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It's very hard to maintain compatibility for different versions of mobile operating systems. API's, etc. change or break completely all the time. Often it is s

It's very hard to maintain compatibility for different versions of mobile operating systems. API's, etc. change or break completely all the time. Often it is simply a trade-off between acquiring new, perhaps more affluent users, and loosing those with less money to spend and cheaper phones. The morality behind this is questionable off course.

jasonlotito 11y ago
And then you have people like in this comment. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10446977 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10446977 > It's very hard to maintain compatibility for different versions of mobile operating systems. Except it's not. It requires thought, but the reality is, they aren't trying to maintain compatibility, they are merely saying "Nope, you have to have the latest and greatest or it won't work" regardless of whether it would work or not. If anything, this demonstrates that Uber itself is not concerned with quality. Considering my experiences with Uber in the past, this is not surprising.
- sokoloff 11y ago
  Quality is many faceted. One aspect that's relevant here is predictability and Uber chooses to meet their prescribed level of predictability by controlling the phone OS/version.
ryandrake 11y ago
Really? "It's very hard"? That's the explanation for such poor software engineering practices? I guess their engineers are only paid to solve easy problems.
- bitwize 11y ago
  The good software engineering practives of yesterday are for old people. Young people are just smarter. They move fast and break stuff. Makin' omelettes, man. Shhhyeah.
  - serge2k 11y ago
    Good software engineering practices of yesterday were sometimes dumped for good reason. oh but young people are idiots. That's right. Back to waterfall guys.I'll stand up the new CVS server.
- gaius 11y ago
  Uber is not a software company. The only code they hack is the legal code.
- serge2k 11y ago
  Engineers are paid to solve problems that help the company make money. If they ran the numbers and the cost was greater than the reward why would they both maintaining backward compatibility?

jasonlotito 11y ago

And then you have people like in this comment. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10446977 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10446977 > It's very hard to maintain compatibility for different versions of mobile operating systems. Except it's not. It requires thought, but the reality is, they aren't trying to maintain compatibility, they are merely saying "Nope, you have to have the latest and greatest or it won't work" regardless of whether it would work or not. If anything, this demonstrates that Uber itself is not concerned with quality. Considering my experiences with Uber in the past, this is not surprising.

sokoloff 11y ago
Quality is many faceted. One aspect that's relevant here is predictability and Uber chooses to meet their prescribed level of predictability by controlling the phone OS/version.

ryandrake 11y ago

Really? "It's very hard"? That's the explanation for such poor software engineering practices? I guess their engineers are only paid to solve easy problems.

bitwize 11y ago
The good software engineering practives of yesterday are for old people. Young people are just smarter. They move fast and break stuff. Makin' omelettes, man. Shhhyeah.
- serge2k 11y ago
  Good software engineering practices of yesterday were sometimes dumped for good reason. oh but young people are idiots. That's right. Back to waterfall guys.I'll stand up the new CVS server.
gaius 11y ago
Uber is not a software company. The only code they hack is the legal code.
serge2k 11y ago
Engineers are paid to solve problems that help the company make money. If they ran the numbers and the cost was greater than the reward why would they both maintaining backward compatibility?