about five minutes of real content in a meeting. If so, there's no need to stretch it out. I appreciate such micro-meetings. You can foster them by identifying in advance what decision needs to be made and sending it around in advance. And don't be surprised if I make everyone stand.

I don't really like long emails. Instead, consider a micro-meeting, and set an agenda if it's a complicated issue. Then stick to that agenda!

Micro-update emails are great, though. I've found them to be effective for confirming commitments and mutual understanding. This is especially true after a meeting: It's super-helpful to get a (brief!) list of your agreed-upon commitment echoed back to me. I don't always respond to such messages, but I read every one. Oh, and to save time, please skip the greetings, "thank you"s, etc. (You'd be surprised how much time this saves on my phone's "message preview" screen.)

Finally, a few quickies:

* Instead of "It's being worked on", tell me when you expect it will be done. That's what I really want to know.

* List all the options, and tell me which you recommend. This is especially important if you come to me with a problem -- but if you don't have a solution yet, skip this step rather than delaying the news.

* Economic analyses are the best supporting arguments. (I insist on them when money is involved.)

* Don't worry about making reports for me, but if you do, check out the spreadsheets I've made and try to copy their design.

* Don't send me long documents. (Yes, I realize the irony.)

\-----

You might think all the "please"s and other friendly words make my version too fluffy, but it's actually about 500 words _shorter_ than the original.

<comment><USER4> Do we really need to soften everything? Are our egos so fragile that we can't take a little bluntness - as long as it's genuine and well-intentioned?

I find your version to be much, much weaker than the original. In many parts, the motivation of the writer is so obfuscated as to make the list little more than a vague and friendly pep talk.

Note taking - friendly productivity tip, or career-defining moment?

Interrupting a meeting the boss is in - does he really want me to do that, or was he just trying to sound friendly and approachable?

I think the biggest difference is that the original expects excellence, and implies penalties for not living up to it - while your rewritten version expects mediocrity, and implies rewards for rising above.

To each his own - I prefer the original, I find your version to be more patronizing, and somewhat hypocritical in claiming to "cut the bullshit". Many others will prefer your version. I guess the real trick is coming up with a version that will make everyone happy, while keeping the impact of the original.

<comment><USER3> My goal in writing that was to illustrate the _opposite_ of the original. The correct approach is probably somewhere in the middle.

> Do we really need to soften everything?

It sounds like you're trying to create a strawman. No, we needn't soften everything. But we should probably soften _some_ things. One could just as well ask, do we really need to be brusque 100% of the time?

> Are our egos so fragile that we can't take a little bluntness

Again, I'm not talking about "a little" -- reading between the lines, I can't help but wonder if the boss is like this all the time, if his reign is so brittle that he can't suffer a dash of kindness even in the memo that provides his first impression to new employees.

One of the hardest parts of leadership is knowing when to be harsh and when to let up.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> If a boss of mine gave me a set of rules like this, I would quit immediately. It sounds like something a narcissist would write.

The rules themselves aren't necessarily bad. I agree with the majority of them. Nor is this list necessarily rude. In fact, if you pay attention to it, the wording is actually pretty polite.

The giant, waving red flag here is the underlying sense of _entitlement_. Notice that each rule is of the form "Don't do _this_ , I like _that_." Of course, the thing that's being left out of all of this is how the person who's reading it works. I don't care if you're the boss. You can't expect efficient teamwork without taking the team's desires into account.

<comment><USER6> I suspect the boss in this situation consider you quitting a net positive if your style of interaction is so dissimilar to his/hers.

<comment><USER5> "Style of interaction"? I bet Jeffrey Skilling had a "dissimilar style of interaction" with Enron's accountants. Hitler seemed to have had a "dissimilar style of interaction" with the Jews.

Believe it or not, sometimes people in authority are irredeemable assholes and you have no option but to escape. If it makes their lives easier too, so much the better.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> There are two items on that list that would raise hackles with me: email, and repeating.

I'd also hold the boss to their claims of openness and consistency. There are a number of promises made in that document which had damned well better be held to, or this is a recipe for disaster.

Email is very effective. _If used effectively._ There are reasons large collaborative online projects communicate primarily through email. It's good for surfacing issues, and particularly for keeping a record of what was said (in some businesses, this can be a liability, and there's a lot of aversion to it).

The problems arise when: \- Nobody owns a conclusion. Discussions can be interminable. If a conclusion is reached, it needs to be noted. If not you end up with the online interminable debate -- there's no judge on Usenet/Slashdot/HN to end the debate.

\- Conventional enterprise email tools hinder discussion. There's a reason "geek style" quoting, trimming, and threaded mail agents are used. GMail gets close. MS Outlook, Lotus Notes, and the like, are horrendous.

\- I've had more than one boss who was convinced of their own brilliance, but who was in fact very vague and very inconsistent. Nailing down requirements/expectations, or communicating bad news was at best problematic. In the context of an expectations list such as this, that won't work.

On repeating things.

Every boss I've had, from Mom on down, has had to repeat things, and often hasn't liked it.

 _Deal with it._

Management means managing. If you're repeating yourself (often and for most of your subordinates), there's a problem with your communication style, your expectations, change control, task/project tracking, or some mix of the above.

 _People work on a basis of repeated social encounters._ There are messages which are _so_ repetitive that we paste them on labels, placards, loop them in rail/airport/bus system announcements, etc. And that's the simple stuff. If you're a manager, you'd best get used to that too, and find ways of dealing with this that 1) minimize the requirement and 2) allow you to be repetitive without driving yourself nuts _or_ dulling the message.

Brevity. It works for simple use cases. Complex ideas require a more nuanced exposition.

Otherwise -- yes, there are a few good points in there.

<comment><USER8> Oh, thank you. I was wondering about the email thing myself. I generally _prefer_ to have complex discussions over email, because I find the medium much more concise and with the added benefit of a written account of what was/was not agreed upon.

Face-to-face meetings are good for brain storming and being creative, but for decision making, I prefer email.

<comment><USER7> Email can be a hazard when you're in the fast-and-furious discussion phase.

Then it's useful to have a F2F meeting (or conference, or whatever), _with someone designated to take notes and post a summary_. If there are conclusions drawn in the meeting -- and the meeting should be _specifically_ scoped to do:

1\. Reach a conclusion, or 2\. Identify what additional information is required to accomplish 1, or 3\. Determine that the problem is intractable

.. then those conclusions must be nailed down in writing immediately after. Bury your hatchets and grudges and get stuff done.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I find the polarised reaction to this list almost more interesting than the list itself. As for me, I was in complete agreement with basically all of it. I didn't find it rude, in fact rather the opposite - I appreciate the consideration for our shared time and the pledges to fairness and efficiency.

I wonder about the work experience of some of the most vocal offendees. Maybe as you get older, and hear that clock ticking louder and louder, you come to appreciate brutal efficiency a little more. Yeah, the guy's blunt, but at least he's not going to waste your time. Would that I could say the same for every leader I've had to work with.

And for those obsessing over the "copy my document style" etc - that's a rule you can break _if_ you know how to break it, ie you know you can do better. If you've seen, however, some of the shocking creations inexperienced people can come up with using excel - well, that rule's for them, not you.

And the reason he says he "likes" things is because he doesn't want to argue about it. That's his preference, do it. When you go to a restaurant and order a steak, do you bring out the chef and tell him "give it to me well done, because that's the best way of cooking it"? Cue huge debate? No. You say, this steak please, well done, because I like it like that. Gets what you want, no argument, no book length discussions on The Effectiveness Of Communication Methods.

Anyway, nice post.

<comment><USER10> If I can offer my own reaction as a guide, I'd find the list less rude if I could trust it was written by someone with an actual record of successful management. I've known a few people who talk this way, and had a past record of turning projects into Hell Marches.

That said, I'd be interested in what you think of raldi's take on this list - he's rewritten it to be both concise and, (lacking a better word) classy. It is far less likely to raise hackles and makes an interesting comparison to the original. And well, knowing his record, I'd much rather work with Mike than with whoever wrote the original :)

<comment><USER9> > Hi! I bet you're super nervous about meeting me, but please don't be -- I'm > just a big dork.

Frankly I prefer the original. Same meaning, less couched in happy-happy bullshit. At least with the original I feel like I'm being addressed as an adult. The re-write reads like something a school principal gives to his students. The original - well, with a few tweaks maybe it's something I could imagine sending out myself. The rewrite, with its fake chatty "we're all such good buddies" schtick? never.

"I'm just a big dork", bloody hell, someone please shoot me the day I start saying things like that. It's a sliding scale between sounding like an asshole, and sounded like a goofy douchebag pretending he's everyone's bestest bestest buddy. The original might have been slightly biased to the former; the rewrite is way too far in the other direction.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Pretentious. The points that particularly irk me are:

#1 - Duh, everyone does.

#3 - Why do you assume I need pen and paper to keep track of what is going on.

#5 - Why am I responsible for your lack of time management skills.

#8 - The async nature of email threads works well for a lot of complex topics.

#17 - The definition of irony.

Edit: My HN posts like this one usually get a quick down one negative vote and then climb out of the hole from there. It all started after I posted this comment <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1331769>. Could whoever has me on their bozo filter lighten up. Thanks.

<comment><USER6> > #1 - Duh, everyone does.

IME this isn't even remotely close to true. This applies to at best 10% of people in an average corporate environment (which is the context I assumed for the document).

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> I really like the gist of the "rules" presented here.

I don't think the tone is useful. You can be efficient, strict and no-bullshit without being an asshole (think: Spock).

For example, rule #3: _Bring pen and paper to every meeting with me. Pay attention to what I say; I'll try to speak with care. If I frequently must repeat instructions, or remind you of something I've already told you, you will not work with me again._

...could easily be rewritten to be as effective and less authoritarian.

<comment><USER13> I'm not so sure. It sounds like this person is articulating a deal breaker. It's not unfair or unreasonable to have deal breakers in relationships. Better to know in advance, right?

<comment><USER2> Again, it's all in how you phrase 'em.

Example: I wouldn't date a girl who was vegetarian, who smoked, or who didn't shave her armpits. And that's fine. But if I gave my girlfriend a printed list which says:

 _RULES FOR DATING ME

1\. Do not smoke

2\. Eat meat at least three times a week

3\. Keep your armpits free of hair

..._

then she would rightly think that I was a complete asshole.

<comment><USER14> it depends on who is the boss. Lets suppose that your GF gave your a printed list which says:

RULES FOR DATING ME

1\. Do not smoke

2\. Eat meat at least three times a week

3\. Keep your armpits free of hair

...

would you think that she is an asshole? Nope. Instead, you'd most definitely think that she is a queen.

Thinking back to the original blog and rules - well if your boss is an asshole who thinks about himself like queen - well, in that case such rules seems to be expected and there is no other way around except to change the job.

<comment><USER2> _it depends on who is the boss. Lets suppose that your GF gave your a printed list which says:

...

would you think that she is an asshole? Nope. Instead, you'd most definitely think that she is a queen._

lolwut? Dude, if that's how the power differential in your relationship works then you definitely need a new girlfriend. Or maybe she needs a new boyfriend. One or the other.

<comment><USER14> well, man, i'm happily married for a more than a decade, and enjoy my meat and non-smoking (did quit long time ago :).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> I agree with most of these points, disagree strongly with others, and think this list could shrink by half with no loss of meaning, but above all I'd still rather see something like this documented rather than assumed. Too often a community has a set of unwritten rules which they will expect new members to follow, and short of lurking for a long time you can't learn those rules; even then you won't learn them all, and you'll (hopefully) get informed when you screw them up. I'd rather see documentation.

(I also think that the authoritarian tone people attribute to this document comes from the context; if you read it as a list of rules for sane interaction with any professional rather than with a particular individual, it seems quite reasonable. Granted, it didn't start out that way, but that seems like the spirit intended by reposting it.)

<comment><USER2> _if you read it as a list of rules for sane interaction with any professional rather than with a particular individual, it seems quite reasonable_

But there's some stuff here that's specific to this individual. He doesn't like email. Some folks do.

Honestly, I really _do_ think it's a good idea to give your underlings some kind of guide to how you prefer to work. It's just _also_ important to do it without being rude.

<comment><USER15> Yeah, I had the bit about email in mind when saying "disagree strongly with others".

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> In every case where I have worked with someone who enumerates a list of rules like this, I have observed:

1) that the author believes he is being highly original; 2) the rules are enforced unilaterally, and adhered to by the author at best grudgingly if at all; and, 3) whenever a superior tells you, "I'm an X person," for whatever X you like (people, no-nonsense, pure as the driven snow, bullshit-free-zone) you can rest assured that the opposite is the case.

</comment><comment><USER17> Maybe this is not being received well because of the startup audience here. Coming from the corporate environment, I see some excellent points.

In a big company there are simply far too many people scrambling to be heard, and a middle manager really doesn't have time to hear all of them. Getting tied up in unnecessary meetings is a huge drain on everyone. Most meetings consist of 2-3 people who just like arguing and 10 others having their time wasted.

So, sure, the list is not perfect, but I wish everyone at my company had a copy of it.

<comment><USER18> Exactly, and the information that the manager is asking for is what will save your ass when the company is deciding which project is going to get the axe. If you play by these rules and properly prepare for the meetings you can be confident that the manager you are working for has all of the data he needs to defend the project, which is much more than I can say for places I have worked.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> "Don't tell me there's a problem without offering a solution." I disagree. While I try to think about solutions before bringing up the problem, sometimes I cannot find the solution on my own. It can be a good idea to talk about the problem to other people. Collectively, we might find a solutions.

</comment><comment><USER20> Whorver wrote this sounds like an asshole. Working for him/her sounds like a chore. Handing out shit like this is an insult to your "minions". Calling people for whom you you are supposed to be a leader "minions" is also an insult. I don't care if you are a Balmer or Jobs; this is a dick move.

</comment><comment><USER21> I scanned and noticed some common newbie mistakes... I wish the life is so simple :(

      I don't like email, particularly for discussing
      complex topics

Dijkstra is rolling in the grave... If you cannot write down your thoughts about some complex topic, waving hands in the meeting will not make it more clear. I guarantee.

      Don't tell me there's a problem without offering a solution.

Good luck with that. The result will be: look we have no problems. Sometimes (actually more often than you think) problems don't have solution at all and the best way is to cut the loses.

      Don't send me long documents. I like precision and
      concision. Say it on one page (or less).

Simplification: if you are a knowledge worker sometimes very long elaborated documents are very much required.

      Bring pen and paper to every meeting with me.
      Pay attention to  what I say; I'll try to speak with care.
      If I frequently must repeat instructions, or
      remind you o something I've already told you, you
      will not work with me again.

Effective managers say things twice using multiple communication channels: [http://hbr.org/2011/05/defend-your-research-effective- manage...](http://hbr.org/2011/05/defend-your-research-effective-managers-say- the-same-thing-twice-or-more/ar/1)

      If you have a meeting with me at an assigned time, and
      I am in another meeting with my door closed, interrupt me.

You know, you should get some kind of calendar or watch... That is how people rise to the top ....

      If you disagree with me, voice your differences.

That is fine but don't push that responsibility to your reports. I was lucky to be once on a meeting with our CEO (big corporation - CEO is very very rich guy). And he would go around table and ask everybody (including me) what they think and to voice disagreement.

</comment><comment><USER22> That seems like a risky flow of rules - but mostly in that they look difficult to consistently adhere to. Someone who could _consistently_ play by those rules would be interesting to work with.

The list also, though, makes an underlying claim of "I am good enough at what I do that I can play by these rules, which are atypical of American workplace culture." If that claim is not a valid one, this list would probably indicate someone deeply problematic to work with.

<comment><USER23> Given that the list was presented here "with a lot of respect and admiration for the author" I get the impression that this is simply someone who is indeed interesting to work with and validly good enough to play by those rules.

I had a boss's boss that was like a mini version of this at a menial job quite some time ago - I didn't enjoy working with him, but we got shit done quickly and efficiently, and the meetings were at least painlessly short. I vastly prefer this to working with incompetent people, and because my boss's boss was the way he was there were very few incompetent people around me in positions of any authority.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> I've worked with this guy. He's actually one of the most tolerant and respectful people I've met. The fact that he's incited a flamewar is actually pretty funny.

You should spend some time reading his code. You will learn something.

<comment><USER2> Well, if he really _is_ a nice guy and seems like an asshole in the list, then that's an even bigger reason to think that the list is bad.

You should send him this thread. Oh wait, he doesn't like email. You should have a micro-meeting with him in which you tell him the URL to this thread. Be sure to remain standing.

<comment><USER24> u mad bro?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> If you can bear to get to the bottom of this list, there is a gem waiting for you:

"Don't sent me long documents. I like precision and concision. Say it on one page (or less)."

<comment><USER26> I agree with some, disagree with others, but for me this is critical, I see a lot of documents, many of which are bloated with irrelevant material to try and deliberately make them seem weightier than they are...

For example a technical design document that reasonably contained less than a page of technical information plus a couple of useful diagrams padded out to 10 pages with user requirements that had been cut and paste from the original requirements document.

The design may or may not have been good, but teasing it out from within vaguely familiar material wasn't worth the effort for most readers, so it gets ignored, the dev thinking they have consensus starts implementing and is suprised by the ensuing shit-storm.

An email or post-it with a single paragraph or bulleted list of "here's what I'm going to do" would have been more effective

<comment><USER8> You missed the joke. He's spending 17 points to say that you should be concise. That's ironic.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> To be completely honest, I like this quite a lot. I would much rather deal with someone I know is firm, fair and decisive than a dithering worry-wort who tries to tiptoe around everyone's various emotional states.

It's words on a piece of paper. This guy is very clearly laying out a list of guidelines for subordinates in a way that leaves absolutely no room for second-guessing. You guys getting insulted by this, I'm not sure what to say.

</comment><comment><USER28> Meh. My wager is that anyone that gives lists like these to their employees is less brilliant and more of an asshole then they realize.

</comment><comment><USER29> I hate this list. It takes too long to get its point across(17 points), all the micromanagement will slow everything down, and point 2 and 15 are contradictory.

I worked under someone like this as an intern, and though I never "got in trouble", that's probably because I was scared and needed the money. I left as soon as I could and so did most of the team.

</comment><comment> al-king Point 3 is poorly thought out. Speaking carefully includes emphasising important points. Think of communication the same way Don Norman thinks about design.

15 is iffy. I'd prefer to know about a problem even if someone has no idea how to fix it, whether through lack of experience or creativity. If he's meaning to say "people who work with me must be _this_ talented", just come out and say it.

The rest are by and large sensible and to the point. I particularly like avoiding e-mails, because it's not intuitive, but it can work well: e-mail seems like it has an importance hump and 'stupid questions' might not be raised, and simultaneously it's harder to tell how people feel about things. Might work differently for you, though.

</comment><comment><USER30> The _rules_ would seem less harsh if posed as _recommendations_ , nevertheless there is lots of good advice in there.

> Don't _sent_ me long documents. I like precision

I'm certain that the irony of this finale and typo will not escape this readership.

<comment><USER31> Well I guess as long as he always spells it that way he is being precise, just not that accurate:)

</comment></comment><comment><USER32> I am reminded of the "egoless programming" movement of, oh, I can't even remember how long ago. What I have always wondered is why there is no such thing as "egoless management". I see by the attitude expressed here that the author would not subscribe to this plan either.

I have been a manager in other lifetimes and have had some serious A players on the team. This tone and the expectations listed here might work for B players or C players, but no A player I know would sit still for this for a moment.

</comment><comment><USER33> I love it when our overlords refer to us as minions. Plus, it's a double-treat when concern for the feelings of others is perceived as being a weakling.

I'm actually kind of glad that the world of software development is filled with people who pride themselves on ignoring the soft skills of working in a team. That makes it sooooo much easier for me to get a job, since all I have to do is show a teeny, tiny bit of humanity and congeniality in a job interview and I'm way above the other candidates.

</comment><comment><USER34> This person sounds like a real pleasure to work with. Efficient? Sure. Human? I doubt it. No wonder people like this seek more solace in computers than people. I have just one rule: don't work with assholes. I guess that rules out this "expert".

</comment><comment><USER35> These are very good.

borkt: > Most of these rules should go without saying and were instilled in me through jobs growing up and strengthened through college.

I agree strongly with borkt - these are common-sense professional behaviors, usually picked up over time. Fresh grads will do well to consider incorporating these behaviors on entering the workforce.

Whether it makes you a jerk for handing it out to subordinates (IMO it does) seems beside the point. The list itself is valuable as reinforcement for efficient behavior in the office.

</comment><comment><USER36> How to work with _me_ :

\- Don't boss me around.

Thank you very much.

</comment><comment><USER37> I would LOVE to work for someone like this. This is how I communicate, and it is how I like to be communicated to.

Side note: I've spent a bit of time looking at personality profiles (Meyers- Briggs (sp?)), you will see this as the favored communication style for many introverts (I'm an INTP). Others would see this as very stand arrogant. Personally, I always hate talking with HR because of all the bullshit thrown around and refusing to get to the point.

</comment><comment><USER38> "If you must prepare reports for me, review spreadsheets I've created. Copy the style and format."

This is so incredibly important. Not only is it great to have a unified reporting look on a team, this promotes comprehension. If you present me a spreadsheet that looks like how I make a spreadsheet, I'll understand it very quickly. Likewise, if you start making spreadsheets that look like mine, you'll understand mine better.

</comment><comment><USER39> The style reminds me a little of <http://www.lettersofnote.com/2010/08/tiger- oil-memos.html>

Although, as many others have already said, the rules themselves are fairly sensible, but the way in which they're presented is a little heavy-handed (even for a 'No BS Approach!')

</comment><comment><USER40> If this resonates with you, you may enjoy reading <http://randsinrepose.com/> and [http://www.amazon.com/Managing-Humans-Humorous-Software- Engi...](http://www.amazon.com/Managing-Humans-Humorous-Software- Engineering/dp/159059844X/) .

</comment><comment><USER41> This person is a jerk.

</comment><comment><USER42> 2 and 15 seem to contradict each other.

<comment><USER7> Good point. #15 is also implying subordinates manage (make decisions). While it's helpful to give/get recommendations, the subordinate may not have the full context of a problem. Which has shades again (see my remarks above on repeating) of a manager who doesn't want to manage.

</comment></comment><comment> brown9-2 _If you have a meeting with me at an assigned time, and I am in another meeting with my door closed, interrupt me. I stack meetings, and each meeting leads into the next._

How is this anything but rude to the parties involved?

</comment><comment><USER43> Show us your accomplishments (your code) first.. ^_^

</comment><comment><USER44> Sounds like a prenup, and a bitter, angry, lonely person.</comment>


Mark Zuckerberg: net neutrality is a first-world problem - <AUTHOR> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/mark-zuckerberg/11960016/Mark-Zuckerberg-net-neutrality-is-a-first-world-problem.html <comment><USER2> >He also said that the company's Internet.org initiative – which provides free access to a selection of web services including Facebook, Google Search

How far can users stray from a google search?

>"When you have a student who is getting free access to the internet to help do her homework, and she wouldn't have had access otherwise, who's getting hurt there? We want that. There should be more of that," he said.

Is the only research tool available wikipedia?

</comment><comment><USER3> "...therefore I concluded everyone should be using Facebook - What's that? If everyone should have access to Google, too? No, I don't think they need Google."</comment>


More thoughts on switching back to Java from Scala - <AUTHOR> http://beust.com/weblog/2011/02/23/from-scala-back-to-java/

<comment><USER2> I built a small game engine in Scala. Coming from C#, I felt right at home, many of the advanced features of C# transferred over. All in all, I had a pleasant experience.

The issues:

\- The tools aren't ready for primetime.

Scala is a very complex language. I can only imagine the man hours needed to develop a IDE that _really_ understands Scala.

\- Scala's Complexity

Most of the time, I could handle this alright. But sometimes the sheer number of possibilities was daunting. It seems like the features and libraries need to be culled. Possibly it's just the result of trying to blend OOP with Functional programming.

What surprised me the most is - most of the time it worked. I think I would still pick Scala over Java. Especially with better tooling support.

</comment><comment><USER3> IDE support is certainly a major problem with Scala development right now, but it's not the biggest one. By far the biggest problem is how incredibly slow the Scala compiler is. My project has a whopping 10 Scala files. To recompile them after a one line change takes something on the order of 26 seconds.

It is possible to reduce this time down to 4 or 5 seconds using fsc (the Scala daemon compiler), but getting fsc to work reliably with Maven is a problem I haven't solved yet. Even 4 or 5 seconds for a one line change to a project with 10 files is just _wrong_. What, are we back in 1992?

<comment><USER4> "It is possible to reduce this time down to 4 or 5 seconds using fsc (the Scala daemon compiler), but getting fsc to work reliably with Maven is a problem I haven't solved yet"

Have you looked into sbt? It has nice iterative complication support, among other things. It is (IMO) far superior to work with than ant or maven.

<comment><USER3> This particular project seems to be pretty heavily invested in Maven, so migrating might not be very easy. At least as importantly, it's not really my project.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Ah, Cedric. While I generally enjoy his blog posts, his anti-(everything but java) stance is wearing a bit thin.

<comment><USER6> That's not entirely fair; he's been consistently critical of Scala, but seems to like Fantom.

While he may have added that note at the bottom of this article, I swear I've read that opinion of his more than once.</comment></comment>


When will local truly be on the web? - <AUTHOR> http://www.russellbeattie.com/blog/when-will-local-truly-be-on-the-web

<comment><USER2> My business partner and I have both quit our day jobs and are now in the middle of starting a company to solve this exact problem; we launch in two weeks. I'd love to give more details, but we're trying to maintain a very low profile for the next 6-12 months...

<comment><USER3> e-mail me when you launch. always interested in local stuff. windycitizen @ gmail.com

<comment><USER2> np

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> People don't go to the internet for local stuff like what's posted on that bulletin board because there is no good site for it. Because there is no good site for it, people don't look for that type of info on the net and the problem perpetuates itself.

Newspapers, for example, had online classifieds before Craigslist, but craigslist made it easy and cheap (or free). I don't understand why local newspapers don't have free online classifieds. It would drive up page views, give your community a sense that your paper is relevant, and allow visitors to the site exposure to your content further enhancing the experience and so on.

Something needs to be done by newspapers to add value to their customers lives. This could be it. Lets hope someone tries.

<comment><USER5> I don't think most newspapers would ever do this, because almost all newspaper revenue comes from paid print advertisements. They're afraid of undercutting themselves. Whether that's a rational fear, I'm not sure.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> What is really needed is a way to bridge between the current way of doing things and the online world. For example if you could take a snapshot of all the information on that kiosk in the park on a daily basis and use it to populate a website.

</comment><comment><USER7> When networks become as reliable a partof the infrastructure as the water supply. Of course, the water supply generally comes first.

<comment><USER8> I don't think it's a matter of reliability: most aspects of the Internet infrastructure are perfectly reliable. I think it is mostly a question of social convention: most of the people posting these ads don't think of the Internet first, and most of the people who might be interested in the ads aren't scouting the Internet. Part of the reason for both of those factors is age: the Internet is not nearly as pervasive among older folks (or in communities outside the Bay Area, for that mater).

Another reason is that the Internet is global by default, not local (with a few notable exceptions, like Craigslist). At least right now, there just isn't that much to be gained by putting local notices on the Internet: there's an incremental advantage, but it's not the sort of obvious, game-changing advantage that drove the adoption desktop publishing, for instance. That might change as technology improves (for example, being able to show highly locale- specific ads to someone based on the location of their mobile device).

<comment><USER7> Perhaps my phrasing was somewhat unclear. What I meant is "when a network is something we're taking for granted and which is as uninteresting as the water supply" - and that's just in developed countries. As long as networks are even vaguely interesting to everyday people, there will always be a lot of reluctance in using them.</comment></comment></comment>


Scikit-learn 0.13: Nystroem method, hashing trick, faster random forests - <AUTHOR> http://peekaboo-vision.blogspot.de/2013/01/scikit-learn-013-released-we-want-your.html

<comment><AUTHOR> The scikit-learn developers are also interested in knowing more about organizations using the library for building innovative products or solving data related problems.

If you are interested in writing a short paragraph about how your organization is using scikit-learn please feel free to contact me or another developer of the project. The goal would be to have this published in a future testimonials page on the project website.

</comment><comment><USER2> This is awesome.

Not yet an organization here, but I've used scikit-learn for my internship project and thesis.

Something I implemented during that work (barely working) was the EM algorithm. I was wondering if EM is of any interest of the library.

<comment><AUTHOR> Expectation Maximization is a very generic inference scheme that has many declination depending on the structure of the models it is applied to. For instance there we already have Gaussian Mixture Models that can be fitted using EM in sklearn. There is also an implementation of k-means which can also be interpreted as an EM algorithm.</comment></comment>


I can't do this anymore - <AUTHOR>

Dear hacker news, just needed to tell you tha i say goodbye, for atleast a while. I can't do it anymore, my life has now began full of fears and guilt, my father is almost always drunk and not only. Yesterday i did a scooter incident (my fault since is now 3 months that i cannot sleep anymore properly). Today, i just needed one day of rest, but no today he goes mad on me and we started to querell (discuss?*) heavely to the point that i cannot keep this going on, i can no longer stay here i can' beart it.i'm 18 and i need just one more year to finish my school, but i can no longer continue in thi state... What should i do?<p>Ps: sorry if there is some grammar errors... I'm italian and english is not my native language
Thanks for reading it helps alot... <comment><USER3> If you're thinking of suicide (killing yourself), don't do it. There are lot of good things in front of you.

You're 18. One year -- as you said -- and you'll have the rest of your life to be on your own, make your own decisions. Make your own mistakes, even. But they'll be yours. No one else's.

It can feel helpless, not being in control of your life. I get it. I was there too. But it gets better (I'm 25 now).

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the reply... I'm not thinking about suicide, i'm a coward, but i can no longer keep going like this, even now I'm willing to go anywhere, i can't stay anymore at home i do not feel safe nor i have anymore trust in my parents.

<comment><USER4> You're not a coward. Far from it. Living takes courage. There are options for leaving your parents but they are often complicated and really depend on where you live. Just talking to people can make you feel a lot better even if there is no easy solution given.

<comment><AUTHOR> Sorry for the late reply, well i guess you are right but it's hard... Thanks gor the reply it helps

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> First of all are you OK from the accident? I had a motorcycle accident a long time ago and it's easy to get very injured.

Secondly the years you are going through were probably the hardest for me and I didn't have to deal with a drunk dad. Life gets much much better from 18 in my experience.

Do you have anyone you can talk to in person?

Just in case you are thinking of hurting yourself or just need an ear these people are always happy to listen. I linked you to the USA but they are international. [http://suicideprevention.wikia.com/wiki/USA](http://suicideprevention.wikia.com/wiki/USA)

These guys specifically say they speak 150 languages. [http://www.afsp.org/i-am/struggling](http://www.afsp.org/i-am/struggling)

I hope life gets better for you...

<comment><AUTHOR> I don't have any other person to talk about this, except to my friends but, they don't know about what is going on with my parents and i don't want to talk about this to someone "real"... Here i can stay like an "anon" and this is peobably why i even wrote this article in the first place... After today i can no longer face my parents, and tomorrow i had to see a girl for a data, but in this state i'm giving up.... Also i' completely fine it was nothing serious about the accident... Thanks for the reply, it helps alot

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Oh shit, you mean you need to get out of Italy? Moving out of your fathers home is not enough? Because you say you need to finish school, I guess you have no income on your own yet? That makes it harder but not impossible. In some countries it's possible to drop out of school and finish the last year(s) in an evening school or with an external exam, is there anything like this in Italy? That might be a possibility later on and would give you some time to deal with your living situation now. Staying with relatives or friends is no option for you - maybe even just for the one day of rest you need from time to time? I am sorry if those are too many questions, but it's hard to give a recommendation without more information for me. Sometimes it pays of to just push one year through if it is likely to get better afterwards and sometimes its better to get out of the situation as quickly as possible. I wish you good luck in any case and, as calcsam said: Those things will most probably get better!

<comment><AUTHOR> Sorry, what i meant is that i would go anywhere else to stay away from here, and i don't think there is something like that in italy (about exams), also i could ask to stay at my friends house for one day or two, but they are going to ask questions... And in this emotional state i can't lie also i'm a bad lier... Thanks for the reply it helps...

<comment><USER5> There is no objective truth for situations like that. So I don't know if the following is right for you, but if you see any possibility to talk too your friends about the situation I personally would recommend to do it. Hopefully they are willing to support you but even if not: just talking to people who you trust can make the situation much clearer for yourself and if it also gives you a way to get out for a few that might be even more helpful. But, of course, it's hard to give good advise to anonymous people on the internet without knowing much about their live, so please apply your own good measure.

For me, as for some others in this thread, the time between 16 and 19 was the hardest part of my live. I dropped out of school and spent some years with very little money and a somewhat unstable housing situation but nowadays (soon to be 25) I still have not finished any school but I got more than enough work and, doing some programming, I earn more than some of my friends who even finished university or at least school. So especially if you have a healthy interest in tech - which I assume, because you are reading hacker news - <USER2> might not be worst thing to drop out school. But that depends a lot on you, your skills and the job market in your area so I don't really know for sure.

<comment><AUTHOR> I have an high intrest for tech, my "dream" is to be a programmer, which in italy is difficult because you can enter a real programmer school at 18 with atleast 3 year of high school ( which i did) but this school is private, and it costs so i'm trying to do everything i can to enter in it. Right know about "skills" i can do everything with a computer ( repair it, find the problem, etc etc) but this is stuff tha everyone can do, so right now i have nothing in my hands. Thanks fir the reply... It helps

<comment><USER5> I personally never went to some school or so to learn programming. Did you look into learning at least some of it on yourself over the internet? There are lots of free resources available and if you find the time and motivation to finish a few hobby projects on your own you should be able to find a job without an actual finished education.

If you want, you can drop me a mail or contact me on jabber, both addresses are in my profile.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank for the great offer, i never tried to learn programming over the internet, i'll contact you for sure. Thanks again for the reply, it helps

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Hi itzsouloflol, i am italian and i am an entrepreneur/freelancer developer.

I have been through that situation, maybe some years ago, but i know what you are facing, at least in part.

I can't help much, but i can tell you my story and share my experience.

If you want to talk let me know how to reach you.

ps. This is not my real account.

<comment><AUTHOR> Nice to see an italian guy on hacker news i'm intrested, you can contact me at firstname.lastname@example.com write me there, i'll give you more information later, right now i'm not at home trying to cool myself, i'm writing with my cellphone. See you later and thanks for the offer/reply</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Who is switching away from MacBooks this year? - <AUTHOR> I noticed that a lot of my colleagues were thinking of switching away from the Mac and onto Surface Books or Surface Pros. I've had a Surface Pro for the last six months after having MacBooks for two years prior, and some bugs aside, I am really happy with it.<p>Who else is thinking of doing this? <comment><USER2> I switched away from a 2016 MBP w/Touch Bar. Switched to a Dell XPS (9560).

For the curious, here are the specs and price: MBP: 2.9GHz i7, 16GB, 2TB NVMe, Radeon Pro 460 4GB GPU - $4299

XPS: 2.8GHz i7 (Kaby Lake), 32GB, 1TB NVMe, Nvidia GTX 1050 4GB @ 4K res - $2499

The big jump in price in the full spec iMac is the 2TB of storage. NVMe isn't cheap.

If they were both at 1TB storage, and more comparable spec for spec, the XPS makes for a more powerful machine. (and for _me_ raw power is _WAY_ more important than thin/light)

Why did I switch? Major GPU issues, a gimmicky touchbar with only TouchID as it's useful piece, crappy battery life, and the need for something reliable that wasn't going to flake at the drop of a hat.

Like I've commented elsewhere, it's hard not to get the impression that all Apple cares about is the iPhone.

They've been making thin and light the priority, at the expense of things that power users want.

Lest anyone assume I'm stomping off mad... I've been a _hardcore_ Mac user for _14_ years.

I am using Windows 10 on the XPS. I figured it would be a major source of pain, in terms of workflow, to switch back. The Windows Subsystem for Linux takes almost all of that pain away.

I still have my MBP, but it's sitting on the shelf. Once more updates come out, maybe I'll revisit. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

<comment><USER3> What is your OS?

<comment><USER2> I'm using Windows 10. Fast Ring.

<comment><USER4> Ugh, I don't have the option to switch rings. Is this dependent on a specific version of Win10?

<comment><USER5> You need to join the Windows Insider program first - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Insider#Rings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Insider#Rings)

<comment><USER4> And link it to my Win login, apparently.

Thanks for the tip!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I'll present a contrary view: I love my new MacBook Pro. It's thinner and lighter than my last one; relevant to me because I travel extensively.

I find that the battery lasts longer than my last MacBook Pro as well.

I've seen the Surface Pro, and I find it intriguing, but can't really picture wanting to purchase or use one.

<comment><USER7> Me too. I got a new 13" non-touchbar MBP pro after my previous 15" lasted _seven_ years until Apple dropped support for it from the new OS. It still ran Xcode OK. Why would I not buy another? New MBP is great.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Life's too short to not run OS X on my primary work machine.

<comment><USER3> As an ex-windows user for over 15 yrs, this is my main point. Despite me hating the hardware, in osx, it just works. No drama.

<comment><USER4> Did you yet notice how hard it is to convince other Windows users of this?

<comment><USER5> It's hard to convince us because it's not true. As a matter of fact, the opposite is true - hardware certainly doesn't "just work" in Apple's ecosystem and it does just work with Windows.

I use Mac and Windows every day at work. Rarely, if ever, do I have any issues with my Windows hardware but my Mac hardware constantly causes me problems. Just last week I had to take steps to "zap the PRAM" on my 2012 Mac Pro since every USB port died for no reason.

I also have multiple wireless USB mice that work fine on my Macs until I go to the Updates tab of the App Store...at which point they simply stop working. Another problem I have with my Macs is that there is no built-in way to disable an external monitor without unplugging it or powering it down.

Honestly, I've been using Macs since the 90's, I've always had hardware problems with them and when I look around I see others having the same problems - so I know it's not just me. If you search the web you can see millions of others having Mac hardware issues - so I'm not really sure where Apple fans are getting the idea that Mac hardware "just works" because it quite obviously does not.

<comment><USER2> It's not "Mac works" and "Windows doesn't work" or vice versa. They both have issues, regularly, and often trade places being worse. They BOTH suck.

It's a matter of what issues you feel comfortable dealing with. There is no computer utopia, unless you're only surfing and writing documents, and need nothing more complex than a Chromebook. ;)

<comment><USER5> I use Mac and Windows every day and I'm certainly comfortable with both of them. Many of my Mac hardware issues have no fix at all though.

The one I mentioned about certain USB mice dying has never been fixed. Another thing that will never ever be fixed is the lack of choice video cards that I can put into the PCIe slot on my Mac Pro. Other problems with PRAM or SMC/sleep have a "fix" but somehow they keep popping up and you have to keep applying the fix. I can tell you honestly that I never have recurring problems on the Windows because things get fixed quite rapidly since Microsoft obviously still cares about Windows.

Anyway, I don't care about Chromebooks or other walled garden devices really. Even if I just wanted something to browse with I would prefer a Windows tablet so I could have some freedom ;)

<comment><USER2> I had a Surface Book. It was my first foray back into Windows territory. The device itself is amazing. Blows the doors off an iPad, in terms of productivity. (remember: long time Apple user)

Unfortunately, I ragequit it and sold it after dealing with the "sleep of death" issue enough times. Well-documented issue, and supposedly fixed with updates. (that was not my experience).

<comment><USER5> The Surface Book got fixed for good with a firmware update though.

Meanwhile, all of the Mac problems I mentioned are still not fixed and Apple is still quite obviously, ignoring their desktop OS. They've also always hated power users where-as Microsoft caters to them on hand and foot.

<comment><USER2> I had that firmware update. The one that was supposed to fix it "for good". Mine wasn't fixed, at all. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Definitely no arguments on the Mac stuff though... (as I type from my shiny new Dell XPS)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Have had a dell xps 13 (project sputnik) for a while now. Best portable laptop I've ever had. Mac doesn't even come close. Every time I have to use a Mac at work I wonder why can't these people wise up. All our infra is Ubuntu. What is the point of running OS X and dealing with all the cross-OS issues.

<comment><USER10> I assume you would be doing things in VMs, right!? So what cross-OS issues?

<comment><USER9> Why use a VM when I can run things directly on the bare metal or in a docker container and not pay the virtualization overhead.

<comment><USER11> I'm not the original posted, but for me it's security and convenience reasons, mostly. I use Qubes OS which presents a very nice UI that makes using multiple VM's very seamless.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I'm pretty sure my coding productivity would be a little higher on Linux, but there's no way I'm going to give up the nice polished UI applications I get on OS X and the near-universal ability to shift seamlessly between desktop and mobile. I feel some kind of weird prepper compulsion to regularly think about how I would do the transition back to Linux, but I really don't relish the thought of going back to being my own personal integration engineer and sinking my time into disappointing "___ equivalent" Linux applications.

</comment><comment><USER13> I had long been weary of juggling VMWare guests' RAM consumption on my MacBook Pro, but I held out for a modern system with more RAM (whether MacBook Pro or updated Mac Pro), until the most recent refresh. Two months ago, I purchased a Linux workstation with a modest 128 GiB RAM, and have barely touched my laptop since.

In 2005, I bought a quad-core Opteron workstation with 16 GiB RAM. That Apple wouldn't offer anything substantially more powerful in a laptop form factor a dozen years later boggles the mind. Granted, my use case may be atypical (lots of jemalloc portability development/testing), but between the anemic hardware options and the de-emphasis of developer products, I'm sufficiently disenfranchised at this point that even after working at Apple on the operating system (~10.1-10.4 range) and then using it ever since, I'm not personally interested anymore in what Apple does next.

</comment><comment><USER14> Switched to a beastly 17" Dell Precision 7710 running Fedora 25. It's not small, very powerful, carbon fiber, holds 2-3 drives including the primary NVMe and I can load up to 64GB of RAM.

The best part though...I can open up the bottom and replace parts anytime I want.

Need to switch to an Android phone next because iTunes doesn't play nice on Linux.

</comment><comment><USER15> The latest Razer Blade has worked out for me very well. Ubuntu / windows dual boot has made it convenient for work / play alike. I unloaded the nvidia drivers for similar battery in ubuntu vs windows.

</comment><comment><USER16> Turns out I'll be the contrarian voice in an overwhelmingly Apple-positive thread about switching away from the Mac:

OS X has been my primary productivity OS for more than ten years now, but I'm in the process of switching. I'll keep using my 2012 MBP until it physically falls apart, but make no mistake: this will be my last MacBook. Not sure what I'll replace it with when the time comes, performant laptops with a long battery life and 2TB+ storage are amazingly hard to come by these days.

My iPhone has a broken screen that can't be fixed without permanently losing the finger print scanner, so that's going to be my last iPhone as well.

On the desktop side, I'm using an iMac/PC dual setup (with Synergy), so I'm still dragging my heels a bit because honestly it hurts to let OS X go. Windows and I will never be friends, but there is no question that the PC platform is going to be the future for me.

To be clear, switching sucks royally for me, but staying would suck more. macOS hasn't deteriorated to the point where I _want_ to leave it behind yet, although the writing is on the wall. But Apple's hardware philosophy and practice makes it so I'd really hate giving them even more money for yet another even more hilariously overpriced, closed-down, underperforming, outdated, unrepairable, not-upgradeable appliance that they think is going to be the future of computing.

<comment><USER17> Do you think you'll try OSX on PC-hardware? I'm not sure how easy that is to do still, but it might be worth a shot.

<comment><USER16> I've been thinking about making a Hackintosh, yes, but in the end I don't want to have a setup that I constantly have to spend time on just to keep it alive. I'm not sure if things have gotten better since I last looked into it, but it seems to me you'll have to live with a degraded feature set and constant tweaking.

<comment><USER8>
        > the end I don't want to have
        > a setup that I constantly
        > have to spend time on just
        > to keep it alive

It's admittedly been about 5 years since I seriously tried to use Linux on the desktop, and a little longer than that since Windows, but the biggest concession I've made to keeping my OS X machine alive is a `bluetooth_reload` alias. Is XF86Config still a thing? How about audio support?

<comment><USER18> XF86Config is now Xorg and is only used in the rare cases (dealing with proprietary drivers or strange configurations, mostly) where you want to override the defaults. Most people don't have an Xorg.conf file anymore.

For all that people complain about pulseaudio, it's been working pretty well for me for the last 5 years or so.

I'll admit I'm a bit of an outlier, though: I run xubuntu as my base system but i3 as my main window manager. I'm sooo much more productive on it than anything else I've ever used - it's amazing how much time I used to spend adjusting window sizes.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> It's hard to justify buying a new notebook in this day and age IMO. Since 2014 hardware has been about the same with the same price point for customer notebooks..

I had a macbook air 13 from my company and would probably have kept it to this date. Since my company took it back I am using some 13' toshiba with i3 and 4gb of ram running ubuntu.. haven't seen the need to upgrade.

<comment><USER20> Since 2014 the hardware has been more than adequate for 90% of the people that buy those sorts of machines. There's also not a lot of room for improvement since the i5/i7 from 2014 and the i5/i7 from 2017 aren't dramatically different.

> I am using some 13' toshiba with i3 and 4gb of ram...

You're complaining about the hardware not being better and you're using a super low-end laptop. Maybe your real complaint is price, not performance, as you can get machines like that for $200 if you're not concerned about anything other than cost.

<comment><USER19> Yep.

In MY day to day, as a backend / front-end / devops guy, it isn't worth the money to buy anything better than what I have IMO.

All I do is vim, run stuff in cloud machines through ansible (SSH), and a browser.

My last MacBook Air with an i7 was better than what I have but not $2k better.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> I bought a 2015 MacBook Pro, I would highly recommend one. The 2014 MBP is still great too if you can find one, basically the same as the 2015 model.

I have negative interest in the touch bar or that awful keyboard.

</comment><comment><USER22> I'm a polyglot programmer and operating system user. Servers are mostly Linux, some real hardware, some virtual, doesn't matter. Desktops are Windows or Linux, laptops OSX or Windows.

On a day to day basis I use both a 2009 13" Mac Book pro and a 2015 Mac Book Pro. However, for the prior 4 years I used a Dell XPS Windows 7 laptop.

The primary primary reason for using the Mac on a day to day basis is system stability and responsiveness. The Mac just works. It always fires up. It is highly responsive to my needs which are Web, Terminal (server admin), and general office applications.

The Windows laptop, on the other hand, left me with little confidence from day to day. Most days it would operate fine, then one day it would blue screen or simply become unresponsive requiring a physical restart. Certainly all kinds of tweaks were done over time to fix one thing or another related to some application setting somewhere deep in the registry.

I've not tried Windows 10, but then it has no particular 10x value for me either.

Note that the 2009 MBP was upgraded in 2012 to an SSD. It is still a crispy fast system that beat the pants off of newer Dell laptops.

Just my $0.02.

</comment><comment><USER23> When I switched teams within my company in 2014, I was due for a new work notebook and I got a Macbook because everyone in the new team was using them. I have been screaming at macOS's bizarre window manager, ridiculous Unix userland and only half-full-featured Outlook and Lync ever since, and praised my Arch Linux VM where most of my actual work is taking place because it helps me keep my sanity.

I'm posting this because, near the end of the year, the 3-year depreciation period is over and I can (or rather, have to) get a new notebook, and it will definitely be a Windows machine. ($work only has official Windows and Mac images.) Outlook and Lync ^W Skype-for-Business will work much better (I will be one of the few on the team who can do such amazing things as record Lync ^W SfB sessions).

So yes, I am one of the guys you asked for, although probably not for the reasons most people expect.

</comment><comment><USER24> I have a Macbook Pro 2015 from my job and I'm really not fond of it. The machine itself is nice and I like the keyboard but I hate the OS. We do all our work inside Docker containers running Linux, all our infra runs on Linux but we work on OSX.

It's not the worst thing in the world but it just seems unnecessary when running the OS we target is just as simple.

</comment><comment><USER25> I have yet to use a machine that is as much of a pleasure to use as my mbp. I came from linux and while it was able to get the job done, the third party support for a lot of apps was less than ideal. Having everything synced up to my iPhone (again coming from someone who's first smart phone was the original droid) is fantastic as well.

</comment><comment><USER26> I recently got a Surface Pro after two cycles (~7 years) of MBP 15 inchers. I wanted something lightweight I could draw on, and did think about the iPad Pro with Pencil for a while, but in the end having the flexibility to install any app won out (currently I'm using Aseprite and Manga Studio).

I've been using both Mac and Windows OSes since the last millennium, so I'm not precious about either one. But I do personally prefer explorer over finder in most aspects.

Visual Studio is a beast, and it's absolutely ridiculous that MS now give away so many features for free in the community version.

I had no expectations for the type cover keyboard, but it turns out it is fantastically comfortable and productive.

I have no plans to get a new Mac, but my 2014 MBP is still proving useful to do remote iOS builds from Xamarin. I'll probably keep it around just for that but if I never have to open Xcode again it will be too soon.

</comment><comment><USER27> My 2013 MBPr is still fine. I'll probably get the new one late this year or the next though. Haven't been especially impressed with Windows laptops.

My SO has a XPS 13 and while the build is much better than any Windows laptop I've seen, I don't think it's worth switching.

Really my decision is between the smaller 12 inch vs the 13 inch.

</comment><comment><USER28> I would guess a lot of people based on anecdotal comments on forums and not very many people based on sales data.

</comment><comment><USER29> Switched to one actually. My System 76 was aging and work bought me a new MBP. It's nice. Definitely has the processing power to do everything that I would want to when I'm away from my desktop. Good battery. My desktop (Ubuntu) is still where I do most my work.

</comment><comment><USER30> Apple will have to screw macOS up a lot for me to stop using it, especially if work keeps buying my MBP.

I just reclaimed my 2009 MBP after upgrading my wife's MBP. I'd never notice it wasn't current If it wasn't for running a little hot and the non-retina screen.

</comment><comment><USER31> The price to power in most high end laptops is the same Apple is not priced very high compared to others. But with the new Amd processors that could change. And laptops with similar power and battery life at 2/3rd to half the price is going to change things.

</comment><comment><USER32> I made the switch 3 year ago to GNU/Linux. It is free and better for software development than OSX (same order of magnitude) or Windows (by a lot). Microsoft is investing high in marketing now, though.

<comment><USER33> Congratulation on becoming free(-er) :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> My personal laptop is still a 2011 Macbook Air. I was waiting for the new MBP's before I upgraded but after they came out, it was clear that Apple had lost me as a laptop customer.

It's not just the hardware. OSX has become steadily worse over the years, and there is no indication that this will be reversed.

I'm not looking at getting myself a fully specced ThinkPad T470s: Kaby Lake CPU, 24 GB DDR4 RAM and 1 TB NVMe SSD. I'll be running Linux on this thing.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> I've thought about going back to the MacBook several times. It's a beautiful, and very light, machine. However, I really, really value having a tablet that I can write on that can also be a fully-fledged computer when it needs to be. Being able to reorient the monitor in portrait mode is amazing. Also, the Type Cover keyboard is amazing; leagues better than the chiclet keys on the MacBooks.

After Windows 10 got Ubuntu, there was no looking back.

I am still thinking about replacing my iPad Air for an iPad Pro, though. I love a small tablet I can write on, too.

</comment><comment><USER34> You don't need a new laptop. If you own a MacBook Pro Retina, 2013 (or beyond), then you have all the computing power you need. Why waste the money, why contribute to e-waste?

<comment><AUTHOR> Because it's new and lighter?

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> I already did some time ago. I got a surface pro and until you own one you don't know what you are missing. The form factor is simply awesome.

Then I also used to have a xps13 with Ubuntu. Great machine.

I've recently switched to a T460s with 20gb ram, 1tb SSD and i7. Comes with all the ports you need and want. It's light and fast. Used to run Ubuntu for a while full time. Recently switched to windows 10 and the WSL is a game changer. Reminds me of the good old Mac days.

</comment><comment><USER36> There's very little chance of that happening, but we aren't rushing in to buy a bunch of touchbar macbook pros to replace our existing machines either.

</comment><comment><USER37> Switched after the release. Now on a Thinkpad with 32GB of RAM for half the cost. Took a bit of adaption moving to Linux but I'm glad I did. Have had minimal downtime since switching to Ubuntu, can only recommend it for work if you're using a popular flavour and you've got popular hardware. Life's too short to spend time fixing driver issues and configs.. Unless that's your job. ;)

<comment><USER14> Agreed. That's how I ended up with Fedora 25.

</comment></comment><comment><USER38> Not me. Still on a mid-2011 13-inch MacBook Air. I'll probably switch to whatever new MacBook is release this summer.

<comment><USER39> Same here, and it baffles me that all people talk about is MBP when MBA is such a good alternative. I'll keep my Air until it dies, or a new one comes out.

</comment></comment><comment><USER40> I went from a 2012 15" Retina MBP to a SP4 for about a year. It was okay.

I'm now back on a 2016 15" TB MBP and happy to be "home" on macOS.

There's really nothing wrong with this machine. It might not be the giant leap forward from the 2015 model that people hoped for, but it's a perfectly fine machine to get work done with.

</comment><comment><USER41> I have maxed MB Pro 15" late 2016 model and cant really imagine switching to anything else for development.

</comment><comment><USER42> I don't want.

But here in Colombia, a good Apple machine cost DAMM TOO MUCH (ten months of 2x * basic income for a entry level Mac Pro), and each iteration is a bit worse than the previous.

I'm holding on my iMac, but most likely I will build a hackintosh.

</comment><comment><USER43> I'm nearing the time when my machine needs to be replaced. I haven't had a MBP yet, and was set on getting one... until the latest release drama.

I still need to commit to a decision, but I'm eyeing the XSP13 lustfully now.

</comment><comment><USER44> Thought about switching to Surface Book and using Scoop as a colleague mentioned it to me, but decided to get the new MBP 2016 w/ Touchbar after using a Macbook Air 2012.

Touchbar is great, don't know why people are complaining.

</comment><comment><USER45> Seeing many folks that went to MacBook Pros last cycle but now going to Dell or Lenovo HW. I lean more towards Lenovo, but the recent Dell semi-unibody builds are very nice.

<comment><USER28> In the meantime, Apple is selling more MBPs than ever: [https://arstechnica.com/apple/2017/01/apple-sets-revenue- and...](https://arstechnica.com/apple/2017/01/apple-sets-revenue-and-iphone- sales-records-in-q1-of-2017/) :

 _Mac unit sales have rebounded after a few quarters of decline, and Mac revenue is actually up by around $500 million, hopefully proving to Apple that people actually will buy Macs when the company releases new ones. Both the revenue growth and the unit sales growth can be attributed to the new MacBook Pro_

</comment></comment><comment><USER46> My MBP isn't quite in updating range yet, but I fully expect to buy the next model MBP after the current one.

</comment><comment><USER47> I couldn't stick with the Surface and ended up coming back to my mbp. I guess I drank the koolaid hard!

</comment><comment><USER48> I will after my primary project ceases to be developing an iPhone app. Should be sometime this summer.

</comment><comment><USER49> I just bought a new non-touchbar 15" MBP.

</comment><comment><USER50> Not me. My Mid-2015 Retina is fantastic.

</comment><comment><USER51> Switching to a MacBook maybe.

</comment><comment><USER52> Hail corporate</comment>


Use Adwords to find the best title for your Hacker News post - <AUTHOR> http://blog.chargeback.cc/2012/11/19/use-adwords-to-find-the-best-title-for-your-hacker-news-post/ <comment><USER2> Based on my personal experience, here is a two-step guide for getting a blog post to #1 of HN for 2 days.

1\. Write lots of blog posts on various topics. Write multi kilo-word reviews of honest to goodness _books_ with reference to the ideas therein. Really pour yourself into the work -- take as your inspiration Michel de Montaigne's _Essais_. Submit some of these. Watch them get, at most, a single upvote.

2\. Write one (1) angry rant about a company well-known to HNers, with no goals other than to vent a bit. Add "sucks" to the title somewhere. Watch as someone else submits it and your primal screeching zooms to the top of the front page and stays pegged to it for days.

Optional step 3: cultivate cynicism about HN and your reasons for sticking around.

<comment><USER3> Content aggregation sites like HN and reddit often weight upvotes based on time. This makes some sense; an article that gets x upvotes in y minutes is more popular than an article that takes 4*y minutes to get the same number of upvotes!

But on Reddit this has an odd side-effect; as early upvotes are the key to getting to the front page, an article that takes 30 minutes to read doesn't get any upvotes in the first 30 minutes. But a meme or a 10-second gif? Upvoted in seconds, and on its way to the front page.

Of course, Reddit is quite successful; no shame in providing bite-sized posts with quick gratification if that's what the market demands.

<comment><USER4> This is a really interesting insight. What do you think would be a good way of levelling the playing field for articles which take 30 minutes to read?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> OP - I was aghast at your CTR rates when I first read your post. I don't know your marketing/segment but it's certainly worth questioning whether or not you are getting the right keywords to trigger your ads. Your top three ads have a grand total of 28 clicks over > 21,000 impressions. That is misery. There's just no way you are going to be able to be profitable/break-even with AdWords if you can't improve that CTR.

As such, it leads me to question your keyword selection. You need to know "What were the keywords that actually triggered my ad?" This is possibly VERY different from the keywords you entered (particularly if you are using broad match). My guess is you're wildly off the mark in terms of your keyword selection/filter. Adwords expands broad match keywords to the point of unprofitability IME. You have to find out what people are actually searching for that trigger your ad and "trim the fat" by modifying your keywords so that you don't pay for unrelated things.

For example, let's say you have "payment disputes" as a broad match keyword. That is so general that Google is going to auto-expand your keywords to synonyms and "things that Google thinks are _like_ payments, disputes, and payment disputes". So if you used that as a broad match keyword, you might be surprised to find that your ads were served for the following keyword searches:

* Credit repair atlanta

* bankruptcy dispute

* credit card payment was declined

etc, etc, etc - "similar yet different" is not profitable here. I'd suggest you review the actual keywords and work to get that CTR up.

</comment><comment><USER6> You learned one of the basic rules of writing good headlines. Don't overstate it. Always get to the point. Quick!

Your first one was really bad.

 _Show HN: ChargeBack.cc – Battling the last frontier in payments_

It has a Star Trek reference, and no mention of what is it that you do. Bad headline. Good for learning.

The next one is worse.

 _Show HN: ChargeBack.cc – an innovative solution to a messy problem_

A messy problem? You know what products relate to messy problems? Diapers, toilet paper, tampons, etc. Really bad headline. Its actually quite funny, though.

The final headline is perfect. Not because of Adwords, but due to the fact that you just gave up on trying to be clever (which is the worst thing you can do on copywriting), and were just honest and straight to the point.

 _Show HN: ChargeBack.cc – Get your money back_

Lets break it down:

        Show HN: - Addressing your audience directly.
        Chargeback.cc - Mentioning the product in the headline.
        Get your money back - Clearly stating what pain it aims to ease.

Writing clever headlines or copy is the worst thing you can do. The people who will read your ad dont have time to figure out what is it that you want to tell them. Its as if I went door to door and tried to sell people some newspapers by telling them about the press the paper gets printed on. Who cares? Next time you need to write some marketing copy dont be clever. Its a waste of time.

Using adwords for writing headlines is clever, but not smart. Because you dont know how effective those ads are (probably not very), and which market it aims to sell to. You are better off reading a good copywriting book.

<comment><USER7> which copywriting book(s) or material do you recommend?

<comment><USER8> Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples.

It's an oldie but a goodie. It talks a lot about split testing from the print days -- catalogs, newspaper classifieds, etc. Writing headlines gets its own chapter. Really great book. Really easy to read and understand. The current edition is the 5th edition. You can get it from Amazon.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I guess it's somewhat interesting that AdWords can confirm what are good titles and what aren't but I could've told you at the outset that the first two titles are vague meaningless titles that won't draw anyone's attention. "The last frontier in payments"? Really? I know I wouldn't read that because it sounds like marketing BS.

Also, reaching the front page on the weekend has a lower barrier to entry. I see posts with 13 votes hang around for hours.

<comment><USER10> It's true they hang around for more but it's also probably harder to gain those 13 votes.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yup, this is exactly what I've found. Weekends are harder to get votes on, but the posts last much longer once they get traction.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I don't want to criticize, but if getting to the first page is _that_ important to you, I don't know, but it doesn't seems very healthy. Revenues and products are more important than bragging rights.

Ok competition is good, hacking is good, but doing that just for HN sake seems like overengineering for something not important at all (I mean, not central to most business)

However, making a product out of it is something quite different - and it's a great thing you did!

<comment><USER12> I think you underestimate how much attention HN can get you and overestimate the effort of doing what they did here. Seems like a great time investment to me.

<comment><USER11> I tried similar things to play with the Mechanical Turk and Google Ads - especially since they give coupons like candy.

In the end, it is still glorified advertising, while IMHO the core purpose of a business is revenue!

Advertising is very important, but securing paying clients does not depends nor requires advertising.

IMHO again - advertising however is a tool for growing, but just one tool among many others

This whole thing must have taken say half a day total - to say whether it was a good or a bad thing for them, you must consider the opportunity cost

And IMHO again, diverting just one mind away from important problems (to fix side issues instead) is a bad idea.

Focus matter the most.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> New guys starting a startup that want to make their website "viral" look at this post, and learn. Give something of value, something that I can really learn from, maybe even not directly related to your startup, and people will give you credit. Not everyone can write a good post, but when you do be sure that I will check you website to understand what do you do. Also a couple of suggestions, your logo should take me to the website landing page, not blog home, this guys did a fine job by putting both links. And don't be ashamed of starting with something like "We at ZippilyBooppily(link) do.." this is perfectly fine, I know that you want my attention for your startup, and if you have something interesting to say I will check it, that link helps and tells me about you. Last and maybe most important, don't spam me, or HN or whatever, write only when you have something to say.

</comment><comment><USER13> An article about gaming Hacker News is now the top post on Hacker News. I don't think that is a good sign.

<comment><USER14> He is not so much gaming HN but rather HN readers.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> There's insufficient data here to show the new title resulted in the article score. It's a common trait on these kinds of sites, where an article's chance of "success" is massively improved after receiving only a very small (2-5) number of votes.

It's perfectly possible the original articles slipped down the new page too quickly before they got lucky and found a few interesting readers.

</comment><comment><USER16> good to know HNers react to the same class of stimuli as the average google search user. I might try some Cialis-entitled posts

<comment><USER17> Here's 12 weird old haskell tricks discovered by a mom!

<comment><USER18> OBEY! What Hacker News doesn't want you to know!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Huh, an interesting concept. I wouldn't be surprised if, for certain products, HN hits are higher-quality hits than the average (higher conversion rate, possibly higher engagement rate after sign-up).

Of course, this is the sort of thing you need to be measuring. If that's not the case, you absolutely shouldn't be spending your money and, more importantly, your time on vanity upvotes and hits that don't result in a tangible benefit.

As an aside, I'd love to see a blog post from a generous individual willing to share how HN referrals as a cohort tend to perform compared to other traffic sources for their product/service.

<comment><AUTHOR> HN does not generally result in a lot of targeted visitors who are going to be long term users of your product.

However, I find the feedback in the comments section to be hugely valuable. HN readers are inevitably pretty savvy about startups. While you can get a lot of criticism - it can be quite constructive, pointing out things everyone else you show the site too has missed. Getting onto the front page is vital to get any volume of comments.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> I love this idea, very clever. A small spend can indicate a good option to you, and the traffic HN can generate is well worth it.

The spend isn't even a complete waste of money either, it's still pulling in a few new visitors during the test.

Very smart!

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks!

I was hoping it might be helpful to other people launching their startup. If you're already running Adwords, then that's a great place to start looking for guidance about how to market your product in a single sentence.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> If hit count is your leading metric, then sure. But if you care what happens afterwards then you need to track what happens afterward, and see how the traffic clicks interacts; Quality over quantity..

</comment><comment><USER22> My impression is that ranking algorithm, as described in the HN FAQ, is too simplistic, and as a result luck is too important factor in many HN submissions.

The more advanced algorithm would be for example to identify a set of HN users that actively up vote stories, and do not only follow links that already have a lot of votes; each new submission could be then injected to the front page of several random users from such set. With such approach, all new stories would have more or less equal exposure and equal chances of being noticed.

</comment><comment><USER23> can't find the thread but i remember we sort of "agree" (lack of better word) to help upvote Show HNs at least to give credit to those who ship. i think if a submission (1) has Show HN (2) and really showing your newly launched product, it deserves an upvote

</comment><comment><USER24> Editing flub?

'If you do wish to dispute this type of payment, we strongly lodging a ChargeBack with ChargeBack.cc so that we can optimise the speed and convenience of your refund'

<https://www.chargeback.cc/paypal>

</comment><comment><USER25> If that is a screenshot of the experiment you were running, you just wasted $70. None of those differences is statistically better than the other one.

If you got benefit out of being #2 on HN, good for you, just say so.

<comment><AUTHOR> I think there's real value in that it lets you think or other candidate titles which I would have originally dismissed as too simplistic or too boring. I'm not always going to pick the top one, but some degree of confidence and guidance about what resonates with people is better than nothing!

Also there were a lot of other titles with far lower results than are visible in those screenshots.

<comment><USER18> I believe he's saying you didn't gather enough data, which was my first impression.

I have also done this for years (not for titles on HN though -- good one), it's just that isn't enough data to really tell.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> I like this - people are more likely to click on things similar to thinks people are more likely to click on.

Its almost trivial and obvious... but not.

The only problem is running ads is an investment of its own...

<comment><USER27> Can I ask why you use ellipses so often?

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> I wonder if the other parameters were controlled in this experiment, like time and type of day of posting, amount of votes of other articles in front page, etc.

</comment><comment><USER29> HN is already over-optimized for good headlines. Voting up after clicking is harder to implement but would improve quality.

</comment><comment><USER30> You just invented A/B testing. Congratulations.

</comment><comment><USER31> so meta

</comment><comment><USER32> 0.15% ctr is beyond shit</comment>


Show HN: Entire WordPress site into 1 file - <AUTHOR> https://wordpress.org/plugins/all-in-one-wp-migration/ <comment><USER2> Nice idea! Very useful for all kind of sites.

</comment><comment><USER3> Neat!</comment>


Generating artwork with Haskell - <AUTHOR> http://www.kovach.me/posts/2018-03-07-generating-art.html <comment><USER2> Super cool! I'm excited to see more FP and determinism in the generative art world. A while back I started trying out deterministic animations, ie (seed, t) -> (shape) rather than (oldshape) -> (shape). It requires a bit more brain- twisting to get started, but it has some really nice properties. Not just repeatability across runs, but frame skips, speed changes, rewinding, looping and composability all get much easier.

</comment><comment><USER3> This is what I love to see about programming.

<comment><USER4> Thanks very much :D

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Wow, so progressive.

What about the real world mathematical and computational problems?

"Meep (or MEEP) is a free finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation software package developed at MIT to model electromagnetic systems. Meep used Haskell to generate C++ code, after Meep 1.0 Haskell generation droped in favor of handwritten C++ code."

Alright then.

</comment><comment><USER6> Nice! Reminds me of an algorithm from one of the volumes of _The Art of Computer Programming_.

</comment><comment><USER7> His work is based on the Cairo library. It has a big potential for vector drawing but still it's very easy to use and has a very permissive license.</comment>