Why Enterprise Software Sucks: 6 Years Later - <AUTHOR> http://futureofwork.glider.com/why-enterprise-software-sucks/ <comment><USER2> Nothing like broad sweeping generalizations to make a good story.

I have a few points to make :

1\. End users have an incredible ability to complain that software doesn't meet their very specific and peculiar requirements at any point in time. "Why can't I print this expense report landscape on a5 paper, we have run out of normal paper" - "Why doesn't this expense report sub-total by supplier and week, but only in leap years?"

2\. If the people using the software were the business owners I think they would sing a different tune, or go out of business because they spend so much money optimizing for user experience.

3\. Enterprise software tends to be infinitely more complex than most Saas projects. It is hard to budget and focus on the user experience when you are processing billions of dollars in transactions, with complex business rules, complex tax rules, complex laws, integrating with legacy systems, changing business conditions and strategy. Most businesses will put compliance and accuracy ahead of user experience.

4\. Non-enterprise developers seem to think they are shit-hot and have a chip on their shoulders about enterprise developers for some reason. So you get an endless stream of articles along these lines.

<comment><USER3> "most SAAS projects" are not the ones setting the bar.

The _video games_ people set the bar. And they _are_ shit-hot. And they produce stuff that even a 4 year old can use.

And the problems the video game people solve are more complex than your typical schlubby entreprise app. In the case of MMORPGs, _infinitely_ more so - and they have to deal with compliance and accuracy as well, because they are dealing with stuff like credit card data.

The problem is that the entreprise software buyer is not the user, he just gets to inflict the stuff on others - a perverse incentive.

I've worked on entreprise software in more than one big-name company, and I'm embarrassed by what they ordered me to deliver. One time a friend of mine, who had to use my company's malfunctioning stuff, even phoned me up at work to curse me for it.

<comment><USER4> You seem to be infatuated with the notion that "video games people" are some sort of genius level software mavens, who can breathe fire and walk on water. The boring reality is that the majority of game developers, excluding outliers like Carmack etc, are young, novice programmers.

Games development is not some arcane area of software where only the "shit- hot" developers may walk. It's simply a very special branch of software development. You can of course find highly complex stuff in games (graphics, AI etc), but if you look at enterprise, you'll find equal complexity just in different, non-sexy areas like sheer code base scope, integrations, performance requirements on transactions etc.

And if you look at "mainstream" SaaS apps you have yet again a whole different type of complexity with the typically huge amounts of concurrent users, advanced UI etc.

To argue about whatever types of developers are the best, is just silly and frankly reminiscent of school yard discussions of which action hero could kick who's ass.

<comment><USER5> I believe the comment about video game developers concerns useability and not fitness. I've been playing video games for many years, and from a useability standpoint, game manuals have dwindled to nothing. If the game does not teach me how to use the functionality during game play I really have no patience for the game anymore.

Enterprise software should take a similar approach. Have something of a tutorial mode, and an easily searchable text based document. Most of the cost in the software comes not from the actual price, but in employee productivity and training.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Enterprise software does not put a huge priority on attractive graphics and "discoverable" functionality, because people who use it very often tend to perform the same transactions over and over and over. Efficiency in this use case is far more important than e.g. something like HipMunk where someone who's never seen it before should be able to figure it out without any help.

I was recently at my insurance agent's office updating my automobile insurance coverage. The agent worked on a mainframe character mode interface and could absolutely BLAZE through the various options and quote different insurance options instantly. No dragging and dropping, no pointing and clicking -- her hands never left the keyboard. Looking at the screen, nothing really looked very pretty or intuitive. The system clearly would require some training or at least some instructions to learn how to use it. But it works really well once you invest that learning.

Then there are people in the enterprise who have to use this software occasionally... e.g. people who have to file an occasional expense report, or update their tax withholding. For those people it sucks, because there isn't a lot of hand-holding, and the software feels clunky and arcane.

<comment><USER7> The Bloomberg Terminal is a great example. There is nothing intuitive about is at all and using the mouse with it is quite painful. (Here's what a news screen in the terminal looks like [http://www.businessinsider.com/type-this- command-into-your-b...](http://www.businessinsider.com/type-this-command-into- your-bloomberg-terminal-and-youll-basically-get-theflyonthewallcom-2010-4))

However, every new feature we had to release needed to have every action accessible using the keyboard. There were best practices for using certain keys with certain actions (so that they were consistent across the features) and this was one of the most important things of an UI review.

I ended up using the keyboard always whenever interacting with the terminal. The Chief UI guy at Bloomberg was ex-Wall Street and told us that when he started working on his first job on Wall Street, someone came up to his PC and disconnected his mouse so that he would learn how to use the Terminal properly and efficiently.

<comment><USER8> Intuitiveness aside, the other major issue with enterprise software is the efficiency of use, and how out of touch it is with the task at hand. They slow you down considerably IMO.

e.g. having to tell the app things it could just figure out, sloppy focus that requires you to fuss with the UI, having to input a lot of text in small text box that won't resize or spell check it, having to manually click a button to auto-complete, modal dialog boxes that block you from reading important info in another pane, uselessly vague or incorrect error messages for easily correctable problems cause you to waste hours guessing what the real problem is, returns no error message at all, oh you're using the wrong browser, oh to attach a file in your enterprise webmail you need to install Sliverlight, oh the web based wiki plugin for your enterprise document system only works on Windows with IE, oh mobile browsers are not supported, let me slowly redraw the screen a few more times due to some .Net + Areo legacy issue and hang your window manager, supports Kerberos SSO but requires to you enter a password, doesn't let you enter a username or password since it uses Kerberos SSO... etc.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> The reason Enterprise Software sucks is customization. Customization makes it expensive, harder to test and impossible to upgrade.

However - Customization is what every Enterprise asks for. Sometimes they need it, sometimes they don't. Customers and vendors are notoriously bad at picking the difference.

SaaS offerings tends to be militantly "vanilla" with no customization. Customization kills the margin for SaaS vendors. Whatever you think of Salesforce in terms of their tech and approach -- this is the area where they excel.

You can blame the "Enterprise" as much as you like, but these are structural issues.

<comment><USER10> This. I dislike clunky enterprise software as much as the next guy, but really sometimes customization is what you need, and the hip new basecamp-esque players more often than not aren't willing.

Salesforce is a great example. My startup (may she RIP) had very intricate sales channels, and we picked salesforce for our CRM because we could customize it how ever we wanted. This was also before the big "SaaS boom", so there were far fewer players in that space. Back then, salesforce was clunky, slow and expensive as hell (I don't know what it's like now), but we could manage our workflow end-to-end, all the way from trade show sales to automagically managing ads and landing page rings. I'm not sure anymore, but I would bet that's something that's still hard to come by.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Also, it's complicated.

If I'm running a startup, and I have 100 customers using my product who each have a wishlist, I can prioritize which of those wish items fit best with my product and business vision, without excessive implementation cost or technical debt, and proceed on that path.

On the other hand, in the enterprise, non-technical managers make business requirements that are largely non-negotiable. Product complexity spirals out of control as everyone wants their "pet feature" included, even if it conflicts with other features, leading to massively customizable (and thus even more complicated, to implement that customizability) solutions.

<comment><USER12> I don't think you can point at management as the source of the problems. I think the real source is the nature of enterprise itself: a small number of large customers. When each individual customer provides enough revenue to subsidize the development of their own pet feature requests, it's a plausible business decision to accommodate, or at least entertain, those requests. Blaming that on management seems to me to be shooting the messenger.

And the vendors that don't accommodate feature requests, lose business to the vendors that do. Survival of the fittest is a cruel master.

<comment><USER13> I agree with this, I am currently working in an Enterprise focused company and I generally look at our job as being custom integration. Not because that is the best way to develop software, but the best way to engage with these large clients. It's how they want to be engaged. In turn you charge them appropriately, help guide them away from the obvious traps, and have a fundamental knowledge about what your domain expertise is. The last one is important to know what to say yes/no too. It can be very profitable, but frustrating from an engineering point of view due to the unnecessary complexity created when multiple "vendors" are developing software to glue the client enterprise together. Lots and lots of glue.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> This article claims that eventually, the companies will come around: that "Companies are entrenched in their systems and don't dare touch it if it's "working"" but eventually they'll come around.

Has anyone done any research on the opposite possibility: that most companies simply ossify around the "acceptable" enterprise software when they're newer, and don't so much adapt as die off, leaving room for more recently founded companies that aren't attached to some ancient system?

The difference is of critical importance to someone trying to sell into that market, it's the difference between being Mercedes and Unilever.

<comment><USER15> Does your software at your users site potentially contain taxpayer data from the IRS or state tax authority? Congratulations, the implementation needs to comply with IRS Pub 1075.

Does it potentially contain law enforcement data? Congratulations, your customer needs to implement it in a manner consistent withs its CJIS agreement.

Healthcare data? Hello HIPPA.

Up to a certain size, businesses can pretty much do whatever they want. Then they reach a point or acquire a customer that requires them to start meeting various regulatory requirements.

Ability to comply is a business opportunity. If I make software that contains encryption that isn't FIPS 140-2 validated, I am missing out on a multi- billion dollar market. (US and state governments + govt contractors)

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> I think that a lot has to do with the writers and readers of those articles having inherent biases that cause them to associate small and pretty with good solutions.

I happen to fall into that camp and much prefer nicely designed Saas products to legacy bloatware but I have been astonished to see time and time again that other people I work with are not of like mind.

I once tried to convert my team to Asana because I love it for personal projects and I naturally expected them to compare it to our current methods and be blown away. I was surprised when it got nothing more than a "meh" reaction and within days it was forgotten. The team actually _preferred_ SharePoint.

This also by the way is a case in point of why it is important to talk to customers before building. Your assumptions about what is best are not necessarily accurate. Small software sells well to small businesses and in a lot of cases small teams, but company-wide (which I think is what we're talking about here) takes a whole different level of sales and influence.

<comment><USER17> I wonder if they actually preferred Sharepoint-- or if they just _didn't care at all_ , and not caring preferred to stick with what they already knew how to ~workaround~ use, rather than learn something new.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> Enterprise Software is hard because the modeled enterprises are complex and very different to each other.

This is a completely different beast than your toy App on your phone.

</comment><comment><USER19> Before mobile apps can really become a model for enterprise software, their level of sophistication is going to have to go up: Plug-ins, sync rather than CRUD-over-IP, better use of Android modularity tools including ContentProvider components, bound services, more intent filters, etc.

Right aspiration, but not enough great examples yet.

</comment><comment><USER20> I work in Enterprise Software. What you said has relevance in some companies, and is completely different in others. Really hard to make broad generalizations like that.

Mobile Apps are now a huge part of Enterprise Software. Adoption rates are high in the younger people, and lower as the age climbs.

The average age of the people in the vertical (Retail vs. Oil and Gas) have much more to do with the adoption rates than Enterprise Software vs. startups.

There's a lot more I could speak to, but I don't agree with so much of your premise that it's hard to figure out where to focus.

Even the questions aren't clear. Should we focus on ERP/CRM systems as the basis of the question, or across the whole enterprise? They are very different questions with different answers, and adoption rates.

</comment><comment><USER21> Good enough is the enemy of perfect.

One of my duties is managing my company's backup systems. We use NetBackup, and despite it having a pretty old codebase underneath, it works fairly well. However, its interface is right out of 1998. Usability features you would expect in a modern program are just missing.

Where it shines is in its ability to script/automate a lot of tasks. Users who only use the GUI are surprised to see that their list of annoyances aren't really valid; NetBackup just doesn't put as much emphasis on shiny.

<comment><USER5> Perfect is the enemy of productive.</comment></comment>


Verizon Digital Operates 20k Servers - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@verizondigital/using-stackstorm-to-automate-support-for-20-000-servers-4b47ae3a4e98 <comment><USER2> Very interesting use case here. Would love to get more technical details on the scale-out process. The author mentioned two pieces:

\- Turning down the data retention period in the database. Wonder how long data is kept?

\- Scaling out with additional worker nodes. Curious what st2 processes got scaled out? st2actionrunner, st2rulesengine, st2api?

Any other tips/tricks?</comment>


Ask HN: Review my jQuery Plugin (jQSlickWrap) - <AUTHOR> http://jwf.us/projects/jQSlickWrap Over the course of the past week I designed and wrote a plugin for jQuery which provides a client-side implementation of the "Sandbag" approach to getting text/content to wrap around the actual contents of a floated image (as opposed to the typical bounding box you are usually stuck with). <comment><USER2> Quite like the idea, and the execution seems simple enough. What I would add to your site tho, are examples of the actual examples :). Now your examples are just code, while it would be nice to see them. Either next to the code, or with tabs, or... You get the idea. Kind of how the jQuery site does it.

</comment><comment><USER3> a great idea Jason!

It is great for dynamic images, but I would think 99% of use cases is for static image. I would appreciate feature which does the magic and enables me to render static piece of HTML+CSS for direct replacement.

This way I would be able to bake static version during development and publish it without dependency on canvas or other tricky methods.

<comment><USER4> Wouldn't this "pre-calculated" version work only for a certain combination of text size, line-height, element widths, and zoom settings?

A pre-calculated version is not much different (conceptually) from just creating a static image containing the image and the text.

<comment><USER5> Haven't read all the technical details, but if the idea is to "sandbag" the image, text of all sizes and fonts should be able to flow around it properly? All it does is to create shape out of divs that is a closer match to the visible pixels than a rectangle.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I think what's really cool about this is that it looks like a really helpful tool for breaking the boxy, straight-line feel of nested elements and display:block that is normally the natural state of web page design. Props.

</comment><comment><USER7> This looks great, will be using it. If I run into anything I'll let you know. Am I safe in assuming that if canvas is not supported it just does around-the- image wrapping?

<comment><AUTHOR> That's right, it checks for canvas before it tries to do anything. If you find any bugs or have requests, the google code page where you download it from has an issue tracker. Glad you like it!

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> nice, like the reflect plugin too (but it could use a spacing option for "hovering" images above the reflection)

<comment><AUTHOR> Good idea, thanks!</comment></comment>


Incorruptibly Evil Politicians - <AUTHOR> http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2012/09/incorruptibly_e.html <comment><USER2> > Sincerity is so overrated. If only these self-righteous monsters had been > corrupt hypocrites, millions of their victims could have bargained and > bribed their way out of hell.

Love this.</comment>


European Parliament votes for Article 13 - <AUTHOR> http://www.musicweek.com/publishing/read/breaking-european-parliament-votes-for-article-13/073806 <comment><AUTHOR> UKIP and the Green Party joined forces to prevent Article 13 from getting rammed through without a public discussion. It was a good first step, but here we are, 2 months hence, and it was passed with virtually no amendments to the original text.

This is an abhorrent decision by people who have no idea how the internet works. Markus Meechum (aka Count Dankula) was at the hearings, and reported that MEPs voting on the issue could not, or refused to, explain why they supported the bill. You can see him discussing the result in the immediate aftermath here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISyiTcA6RIw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISyiTcA6RIw)

If you want a quick example of why this is bad take a look at fair use and YouTube. Article 13 would make YouTube liable for copyrighted content on its service.

Much of YouTube content is (perfectly legal) remixes, responses, or criticisms of other YouTube content that embeds part of the referenced video in their own video. There is more content uploaded to YouTube than can possibly all be manually reviewed. Aggressive automated content filtering to comply with Article 13 would mean that these videos would straight get filtered out.

</comment><comment><USER2> I'm European but as many don't have a clear idea of how this will work.

At my understanding, there will be discussions about the amendments and another vote, like the one we had two months ago. Is it right? There is still time to act, right?

Also, is there a place to see who voted what? Elections are close and those choices could impact the vote of many. I knew Votewatch but I don't know if it still doing it, saw some excel file going around last time and wondering if they are being updated, to see who changed ideas.

</comment><comment><USER3> What is this a dupe of?

<comment><USER2> [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17967366](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17967366) this I think</comment></comment>


A Working-Class Hero, Part 1 - <AUTHOR> http://www.filfre.net/2016/11/a-working-class-hero-part-1/ <comment><USER2> I've come to look forward to these articles a great deal each week.

For those of you who haven't been to Jimmy's site before, definitely check out the Hall of Fame and Table of Contents sections -- he's written nearly 5 years worth of nearly weekly long-form articles on computer and video game history, often with links to actual emulators to try out old software, and flush with references to source material.

Really an amazing resource.

(and edit: I have no connection to him or to the site)

<comment><USER3> Yeah, his site really is one of the little gems of the Internet. So much good stuff there.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> > "A war that absolutely no one saw coming"

This bit is oddly wrong in an otherwise mostly sound piece.

Even if you only look at the popular fiction being written around 1910, you can know it. Especially in naval matters - the English were very much troubled by the growing German naval power. There was a strong notion that it would come to blows sometime soon, for one reason or another.

<comment><USER5> The popular fiction of current time has US fighting with China/Russia, but we don't think there is a chance of WW3</comment></comment>


Weather in your terminal, with ANSI colors and Unicode symbols - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/fcambus/ansiweather <comment><USER2> Another one in the same vein, albeit implemented and presented quite differently: [http://wttr.in/paris](http://wttr.in/paris)

(Posted most recently last week, [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11494799](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11494799) )

</comment><comment><USER3> From the description, I was picturing an ASCII rendering of radar images for some reason. Imagine my disappointment when it was just another status bar.

Now I want to make that ASCII radar thingy.

</comment><comment><USER4> It is available in Debian unstable.

      apt install ansiweather

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you! Wasn't aware of that.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Yet another terminal weather app (Go):

[https://github.com/jfrazelle/weather](https://github.com/jfrazelle/weather)</comment>


Sleep and Mortality: A Population-Based 22-Year Follow-Up Study - <AUTHOR> https://fermatslibrary.com/s/sleep-and-mortality-a-population-based-22-year-follow-up-study <comment><USER2> I tend to jump to the "Conclusions" section of the document first, and this is what it says:

"Our results show complicated associations between sleep and mortality, with increased risk in short and long sleep."

So it seems nothing is really proved or discovered. Does anyone else have a different read on this study?</comment>


Ask HN: Did you have second thoughts about Go from a business perspective? - <AUTHOR>

For a project I am working on, I have found Go (golang) to be an ideal match for my requirements from a technical perspective.
However, up until now I have been very conservative in my tool choices. I typically chose Python, Java or C. Long-term vision, stability and support are important to me.
I know that Go has found an active community and several well-funded companies are betting on it. What I cannot estimate is how well things would work out for Go, if Google withdrew its love.
I assume none of you has a magic crystal ball, but did you have similar thoughts when choosing Go? How did you rationalise your choice?
Thanks for your thoughts <comment><USER2> What are you afraid of? Go is compiled. You have the compiler. You have the libraries. You have your code. You have perpetual licenses to run these things, and even to fork them. Construct yourself a solid build chain, the kind that works even when you unplug it from the network. Bundle it inside a virtual machine, and it'll probably still be runnable in two decades.

The dependencies that you need to avoid are _runtime_ dependencies, the kind that can disappear overnight. Does my deployment depend on Rubygems or NPM being up? Did I accidentally build in a hard requirement for Google App Engine? Did I use a licensed piece of software whose license could be withdrawn overnight? Is there only one person who can even read my fancy-pants source code, and might that person suddenly decide to become a guru and retire to a distant mountaintop with no cellular access?

But there's no sense in fretting about what might happen on a five-to-ten-year timeframe. Face it: In ten years, the code you write today will look old. Using Java won't save you. The fact that Android is based on Java doesn't mean that ten-year-old Java apps support Android in any meaningful sense. Ten-year- old Objective C code is stale: It doesn't support iOS, it doesn't use new features of Mac OS. How do you even know which Python will be most popular in production in five years, Python 2 or Python 3?

Your code will evolve over the next _N_ years, and if Go spontaneously implodes -- a very unlikely event at this point -- you'll do what the Docker folks are going to do: Keep using it for months or years while you port it to whatever comes next.

<comment><USER3> Counterexample: C code from the late 1980s is routinely useful. Ex: I still use the timer code from MIT Athena.

I'm not saying that makes C a reasonable choice. C is durable in the same sense that period costume films tend to age well.

<comment><USER2> You may notice that I carefully elided C to Objective C when selecting examples of things that change. :)

I'm also not sure this is a counterexample. It's just the opposite perspective. From the perspective of a parent, a three-year-old becomes a thirteen-year-old with terrifying speed. A cell biologist would note that both kids are built from the same parts, many of which are also shared with killer whales and the front lawn.

My examples are all easy to flip in this way. The most remarkable feature of iOS is that it is directly descended from the twenty-five-year-old Next system, to the point that it carries all those cute little "ns"es around.

Change is constant, but provided one escapes the traps of lock-in (oops, Adobe Flash, dang!) and resists the whims of fashion, the change can happen slowly and piecemeal. If a new Golang library is important enough, it can always be ported to C later for the benefit of one's great-grandchildren.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> I like Golang and have used it on two commercial projects.

I've also gotten to work with tens of companies that use Golang for things internally (we consult for software security).

My advice is: Golang is great, but use it like most established companies do: for smaller and/or specialized backend components.

What I might _not_ recommend is doing a soup-to-nuts SAAS application entirely in Golang. We use Rails as our frontend for Microcorruption.com, and Golang to do the heavy lifting of emulating thousands of microcontrollers.

Sticking with something convention for your front-end solves a couple problems:

* Golang's front-end capabilities aren't as mature as Ruby's and Python's. You can find yourself fighting the libraries a bit. In particular: you'll end up writing a lot of boilerplate database code.

* There is a much broader base of talent for building Rails and Python than there is for Golang. And: most teams have people that specialize on front-end and (a usually smaller) group of people that do the hard-core backend stuff.

* Backend components are usually architecturally hidden, which should give you some peace of mind about ever needing to replace those Golang components --- you might never need to do it if you draw the right boxes and arrows, and if you do, at least you'll be replacing a well-defined component.

</comment><comment><USER4> I know of several startups in NYC using Go to great effect; bitly's nsq comes to mind: [https://github.com/bitly/nsq](https://github.com/bitly/nsq)

The NY Times open sourced a very cool tool "streamtools" that was built in Go: [https://source.opennews.org/en-US/articles/introducing- strea...](https://source.opennews.org/en-US/articles/introducing-streamtools/)

Your question also reminds me of an interesting talk I saw at RICON: [https://speakerdeck.com/al3x/nobody-ever-got-fired-for- picki...](https://speakerdeck.com/al3x/nobody-ever-got-fired-for-picking-java)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the link to the speaker deck slides. For anyone else interested, here is the link to the video recording: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zJIqdw19N8](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zJIqdw19N8)

Speaking of companies besides Google using Go: While I am aware that several companies use Go I am not sure if, worse-come-to-worst, one or several of them would invest in it if Google drops it. I would assume their thought process going something like: Should we invest to keep the language going or should we just let our Go apps run for now and rebuild them in something else? Or even worse, several dialects start popping up.

I hope I do not sound too negative, quite on the contrary I really like Go and most probably will go with it for a medium-sized project. It's just that I am still having an inner dialogue between the geek in me and channeling a very conservative pointy-haired boss :)

</comment></comment><comment> bulte-rs Started out with a small project; even a rewrite in a different language would not matter that much (a 40 hrs writeoff or something).

As long as it increases developer happiness; I'm game with whatever language. :D

</comment><comment><USER5> I don't see how any business except Google could rationalize using it. Maybe if a company hopes to someday be acquired by Google they might use it to impress some Google execs. Even if it could rapidly evolve, which it probably wont being an ivory tower project, Google won't put the same resources behind it that Microsoft did with visual studio, .net, and c#. It will become what Objective c is to developers, an annoying language they occasionally have to deal with.

<comment><USER3> No "Google exec" cares whether you build your service in Golang or Python.

<comment><USER5> I'm positive many would be swayed a tiny bit by the phrase "the company is very google-centric, they even use Go." Consider the career exec that came from another industry or segment who has never done anything technical.

<comment><USER3> I'm positive in the exact opposite direction, so we're at an impasse.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> What are you gonna use it for? Go seems to have a strong foothold in cloud- related projects (i.e. Docker, Flynn, many parts of CoreOS). So if you're in the same niche it's probably an okay choice even if only for community reasons. But if you're doing something app-level you're probably taking a big risk.

<comment><AUTHOR> A networking server with a web app to manage it. Performance is relevant but not critical enough to warrant C or C++. While I like Python I would prefer a static type system for this project. So it is basically Java vs Go.

I have no quarrel with Java but Go's lightweight concurrency and design appeal to the minimalist in me.

Maybe I am just overanxious. What I will do now is to implement separate parts of my technical architecture in Go while taking care that I can cut any of them out, if required.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Here's how I did it and it'll sound like a geico commerical:

I saved about $1000 a month switching from Ruby to Go by refactoring a backend system. I was able to clearly demonstrate the reduction in resources and the switch was seamless.

Hard to argue against that.</comment>


Do you think Bitcoin will recover? - <AUTHOR> 50% off the highs now<p>I bought at 11.000 :( <comment><USER2> I think not. It made sense as a unit of exchange. Stripe dropping it this week is telling: "Bitcoin has evolved to become better-suited to being an asset than being a means of exchange."

What type of "asset" is Bitcoin? Does its value just reflect the cost of the electricity that went into creating the coins? If so, then we'd have a very different price dynamic. I'm calling it an irrational bubble.

</comment><comment><USER3> I don't think it will.

* Bitcoin Cash and others have grabbed its market share through impersonation * Other coins have faster transactions with lower fees * Other algorithms have opaque blockchain for better anonymity.

Bitcoin was first through the door. They got shot.

</comment><comment><USER4> I think so, there is a lot of negative sentiment driving the price down at the moment I believe. But after tax season and some governments around the world making decisions on exchanges and taxes I think we will see good growth upward again.

<comment><USER5> Governments can sway the immediate price by saying "We're outlawing bitcoin!" Good luck with that, btw. But they have little effect on the technology. It's supposed to be subversive, and every time Visa or Chase or governments or banks talk poorly about it, it means it's working as planned.

<comment><USER4> Couldn't agree more!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> You learned a valuable lesson in investing. Consider yourself wealthy in experience.

<comment><USER5> What about people who invested in real estate in 2008 via banks, lax regulations, and trickery? What was the lesson there?

<comment><USER6> If you don't know who the fool in the market is, it's you.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Recover, as in ever be above 11,000 again? Quite plausible, though I am far from certain.

Recover, as in go above 11,000 _and stay there_? It might... but I doubt it.</comment>


On Not Being Able to Read - <AUTHOR> https://longreads.com/2018/08/14/on-not-being-able-to-read/ <comment><USER2> > _In law school, they told me I wouldn't be able to read anymore. That the > pleasure of the text, like a lover in a non-law degree, would slowly grow > opaque to me._

This is strange — I never heard anything remotely like this in law school, and most lawyers I know do a good deal of outside reading. I wonder where the author heard this advice, and why she doesn't say who "they" is.

Am I the only one who never heard this cautionary advice in law school?

<comment><USER3> I never heard anything like this either, and in fact my own experience was opposite that of the author's: the _precision_ emphasized in law school simply adds an additional dimension to the enjoyment of prose (or, once in a great while, poetry).

The whole idea that "thinking like a lawyer" should mean you forget how to _enjoy_ reading and writing reminds me of Keats' claim that Newton destroyed the rainbow by explaining it. It's unfortunate that the author had such a bad experience with the law - but this is either strikingly bad pedagogy or simply a poor match with her specific personality, and shouldn't be taken as a reflection on the practice of law itself.

<comment> crooked-v I'm also reminded of tabletop gaming, where if done well the rules text affects the je ne sais quoi of the game without having to be so crass as to actually tell people how to play.

One example is the game Monsterhearts, where you play Buffy/Twilight/Teen Wolf/etc "teenage supernatural drama" types. The rules are carefully designed to make relationship drama and petty inter-group conflict a natural result of play, even if the players are levelheaded sorts who wouldn't act that way at all on their own.

<comment><USER4> Or Risk, which is apparently designed to make you hate your friends

<comment><USER5> We had a rule of never finishing a Monopoly game. We would end at 70% or so, so that people continue to talk to each other that night.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> People taking exception to the first sentence about not enjoying reading are missing the point I think. This article describes really well the way that, for me and a high percentage of my fellow law students, law school sucks the joy out of all the other parts of your life.

For me it was some combination of the subject matter's tediousness, endlessness and the pressure to perform, along with the idea that what you're working toward is a 40 year career doing that same thing. Not necessarily a correct or rational view but one that easily takes over in law school.

<comment><USER7> For me it was some combination of the subject matter's tediousness, endlessness and the pressure to perform, along with the idea that what you're working toward is a 40 year career doing that same thing.

Haha sounds like Tech.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> I actually still enjoy reading after six years of a Ph.D. in English, which I think is a more unlikely feat than three years in law school.

</comment><comment><USER9> The same problem presents itself when switching from prose to poetry: too much of the text seems to exist only for the sake of the form and, therefore, must be consciously filtered out in order to get to the "real content."

</comment><comment><USER10> From the book the article references, the Alchemy of Race and Rights, Harvard Press:

"Some time ago, Peter Gabel and I taught a contracts class together. (He was one of the first to bring critical theory to legal analysis· and so is considered a "founder" of Critical Legal Studies.) Both recent transplants from California to New York, each of us hunted for apartments in between preparing for class. Inevitably, I suppose, we got into a discussion of trust and distrust as factors in bargain relations. It turned out that Peter had handed over a $900 deposit in cash, with no lease, no exchange of keys, and no receipt, to strangers with whom he had no ties other than a few moments of pleasant conversation. He said he didn't need to sign a lease because it imposed too much formality. The handshake and the good vibes were for him indicators of trust more binding than a form contract. At the time I told Peter he was mad, but his faith paid off. His sublessors showed up at the appointed time, keys in hand, to welcome him in. There was absolutely nothing in my experience to prepare me for such a happy ending. (In fact I remain convinced that, even if I were of a mind to trust a lessor with this degree of informality, ·things would not have worked out so successfully for me: many Manhattan lessors would not have trusted a black person enough to let me in the door in the first place, paperwork, references, and credit check notwithstanding.) I, meanwhile, had friends who found me an apartment in a building they owned. In my rush to show good faith and trustworthiness, I signed a detailed, lengthily negotiated, finely printed lease firmly establishing me as the ideal arm's-length transactor. As Peter and I discussed our experiences, I was struck by the similarity of what each of us was seeking, yet with such polar approaches. We both wanted to establish enduring relationships with the people in whose houses we would be living; we both wanted to enhance trust of ourselves and to allow whatever closeness was possible. This similarity of desire, however, could not reconcile our very different relations to the tonalities of law. Peter, for example, appeared to be extremely self-conscious of his power potential (either real or imagistic) as white or male or lawyer authority figure. He therefore seemed to go to some lengths to overcome the wall that image might impose. The logical ways of establishing some measure of trust between strangers were an avoidance of power and a preference for informal processes generally. On the other hand, I was raised to be acutely conscious of the likelihood that no matter what degree of professional I am, people will greet and dismiss my black femaleness as unreliable, untrustworthy, hostile, angry, powerless, irrational, and probably destitute. 2 Futility and despair are very real parts of my response. So it helps me to clarify boundary; to show that I can speak the language of lease is my way of enhancing trust of me in my business affairs. As black, I have been given by this society a strong sense of myself as already too familiar, personal, subordinate to white people. I am still evolving from being treated as three-fifths of a human, a subpart of the white estate."

Interesting read, pdf on Google. [https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://...](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.dariaroithmayr.com/pdfs/assignments/Williams,%2520%2520The%2520Pain%2520of%2520Word%2520Bondage.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwi5krik7-_cAhWpq1QKHc6ZAwcQFjAAegQIBRAB&usg=AOvVaw1zYsuHMPWt- MVGRXgyyMD6)</comment>


Ask HN: Should HN implement a fact checker for its links and why/why not? - sahin-boydas <comment><AUTHOR> 1) It would have to be a human. Existing "AI" solutions aren't close to being as good as humans, at least when they're only fed articles without context.

Even humans aren't exactly infallible when fact-checking, and truth is a debated term. The training data for any AI would be "biased" to some people and not to others.

2) HN is already great at this. That's why I read comments first.

<comment><USER2> Agreed. When I see news, I open up the comments as a fact and quality checker.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Absolutely not.

First, because "fact checking" has become tainted and appropriated for the sake of political demagoguery. Any attempt to do so will be assumed to be an attempt at censorship or misinformation, and result in people from different camps arguing their "facts" against other "facts."

Second, because this is a forum which is supposed to cater to people with intellectual curiosity. That should mean people don't expect their hand to be held and be told what the truth is. It's bad enough this place tries to correlate karma with quality, the last thing we need is a score for truth as well.

Third, the purpose of Hacker News isn't, and shouldn't be, to curate facts. It should be possible to have a civil and intellectually thought provoking discussion about the flaws in a linked article, as well as the facts.

</comment><comment><USER4> There's no need. Most links aren't simple yes/no facts to be evaluated and the comments provide reasonable discussion. Hacker News doesn't tend to discuss hoaxes which would need checking either.

</comment><comment><USER5> NLP along with an awfully difficult problem that would've probably been solved somewhere else first? I don't think it's worth the effort. The community does a fine job moderating itself.</comment>


MagiXcan: Imagine computers 10X faster. 100X? More - <AUTHOR> http://www.indiegogo.com/magiXcan

<comment><AUTHOR> Hello, I am Arun Sagar, inventor of magiXcan. I would be happy to answer any questions you have here. I am also responding on indiegogo and our facebook fanpage: <http://facebook.com/arosmagic>.

<comment><USER2> Isn't Huffman the only serial stage in JPEG decode? IQ, IDCT, and colorspace conversion should be embarrassingly parallel. What fraction of time is spent in Huffman decoding?</comment></comment>


The first Chrome Extension to bring back Gmail's Old Compose - <AUTHOR> https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/old-style-compose/fnnjcgahiapokddlkccpabpaajolelie

<comment><USER2> "Item not found. This item may have been removed by its author."</comment>


Android sniffing using tcpdump - <AUTHOR> https://dornea.nu/blog/2014/01/24h-android-sniffing-using-tcpdump

<comment><USER2> Something isn't right here. 80MB of pcap data with 138k packets captured, but over 5 million connections to googleapis.com. That's 36 connections per packet. Also, if you add up the number of packets in the destination port table and divide that into 80MB, it works out to 4 bytes per packet. Which is a bit surprising considering IPv4 has a 20 byte header on every packet.

<comment><USER3> Exactly the same what i thought. This would lead to 216 constant packets per second over the 24h

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> It would be great to turn this into an app that tells you what is sending requests to whom.

And then turn that into a game, see who can get the lowest amount of data sent.

<comment><USER5> There are a lot of programs that already let you do that - look for a firewall and a network logger, there are plenty to choose from.

I would be in the running for the main prize then as I use a firewall with a whitelist policy. Everything is blocked (including the system) except the very few applications that I want to communicate. I would still lose to all the people who just disable the data connection.

<comment><USER4> I meant for a non-technical audience.

A game in which participation is to monitor your own data, and to actively play the game you increase your privacy.

A game that educates people as to what your apps are doing and what your phone is doing.

A game that to win (for some local definition of win) means to take control of your privacy.

People like yourself, myself, and most of the HN audience will know how to run firewalls, VPNs, hosts files, rooted phones, disable data, etc. But the layman does not, or is unlikely to do those things as they're scary.

They care, but they don't have a concept on how bad it is and what they can do to improve their lot.

<comment><USER5> I think we too often patronise average users. I think it's quite likely that they understand the situation but simply have a different opinion about the privacy/convenience trade-offs. Smacks a bit of "you'd agree with me if only you could understand the problem as well as I do" argument which doesn't account for people who have different values than us.

<comment><USER4> Now I feel bad as I was specifically thinking of my girlfriend and her academic peers who all have expressed that they would like to be more active in protecting their privacy but don't know where to begin. None of whom I'd patronise in any way. When talks over dinner strays onto the news of the last year it will inevitably end up with the question, "What can we do?".

Part of the answer to that is to take steps to protect your own privacy, encrypt, reduce what you share with third parties, and operate a reasonably sane set of defaults with regards to how one protects their data.

And I, who know how to take some steps, cannot realistically help, give guidance and support to them all. And they all have slightly different and nuanced perceptions of what their priority is, what they're seeking to achieve. Everyone has their own reasons.

I personally am at the point in which I don't wish to become the 2010's equivalent of the guy who can give computer support to Windows users, and yet here are smart people wanting a simple way to explore their options and choose what to act on.

I didn't mean game as in "cutesy candy stuff". Just a score would do, simple game theory... do some action, increase your score.

A bit like the LastPass Security Check... which tests how many sites share the same password, how many have weak passwords, etc.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> It's _way_ more fun if you put a SSL intercept in place too. I found mitmproxy was probably the easiest to configure, for android.

You can turn up some seriously interesting (scary) things.

</comment><comment><USER7> I'd not heard of the Debian on Android kit [1] before. Sounds interesting! I had heard of using tcpdump to monitor traffic on Android though, and have used this in the past to help debug some network problems we were having with our app. We used a natively compiled version of tcpdump [2]. We still needed to root our phones though.

[1] [http://sven-ola.dyndns.org/repo/debian-kit-en.html](http://sven- ola.dyndns.org/repo/debian-kit-en.html)

[2] [http://gadgetcat.wordpress.com/2011/09/11/tcpdump-on- android...](http://gadgetcat.wordpress.com/2011/09/11/tcpdump-on-android/)

<comment><USER8> tcpdump is pretty easy to crosscompile to Android with a standalone toolchain.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Interesting results, I am quite shocked that (from a rough general look) all the applications only sent your location, android version, language and user- agent, I was expecting more! Good Job sir :)

<comment><USER10> I don't think you can be sure of that, anything could have been sent over the SSL connections.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Great analysis. Interesting 10 times as many requests against 443 than 80. I wouldn't expect that. (of course it doesn't mean it's all HTTPS but still)

<comment><USER12> Unfortunately the author didn't use mitmproxy (or sslstrip).

<comment><USER13> One would hope sslstrip would not work against an app!

<comment><USER14> You'd be surprised how much code out there "uses SSL" but to get it to "just work", it outright ignores things like DN checking, certificate expiry, even chain verification. It's on the faulty premise that encryption is the only thing that's important.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> This i found interesting: [http://intelcrawler.com/](http://intelcrawler.com/)

"Hacktivism, Illicit Drug trade, Cyber Attacks, Human Trafficking, Money Laundering, and other areas - could have a set of predictive probabilities by analyzing huge volumes of data in virtual space and narrowing the common denominator IPs and other cyber prints."</comment>


Show HN: NewsletterStash – Hand-Curated Directory of the Best Newsletters - <AUTHOR> http://www.newsletterstash.com/

<comment><AUTHOR> Hi, I'm the maker of NewsletterStash, a hand-curated directory of the best newsletters where you can browse by categories, frequencies and types. Plus you can check the samples and archives in one place.

If you have any questions/suggestions please let me know!</comment>


Snowden applies for Russian asylum, Putin says stop harming U.S. - <AUTHOR> http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/01/us-usa-security-snowden-putin-idUSBRE9600QP20130701

<comment><AUTHOR> Putin recognizes a kindred organization in the NSA.</comment>


Ask HN: US-internships as experience for professionals from overseas? - <AUTHOR> Hello HN, some children dream of being an astronaut or working as a firefighter.
When I was in my early teens, I wanted to become a lawyer in the USA. I have to admit that my inspiration was heavily influenced by the film adaption of John Grisham's novels.
However, things turned out slightly different. I was interested in technology very early and moved on that path. I never left my home town really, because I felt I've had insufficient funds, felt responsibility for my sick mother, and other personal stuff, so anything I did, dragged me back to my home town.
Now I have a life I cannot complain about, really. I've a pretty good job, I'm satisfied with my salary, I have plans to continue my career path.
However, the idea of being in the US is still in my head and pops up from time to time very overwhelmingly.
I am now 31 years old, so I thought, just before starting with family planning with my girlfriend, I'd like to experience some "work and travel" in the US. However, I don't want to do farming etc. I was more thinking about "internships for professionals".
Is there an opportunity to work for a US tech company (startup or big company does not matter), which pays my bills and gives me a few month of experience in the US?
Why? Because I sometimes feel a big regret if I not try. My project should be open-ended. So, if I get a job offer afterwards, I might consider moving to the US; if not, I've made a few months of worthy experience.
Is there such a tech-intern program for professionals? Or what could be a way I can go?
I'm EU citizen, if that matters.
Thanks, HN!
S. <comment><USER2> Hi S,

Tell us a little more about yourself. Do you have any unique abilities (Like Data scientist) that would make sense for you to get a work permit?

Why are you looking for Internship at 31? Are you still in university? Why not just become an entry level programmer?

Best of luck!

Thanks!

<comment><AUTHOR> I have programming skills in PHP, Python, a bit JS and I think I can adapt to any environment. Also, I have skills in Scrum, including training emoployees.

Why not just become an entry level programmer? I just don't want to carry the responsibility of commitment for a full job. I just want to gain experience in the US, but I'm open minded. I would take a job offer after a kind of an internship, but I don't want to give that commitment before having made that kind of experience.

I graduated from university with a B.Sc. in 2011.

<comment><USER2> Sorry friend. That really doesn't seem likely.

If you somehow talked a company into paying for you to get a work permit for an internship, it would be challenging to get the government to approve it.

You would be better off working remotely and traveling through the USA at your own speed.</comment></comment></comment>


Permanently Beating My Insomnia - <AUTHOR> https://www.sleepedy.com/articles/insomniac-journey/ <comment><USER2> This is fascinating. I've never even heard of this and I've struggled with insomnia for decades.

Best answer I've found it turning on a movie I've seen a million times on low volume. It turns off my brain enough that I can sleep but it doesn't interest me enough to keep me awake.

<comment><USER3> There are other tips in the link below if you are interested.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16671944](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16671944)

The military technique, to my surprise, worked. Not sure if it is effective for insomnia, but it helps you fall asleep in a minute or two rather than 1 or 2 hours.</comment></comment>


A Killer Linux GUI for Neovim: NeovimGtk - <AUTHOR> http://www.wezm.net/technical/2017/12/a-killer-linux-gui-for-neovim-neovimgtk/ <comment><USER2> I just try it. Works nice, also, I try with Fira Code and the ligatures are a really nice improvement!</comment>


Meet Chrome, Google's Windows Killer  - <AUTHOR> http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/01/meet-chrome-googles-windows-killer/ <comment><USER2> " ... Chrome is nothing less than a full on desktop operating system that will compete head on with Windows."

Say what? A full on desktop operating system?

Please.

<comment><USER3> I don't think pedantic comments really add much to the discussion.

The audience here understands what he means, though the writing may not be clear. Chrome could eventually be positioned as a layer between applications and the OS, with an added kick of internet-integrated goodness.

Let's ignore the mistakes as long as they don't impede our ability to understand, and instead let's focus on meaningful discussion.

<comment><USER2> "Let's ignore the mistakes as long as they don't impede our ability to understand, and instead let's focus on meaningful discussion."

But the claim about being an OS _did_ impede my understanding. I had to tease out the details from the vacuous hype to get at what the author knew, understood, and had to say on the matter. The claim was not simply a mistake; it was fawning nonsense that soured the article.

BTW, I''m unsure if lecturing people on the fine points of discussion is pedantry itself, or just something equally self-serving. But irony, if present, is always welcome.

<comment><USER3> That made me chuckle at myself a bit. I think you might be right about my comment on pedantry being pedantic. Point taken, and thanks for bringing that to my attention.

I think that even though Arlington gets caught up a bit in what he perceives as the grand struggles between the giants, he understands a large portion of what he writes. He may not quite grasp the difference between platform and OS, but he senses some of the consequences a shift towards a google-centric computing universe would have.

That said, I'm growing a bit weary of every techcrunch article being posted on hn. I used to read it avidly when I first began working on my startup, and it provided a great deal of motivation. But looking at it now, quite a bit of it seems to be drama or hyperbole about one topic or another. Much more thought- provoking content on hn.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=292159>

<comment><USER5> Thanks. This needed to be said. Arrington doesn't get it. Like Microsoft, Windows is already dead. Chrome is Google's attempt to keep the platform of tomorrow (AIR / Silverlight / JavaFX / Chrome?) running on open standards. Google doesn't care a whit about yesterday's platform (Windows).

<comment><USER6> Anyone who thinks MS/Windows is dead is the fool here.

What is the replacement for Windows exactly that is 'killing' MS? And you fail immediately if you say 'the browser'.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> How can it possibly be a Windows killer if it only runs on Windows?

<comment><USER8> It's supposed to commoditize Windows (or any other OS), making it irrelevant. The idea is that the user only ever sees the UI of the Browser, and forgets what Windows even looks like, so that you can swap it against any other OS without them even noticing. It's exactly what Netscape Navigator was supposed to become, a possibility which sparked Bill Gates' desire to "cut off their air supply". Lots of brawling ensued.

<comment><USER8> Correction: The "cut off their air supply" quote was attributed to MS executive Paul Maritz, not to Bill Gates, by Steve McGeady from Intel. Maritz later denied having said it <<http://www.wpi.edu/News/TechNews/990126/microsoft.html> ></comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: How do I go about delivering my first sales pitch/demo? - <AUTHOR>

I have been working on this project, it is sort of CRM but targeted towards a particular vertical say, "not for profits". Incidentally, I came to an organization, they allowed me a free space to work.
They asked me about what I was into, and then, I told them the stuff, they said they were going to look for SugarCRM.
I am mostly a developer, and have seldom done a sales pitch. After talking in brief for 2-3 minutes, I asked them are they willing to pay for it? They said, they would, if they find it good.
As of now, my product is in MVP stage. So the question is -
1. What are the basics that I should keep right in my first sales pitch?
2. How much should I charge them? What should be the basic pricing plan, that I should talk of?
3. What should I keep in mind, to convert the first sales of my life?
4. Any other advice, is always welcome :)
Thanks everyone! <comment><USER2> Give your sales pitch to anyone and everyone in your life you have easy access to. They may not be the most critical but it will get you more comfortable and will improve your flow. You'll find that by the 3rd time through you phrase things slightly more clearly and are less likely to ramble. I would not go to these guys and be making your pitch for the absolute first time. Even if you do great it could be better with just a little practice.

1\. Basics: go over the benefits for them. Benefits... not features. They'll ask about features they need after you're done so focus on what your software can do for them, how it will help their business, etc.

2\. No one is going to be able to answer this without a hell of a lot more details on your product. Best bet is to look into competitors and price around there. These are your first customers and this price isn't permanent (maybe for them but you can raise the price on anyone after) so don't worry about it too much.

3\. The biggest thing is actually selling yourself. Your software is not perfect right now. It's not going to have all the features they want. So, with that in mind, you need to be confident enough about both your product and your personal ability to improve it to sell these guys on the FACT that you're going to solve their problems. Period.

4\. a. I'd like to emphasize again that you should give this presentation as many times as you possibly can to people who "don't matter" before doing this first time pitch. b. Relax. It's difficult to ignore how awesome it would be if you landed these guys but just keep it in the back of your head that you'll still be in a great place even if they pass. Managing your expectations this way will go a long way to help you keeping even keel, both in general and specifically in the presentation itself.

I'm sure plenty of people here can give you better input with more detail but if you'd like feel free to email me (info in profile) with more questions and/or more info on your product.

Good luck!

<comment><USER3> All solid advice.

I'd like to add to it with some absolute basics:

1\. Avoid sounding scripted at all costs. I'm sure you'd be more comfortable practicing a certain pitch but a rehearsed script is obvious to everyone in the room. Sounding natural, confident and passionate is absolutely critical.

2\. Stay honest. No product or service is perfect. Don't make excuses if someone attempts to pick holes in your product. Acknowledge it, thank them for the feedback and move on.

3\. Be persistent. The hardest part of selling is picking yourself up and doing better the next time after being rejected over and over again.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Realize that your first presentations will be shit. You will probably not close a sale. Dont get discouraged. Its part of the process. Do develop your pitch in a structured manner so you can later on a/b test it. Think as the pitch as a script to a short movie.</comment>


JetBlue is using facial recognition instead of boarding passes - <AUTHOR> https://www.zdnet.com/article/facial-recognition-creeps-up-on-a-jetblue-passenger-and-she-hates-it/ <comment><USER2> It's becoming the standard in the US. Two weeks ago I flew from LAX to Paris and they (Air France) were using the same system for boarding passengers.

</comment><comment> crypto-jeronimo Dupe of [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19725610](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19725610).</comment>


Interview with Mike Matas (formerly with Delicious Monster and Apple) - <AUTHOR> http://blog.cocoia.com/2010/interview-mike-matas/

<comment><USER2> Man...that guy is amazing. That was really interesting to realize that he was the designer behind some major Apple UI features.</comment>


Important Questions Startup Co-Founders Should Ask Each Other - <AUTHOR> http://onstartups.com/home/tabid/3339/bid/99/Important-Questions-Startup-Co-Founders-Should-Ask-Each-Other.aspx <comment><USER2> OnStartups is a great startup blog, expect a lot more of their articles to be posted here.</comment>


Split large CSV, TXT, ISO into smaller chunks free online tool - <AUTHOR> https://filesplit.net <comment><USER2> Doing this offline is probably easier and faster.

        dd if=/dev/urandom of=./test.img bs=1M count=400 2>/dev/null;md5sum ./test.img;split -n4 ./test.img _split. ;ls -alh test* _split*;rm -f ./test.img;cat _split.* > ./test_joined.img;md5sum ./test_joined.img

        30e3089819b9af5985b90014cf68360b  ./test.img
        100M Mar  4 15:49 _split.aa
        100M Mar  4 15:49 _split.ab
        100M Mar  4 15:49 _split.ac
        100M Mar  4 15:49 _split.ad
        400M Mar  4 15:49 test.img
        30e3089819b9af5985b90014cf68360b  ./test_joined.img

Explanation:

        dd        : create a file
        md5sum    : get checksum of the file
        split -n4 : split file into 4 chunks
        ls        : view what we created
        rm        : remove the original input file
        cat       : join the files back together
        md5sum    : verify the joined file matches the original

The above commands are already on Mac and Linux. You can get these for windows by installing Cygwin or the Linux Subsystem.

<comment><AUTHOR> I very much agree and this is what I would do/did do. But while working I noticed my non-technical colleagues had trouble uploading or opening large CSV files mostly. So I said I will do this tool for that type of an audience.</comment></comment>


Java 8 is here. Functional programming according to Oracle ... - <AUTHOR> http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk8-downloads-2133151.html

<comment><USER2> And on this day, Scala lost it's raison d'etre :P</comment>


After flying in space twice, Microsoft billionaire follows his passion - <AUTHOR> https://www.geekwire.com/2020/flying-space-twice-microsoft-billionaire-charles-simonyi-follows-passion-whiteboards/ <comment><USER2> > The 71-year-old Microsoft veteran confessed his love of whiteboards on > Wednesday evening during a Hacker News Seattle Meetup.

Sounds like a great meetup!</comment>


9 great mechanical keyboards for coders - <AUTHOR> https://insights.hpe.com/articles/9-great-mechanical-keyboards-for-coders-1707.html <comment><USER2> One thing I rarely see discussed in any detail in mechanical keyboard roundups is a noise comparison. For a tool for "coders", many mechanical keyboards can be pretty disruptive to your coworkers if you're using it in a workspace without a closed door.

My favorite switches for typing (and thus, coding) are MX blues. Unfortunately these are also the loudest, with a distinct click at each key activation. You can purchase small rubber rings that act as dampeners on each key, but this also changes the feel of the keyboard.

I'd pay well for a solution that lets me have both the tactile experience I enjoy _and_ the sound level I need to use a mechanical keyboard at work. Until then it's bog-standard rubber domes for me.

<comment><USER3> Cherry MX come in a spectrum on both tactile and auditory (clicky) feedback.

MX Blues are tactile and clicky.

If you want tactile, but not clicky, then you would want an MX Brown. You can feel when the actuation happens, and as long as you don't bottom out the keys, they are silent. Many DasKeyboard models come with a choice of Blue/Brown, but other manufacturers have them as well.

Here is a site that has an explanation of the various colors:

[http://www.keyboardco.com/blog/index.php/2012/12/an- introduc...](http://www.keyboardco.com/blog/index.php/2012/12/an-introduction- to-cherry-mx-mechanical-switches/)

<comment><USER4> Brown + dampening rings should be plenty for an office environment

Edit: another thing that helps is having the keyboard on a oversized mousepad, to dampen the vibrations from keyboard -> desk

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> No Das Keyboard?

How can I be leet without a blank keyboard[1].

(I've owned two standard(clicky, and silent) of them over 3 jobs and both are still going strong)

[1] - [http://www.daskeyboard.com/daskeyboard-4-ultimate/](http://www.daskeyboard.com/daskeyboard-4-ultimate/)

<comment><USER6> I have a Das Ultimate - look really cool, but the switches started failing at random recently. I then found out they don't use Cherry switches, but another unproven brand. Either I'm just unlucky or they need better switches.

I picked up a CODE keyboard with Cherry MX Greens that works great. The greens are a little harder to type than I expected, but I'm used to them now and quite happy with them.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> By far my favorite "mechanical" keyboard is the Topre Realforce 104u[0]. When I initially purchased it, I thought it was the biggest waste of money. Over the span of about a month, maybe I broke it in or maybe I just got used to it? But it essentially felt like I was typing on buttery smooth pillows. It's not sensitive until you actually try to type on it. And it just feels so good. Like no other keyboard I've ever had.

I would honestly recommend it over every other mechanical keyboard I've had (blues, reds, clears, browns, the hi-profile version of the topre).

[0] [https://www.amazon.com/Realforce-Keyboard-English-Layout- Xf0...](https://www.amazon.com/Realforce-Keyboard-English-Layout- Xf01t0/dp/B00B5SEHN2/)

</comment><comment><USER8> The elephant in the room for most programmers in the world is the non-us layout making common PL punctuation like /{}[]* etc convoluted faraway unergonomic combos. The world needs an extended layout with extra keys for those, approximately in the US positions.

Experience shows that switching between layouts is not appealing for most.

</comment><comment><USER9> Topre switches are the best ever, and they get no love in the fervent mechanical keyboard community. It's just "cherry cherry cherry" ad nauseum with the occasional model-m imitator like the ones in this article.

Do yourself a favor and get a Realforce keyboard. It's typing nirvana.

<comment><USER10> >Topre switches are the best ever

Do you know of a decently built and split design keyboard that uses them? A quick googling didn't show anything. I'd be willing to give it a shot but I'm not going back to a one piece keyboard for anything.

<comment><USER11> Offtopic(ish), but do you mean like the MS ergonomic keyboard split-but-one- piece, or actually two separate pieces? If the latter, what do you like about them?

<comment><USER10> >do you mean like the MS ergonomic keyboard split-but-one-piece, or actually two separate pieces?

The MS ergo keyboard isn't wide enough for me but I'm not against a one-piece design. I just recently switched to a Kinesis Advantage2 (split-but-one-piece) at home but I have a straight two-piece keyboard at work. The width I keep the two-piece at is a bit wider than the Advantage but it's not enough to bother me.

>If the latter, what do you like about them?

The main issue for me is that I'm 6'6" and have broad shoulders. Normal keyboard layouts cause me to roll my shoulders dramatically so I can get my hands on the home keys. This caused some shoulder pain issues in the past when I had code-heavy weeks. Split configuration seems to have fixed that completely.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I'm building one semi-based in the MS Ergo.

This is my layout:

[http://www.keyboard-layout- editor.com/#/gists/75c4808455c07a...](http://www.keyboard-layout- editor.com/#/gists/75c4808455c07affbad9b1911c6fe6a5)

Note how it have some punctuation for coding more easily reachable.

I'm trying to figure out how bend it to match the MS Ergo.

I request a custom keycap set from [http://www.wasdkeyboards.com/index.php/products/keycap- set/1...](http://www.wasdkeyboards.com/index.php/products/keycap-set/104-key- cherry-mx-keycap-set.html) with custom icons, colors (for the limited set available, but enough) and text.

Hopefully I can start the build soon. Waiting for the plate now...

</comment><comment><USER13> A challenge I had in choosing a mechanical keyboard was the availability of 105-key (ISO) layouts in North America, as I prefer the Canadian Multilingual layout. Apparently, such keyboards are mostly sold through European resellers, even when they're actually made in the US (looking at you, DAS).

In the end, I went with a Unicomp, and I'm very happy with it.

</comment><comment><USER14> The world needs more ergonomic and mechanical keyboards. My fingers love Mechanical but fingers and wrists love ergonomic. Kinesis is quite steep in price (500 Loonies).

Anyone got any favourites?

</comment><comment><USER15> I still Love my Avant Stellar, but since they're long out of production, this is an excellent intro to what's available today and not hidden away on eBay.

</comment><comment><USER16> I used to use a mechanical keyboard (blue switch), but I found it too stiff and it hurt my wrists. I switched back to Logitech K120 and couldn't be happier.</comment>


U.N. Scientists Think They Can Halt Global Warming for $300B. Here's How - <AUTHOR> https://time.com/5709100/halt-climate-change-300-billion/ <comment><USER2> We're willing to try anything. Anything but actually reduce CO2 emissions.

Because growth is untouchable.

And we can't decouple GDP and energy growth.

Our great filter if we're unlucky with climate sensitivity and feedback loops.

The sad thing is, we're not even trying.

<comment><USER3> > _And we can 't decouple GDP and energy growth._

US total energy consumption has been basically plateaued since around 2000 [0]. Meanwhile, GDP is up about 100% in the same time.

HBR had a recent podcast covering the idea of dematerialization that is worth a listen [1]. (They also do transcripts of all podcasts, so you can read instead of listen.)

[0] [https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/us-energy- facts/](https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/us-energy-facts/)

[1] [https://hbr.org/ideacast/2019/09/dematerialization-and- what-...](https://hbr.org/ideacast/2019/09/dematerialization-and-what-it- means-for-the-economy-and-climate-change)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> UN plan to address climate change: $299.9 billion goes to china to fuel their global expansion, with the USA footing 85% of the bill. $50 million to buy seeds. $50 million to plant them.

Climate change would cost less than $100 million to fix if scientists were serious about it. Everything else is special interests.

</comment><comment><USER5> A. Seems like this is just a really weak discussion rip from the [http://terraton.org/](http://terraton.org/) competition that put up money for practical ideas for accomplishing what they're talking about. This article is just hand-waving BS that doesn't even discuss practical approaches being studied today that benefits both farm and environment.

B. India and Ethiopia already did the "plant a record breaking hundreds of millions of trees...yada yada". Here's the problem with that. Said trees are planted as really small saplings. Because that's cheap. If Kenya does this, they need to keep up with watering and barricading against critters that actively feast on saplings. A small percentage (independent estimates are single digits) of the trees through the PR stunts actually survived after a year. Since a lot are planted in drier, non-agriculturally viable areas not conducive to thriving plant/tree growth on their own. That's assuming the numbers were legit to begin with as there's a lot of controversy to that as well.

B2. Did some math. "Kenya, for example plans to plant 2 billion trees on 500,000 hectares(1,235,526 acres)". That's about 1,600 trees per acre. An overcrowded forest, with short trees, high fire risk and high beetle/pest infestation spread is 500 trees per acre. Forests are thinned down from that number to mitigate pest and fire by forestry programs. Plus, less than 250 trees per acre produce far taller trees (more carbon sucking) due to less resource competition.

C. They really provide nothing but finger pointing and "shame on you" in this article.

D. New research is already showing that trees don't capture anywhere near as much of the world's carbon as we thought. Last I saw was about 25%. I think pound for pound algae does a far better job than planting trees. Along with time scale. It takes your average oak/pine/maple about 10 years to actually start pulling the 40 pound a year carbon amount which is the rough rule of thumb needed.

D2. Oh and I just started learning about this the past few weeks. The CO2 we generate from fossil are not the same we breathe out. Trees don't absorb fossil fuel CO2 as well as what we breathe out. Evolutionary speaking, that makes sense to me since that's what a majority of plants are originally use to, animals breathing out.

E. All that being said, I've already read a few of the scientists they talk about in the article in the past. They're smart cats and this article bastardizes the absolute fuck out of their research. Skipping a lot of the interesting work they actually do. But hey, it's Time magazine. Can't expect much from them.

Reversing our shitting on the planet is important to me. Giving attention to stupid ideas that won't work or pointless discussion points doesn't help. This useless finger pointing politics and idealism in fighting climate change needs to end and more attention needs to be given to practical solution finding instead.

<comment><USER6> Can you provide a source for point D2? Admittedly, I don't understand chemistry at all, but that seems strange to me, and I'd like to read more

<comment><USER5> If I can find the paper I'll link it later. I stumbled across it by accident while researching something else. But I read about it a week or so before this video came out briefly mentioning it: [https://youtu.be/myxVsYI4WZk?t=531](https://youtu.be/myxVsYI4WZk?t=531)

This is not the article I read, but doing a quick "carbon 13 plant absorbing" search pulled this up as a top place: [http://www.plantphysiol.org/content/plantphysiol/36/2/133.fu...](http://www.plantphysiol.org/content/plantphysiol/36/2/133.full.pdf) Under controlled conditions, plants favor c12 to c13. But it's an old study(61) and there's been more recent work. Plus on different photosynthesis types. This paper doesn't seem to go through the different types. But yea, should give you a start.

I swear I'm looking for a paper done by Michigan State. But I can't find it. I'll update if I find it.

<comment><USER6> Hey, I appreciate it, just having a few search terms can go a long way. Like I said, my knowledge in chemistry is practically non-existent, and I basically forgot isotopes exist, so this'll get me going. Thanks!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> wow, the estimate seems pretty cheap!

</comment><comment><USER8> Is there a TLDR or article on a different website not requiring readers consent to tracking?

<comment><USER3> I'll just post a summary here: Increase carbon capture in soil by restoring lands subjected to desertification due to human (mis)use.

What I didn't get a clear picture of from this article is how... The only clear technical point mentioned was misuse of fertilizer. Ohterwise it's just a general and hand-wavy "poor land management". Hopefully the actual report is much more concrete in approach.

<comment><USER9> Plant native flora, as well as trees and other deep root flora to keep salt levels down and retain water. Targeted fertilizer and pesticide use (reduce wastage).

We can also quadruple cattle, and rotate grazing land, to simulate the vast herds we wiped out.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> sad to see this with 10 upvotes and posts about "how I managed to control vim with one hand" get 1000s

<comment><USER11> HN user demographics...</comment></comment>


Lima "Brain of Your Devices" Delays Delivery Until Spring - <AUTHOR> http://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2013/11/27375-lima-brain-devices-delays-delivery-spring/

<comment><AUTHOR> what makes me suspicious are statements like (including nice little ios apps) .. unless they are talking about creating a simple public link (which is not clear)

"Sending all your holiday pictures takes only a second

Ever needed to send hundreds of pictures to a friend? With Lima, we invented a technology to transfer files instantly. No matter their size, no matter their number. That's also part of our job to simplify storage."

<comment><USER2> I think the point is that they're targeting the general public. I see why - the balkanized UI for zillions of services and storages can easily overwhelm the user. Having _one_ file structure for their files synced between the client, the local server, and public web-server autmatically would have some appeal to the average low-security user.

Users don't care about privacy. They care about being able to send photos. And having seen people fail miserably at sending photos in a million different ways, I see how this company can succeed.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> How does this compare to OwnCloud, which can be deployed today?

<comment><AUTHOR> They have a faq section for this specific question. [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cloud-guys/plug-the- brai...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cloud-guys/plug-the-brain-of- your-devices)

<comment><AUTHOR> == from their faq ==

Synology, Qnap or Iomega devices are Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices. They add a new folder or virtual hard drive in your computer, and make it accessible from all your devices. Owncloud works the same.

This hard drive or folder is yet-another-memory, a separate place where you have to copy, move, your files into. So at the end of the day, if you use these solutions you still have to constantly manage and figure out where is your data.

The main innovation in Lima is that it manages all of your data for you. Not only the contents of a specific folder.

The Lima app replaces the entire file system of your computers. It handles everything: from the pictures in your "My Pictures" folder, to the files on your Desktop. So it really does feel like all your devices have the same memory: you can download something on your Mac, and open it on your PC.

Everything is in Lima, and the Lima app makes synchronization invisible to you.

\-- Want an example? You should watch our demo video, in the "Lima apps" section. Tell us if it's clear enough!

<comment><USER2> So it sounds like a dropbox-like service running on NAS with the added wrinkle that they provide a way to automatically sync your userland folders to the dropbox.

I can see the appeal. There's a lot of room for innovation in good UI for NAS. Having a plug-in server that Just Works (after you install the client onto your devices) seems like a good product.

I wouldn't be surprised if they run a skin on OwnCloud or something like it for web-access to your files.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


DCompute – Native heterogeneous computing for D – is here - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/libmir/dcompute/blob/master/README.md <comment><AUTHOR> The actual announcement was on [1]. Are the posts to forum.dlang.org blocked on HN? I tried posting [1] several times without any luck.

[1] [http://firstname.lastname@example.com...](http://email@example.com)</comment>


Computer-controlled socialist economy gets destroyed on 9/11... 1973 - <AUTHOR> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Cybersyn

<comment><USER2> Why was it necessary to put 9/11 in the title of this? I think knowing that the economy was computer-controlled was enough to get me to read it - I don't think the sensational title was really called for.

<comment><USER3> It's an unusual coincidence, considering the World Trade Center was also destroyed on 9/11.

<comment><USER2> If anything it's a minor coincidence that the World Trade Center was destroyed precisely 28 years after a Chilean revolt.

The two events have absolutely nothing in common with one another other than sharing an arbitrary day and month of the year.

<comment><USER3> They were both major centers of economic control.

<comment><USER4> The fact that the year only has a mere 365 days has always been a boon to numerologists...

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> "swivel chairs were considered the best for creativity"

This is so awesome in a Dr. Evil kind of way.

<comment><USER3> They look a bit like the captain's chair from Star Trek.</comment></comment>


Show HN: my side project, a Letterpress solver in Node.js - <AUTHOR> http://letterpwn.neilk.net/

<comment><AUTHOR> I wrote a blog post about the algorithm over here:

[http://neilk.net/blog/2013/04/16/letterpwn-a-nodejs-based- le...](http://neilk.net/blog/2013/04/16/letterpwn-a-nodejs-based-letterpress- solver/)

Maybe the concurrency techniques for a computation-heavy service in Node.JS are of more general interest, but I'm still working on a writeup for that.</comment>


MIT Hackathon winners - <AUTHOR> http://hackmit.challengepost.com/

<comment><USER2> Every school in every field need something like this. It's amazing to just give people a small set of rules and let them compete in a short period of time. That's better training for life than sitting and listening to a teacher (don't get me wrong, a bit of that is good too).

There is no better learning and knowledge retention than by doing...

<comment><USER3> And of course we're all free every day to "learn by doing" \-- but without necessarily any competitions, without schools, without universities, without bureaucracy, rules, hierarchies, paperwork, etc. Just do things. Just learn. Rinse, repeat.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> If it actually works well, I'd download "Images as Text" as a Chrome extension in a blink.

<comment><USER5> I'm working on an OCR project at the moment; I'd love to see which library they used.

<comment><USER6> He used Tesseract for the OCR, I don't recall what he used to make it highlightable. It was quite impressive when he demoed it on a XKCD comic.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> What exactly does the winning submission do?

<comment><USER8> I was there. You point the flashlight on your phone at your computers webcam. The software (Javascript / Canvas I think) lets you draw with the light, while you can change colours with your phone. The bonus part was where they used the intensity of the light as a Z-axis, so by moving the phone closer / further away you could build a 3D light painting in the canvas.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Wow. These were made in two days? Incredible!

<comment><USER10> Many submissions aren't actually made in the given time period. They usually will bring either a partially to fully complete project (pretty sure it's cheating but yeah).

<comment><USER11> I don't think this is true, actually. I've been to two major hackathons and had many friends at HackMIT this fall, and this really doesn't occur- in fact, the culture was the exact opposite, people were strongly discouraged from bringing in already existing projects and almost nobody did.

<comment><USER12> when are the topics announced, tho? any ideas on that...

<comment><USER13> There aren't really topics for a lot of the hackathons (including HackMIT). For the "themed" hackathons you'll know the topics at registration (ie. weeks/months beforehand).

<comment><USER12> Multiple awards seemed to be sponsored or product unique, that is why I wonder on this point. Certain items I would imaging having a hands on beforehand would be quite leg up. Excuse my mixed metaphors ;).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> I thought that GTA 6 was really impressive, given that they modeled everything as buildings, the idea to use the entire world for a video game is exceedingly clever. A shoutout to the uWaterloo team too. (As an aside they're in velocity as well.)

</comment><comment><USER15> The PiVision sounds really useful.

<comment><USER16> It was really sweet. They were a little crunched for time so they didn't get to fully show everyone but they had my vote for winner.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> Student of Warsaw University of Technlogoy here, been there. Check out FitBit extension for HabitRPG : [https://github.com/igos/fitbit2habitrpg](https://github.com/igos/fitbit2habitrpg)

</comment><comment><USER18> SilkSpeak sounds like a great idea.</comment>


Show HN: A clock synchronization library in golang for distributed systems - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/rubrikinc/kronos <comment><AUTHOR> Hi HN, we at Rubrik have created this library which we use with CockroachDB to avoid issues with clock skews impacting service availability.

Let us know if you have any questions!</comment>


Covid-19 as deadly as 1918 Pandemic - <AUTHOR> https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/13/scientists-say-the-coronavirus-is-at-least-as-deadly-as-the-1918-flu-pandemic.html <comment><USER2> Complete nonsense, totally different in all regards.

In 1928 the T Cell overreaction killed young healthy people with an IFR over 50%. You barely had a chance, there were no immunosuppressors known, 50m dead.

2019 kills only old or sick people like with the seasonal flu, with an extremely low IFR, 0.3% in the east, 1.0% in the west. The only problem is the lack of a vaccine. Still lower than in a strong flu season (600k - 2m dead) as with a swine flu (low HxNx)</comment>


Ask HN: Is it a good idea to launch a startup during holiday season? - <AUTHOR>

Just curious what you think on whether it is a good idea to launch a startup/product/tool during a time everyone is in a mood to holiday? Or is it wise to wait for the season to pass? Any specific experiences or advice? <comment><USER2> I recently came across the same question via OnStartups.com. Here: [http://answers.onstartups.com/questions/4794/is-launching- ju...](http://answers.onstartups.com/questions/4794/is-launching-just-before- christmas-new-year-a-good-idea)

I personally think the right answer would have to take into consideration the context of the launch and the product. However, I think that if there is no expense to launch, then do it. Do it now.

</comment><comment><USER3> If you are going to incur expenses and your potential customers will not be available due to preoccupation, then you should wait until you have the full attention of your customer.

</comment><comment><USER4> What does it do? If it's family-oriented, it might be a great time. If it's business-y, not. Context matters.

</comment><comment><USER5> I asked a few days ago - here is that thread.

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=975840>

</comment><comment><USER6> Launch. You'll hopefully be around in a year, so anything you learn now will be useful a year from now too.

</comment><comment><USER7> launching a startup, i.e. beginning to create something? Absolutely. No time like the present. "Launching" the startup, i.e., going public with something you've already created? Depends on what it is.</comment>


Ask HN: How do your enterprise customers pay you? - <AUTHOR>

If you are a SaaS company, how do your customers pay you? Credit, ACH, etc, monthly vs. annual contract. Any good resources on the subject? <comment><USER2> Most of ours pay via check and ACH with a handful paying via credit card. We send out invoices monthly (as we're a services company).</comment>


My experience upgrading Ruby on Rails from 3.2 to 4.2 - <AUTHOR> https://blog.kalina.tech/2019/07/upgrading-ruby-on-rails-from-32-to-42.html <comment><USER2> Always worth pointing out that 4.2 is at the edge of what is supported: it only receives severe security fixes. When 6.0 comes out (pretty soon) it'll drop off and you'll be on your own.

[https://guides.rubyonrails.org/maintenance_policy.html](https://guides.rubyonrails.org/maintenance_policy.html)

<comment><USER3> Yep. I'm migrating a customer to 5.2 exactly because of that. Rails 6 should be out very soon.</comment></comment>