6 ms·

At 83, I Decided to Develop an App

102 points by zbravo 11y ago

colinbartlett 11y ago
Yesterday's discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10964902 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10964902
redka 11y ago
more like: paid someone to develop an app
- zavulon 11y ago
  While he didn't code himself, he was very involved. From the TFA: > I’ve reviewed wire frames and branding guides. I’ve spent countless hours on beta releases. I’ve signed off on something they call “UX.”
  - beeboop 11y ago
    I'm not sure you can get credit for being involved if your involvement is looking at what others are doing and saying "Ok" - input that only matters because he's paying for it, not because he has any idea that it's actually good or correct. I don't mean to be negative because it's obviously good he's attempting it, and I encourage that, but let's be honest as to what's actually happening.
    - zavulon 11y ago
      It sounds like he's acting like a product owner as well - being one of the only people that actually knows how the game works.
    - kbutler 11y ago
      > I'm not sure you can get credit for being involved if your involvement is looking at what others are doing and saying "Ok" Steve Jobs
Johnny_Brahms 11y ago
My dad (edit: now 76) went from a computer illiterate to someone that got completely sold on home automation through a couple of raspberry pi's. He has done lots of python stuff, and recently a bit of F#. The python is spaghetti code, but the F# actually looks better than what my colleagues write :D
sosuke 11y ago
The negativity is disappointing. Anyone who shows interest in development, even those that don't code, should be encouraged as we wish to be encouraged. When we see products launched here on HN they are sometimes developed by other people than the heads of those companies. Do you attack them as well? A familiar one would be Digg. If someone had an idea for an autism app but not the skill and paid for its development would you be negative about it as well? Yes I'm ranting, the older discussion linked herein was really ugly.
- AndrewUnmuted 11y ago
  > The negativity is disappointing. You do know what kind of negative things Mr. Rumsfeld is guilty of, right? I do not think one could be blamed for feeling _ashamed_ that such a horrific man has entered the field with which those of us here are all so deeply engaged.
  - noxToken 11y ago
    But what do the two have to do with each other? It's one thing if the guy is brushing elbows with you in the office every day, but this is nothing like that. He took an interest in the field and tried his hand. His past actions are irrelevant in this aspect.
    - mercer 11y ago
      Apparently to many of us here his past action are not irrelevant. It's an interesting discussion as to why this may or may not be the case, but it's clearly not a given.
  - Randgalt 11y ago
    There's nothing horrific about Donald Rumsfeld. He was Secretary of Defense. Was he more horrific than any other Secretary of Defense? War is horrific. So is Leftist bias.
    - gregjwild 11y ago
GFK_of_xmaspast 11y ago
I wish he'd decide to develop a conscience.
- backwardm 11y ago
  The single comment on that post is great: "It’s amazing what people can do when they’re not being tortured to death!" —Evan Engel. +1 Evan.
  - goodJobWalrus 11y ago
    There are other comments, such as (in order of most recommended): > Eagerly anticipating your gamification of waterboarding. and quoting Rumsfeld's' opening "I’ve done business, politics, and war." > Yes, we get it. You’ve killed people. and the rest in the same style. Maybe Rumsfeld's PR peeps didn't think this Medium appearance through.
    - mgiannopoulos 11y ago
      It amazes me that a professional PR company (obviously this was not written by Rumsfeld himself) approved the idea of posting on Medium where there is no full control of comments.
- LinuxBender 11y ago
  Perhaps you are on to something. Perhaps he wanted to be remembered for doing something good.
  - krapp 11y ago
    >Perhaps he wanted to be remembered for doing something good. The man is a war criminal. He doesn't deserve to be remembered fondly for outsourcing an app, he deserves to die in a cell.
ThomPete 11y ago
I am if anything a critic of Rumsfeld and have called him the most overrated minister (his SID project is just one example of his unrealistic ideas) and it's easy to point fingers at the many damaging decisions he made in the Bush jr. administration. In other word I have nothing good to say about him. But I have no idea what kind of problematic (and wrong) decisions I would have to do if I was in power and so isolated from that (which I have no problem with) this is just a fantastic and wonderful thing to read. I wish more of the older generation would enrich us with games, apps and other perspectives to counter what seems to be a very youth centric avalanche of location based dating apps and other young generation issues. So props to Rumsfeld for never feeling too old to try new stuff.
MrZongle2 11y ago
If the author of this article were "Bob Smith", the HN readership reaction would be tepid at worst. Instead, everybody has brought political baggage to this discussion. History will fairly judge Rumsfeld long after he (and most of us) are dead, and not on his app-creation career. That his new venture into a technical field can't be objectively judged (without involving his unrelated past) on a technical site is sad.
- nightcracker 11y ago
  The article itself is also slathered with political paint and narrative. IMO, if you consider the comments to this article off-topic, I believe the article itself is as well.
- bmelton 11y ago
  Agreed. I skipped over the author portion of the header because I was fixated on how good the game looked visually. Reading through the description, I had intended to come back to HN and comment on how rich and contextual the game's introduction was. That Medium post was a story, with actual history and soul, and I was amazed by it from start to finish. I was busy marveling at how great that introduction was, and wondered whether or not it was a generational thing, that we get 140-character introductions for most products today... Then I came here, scanned to see if there was a comment enough like the one I intended that I didn't need to post, and found the comments you mentioned. So, to me, it looks like a great game, and without actually getting the app, the execution looks solid as well. It sounds like there was quite a bit of iteration on the project, and if he paid a team to build it, I don't know if it will reach profitability ever, but kudos to the man who, at 84, decides that there must be an app badly enough that he takes it upon himself to see it being built... whomever he happens to be.
bby 11y ago
I know dudes in they late 90s developing. I myself plan to develop well into my 100s (currently 97)

102 points by zbravo 11y ago

colinbartlett 11y ago

Yesterday's discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10964902 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10964902

redka 11y ago

more like: paid someone to develop an app

zavulon 11y ago
While he didn't code himself, he was very involved. From the TFA: > I’ve reviewed wire frames and branding guides. I’ve spent countless hours on beta releases. I’ve signed off on something they call “UX.”
- beeboop 11y ago
  I'm not sure you can get credit for being involved if your involvement is looking at what others are doing and saying "Ok" - input that only matters because he's paying for it, not because he has any idea that it's actually good or correct. I don't mean to be negative because it's obviously good he's attempting it, and I encourage that, but let's be honest as to what's actually happening.
  - zavulon 11y ago
    It sounds like he's acting like a product owner as well - being one of the only people that actually knows how the game works.
  - kbutler 11y ago
    > I'm not sure you can get credit for being involved if your involvement is looking at what others are doing and saying "Ok" Steve Jobs

Johnny_Brahms 11y ago

My dad (edit: now 76) went from a computer illiterate to someone that got completely sold on home automation through a couple of raspberry pi's. He has done lots of python stuff, and recently a bit of F#. The python is spaghetti code, but the F# actually looks better than what my colleagues write :D

sosuke 11y ago

The negativity is disappointing. Anyone who shows interest in development, even those that don't code, should be encouraged as we wish to be encouraged. When we see products launched here on HN they are sometimes developed by other people than the heads of those companies. Do you attack them as well? A familiar one would be Digg. If someone had an idea for an autism app but not the skill and paid for its development would you be negative about it as well? Yes I'm ranting, the older discussion linked herein was really ugly.

AndrewUnmuted 11y ago
> The negativity is disappointing. You do know what kind of negative things Mr. Rumsfeld is guilty of, right? I do not think one could be blamed for feeling _ashamed_ that such a horrific man has entered the field with which those of us here are all so deeply engaged.
- noxToken 11y ago
  But what do the two have to do with each other? It's one thing if the guy is brushing elbows with you in the office every day, but this is nothing like that. He took an interest in the field and tried his hand. His past actions are irrelevant in this aspect.
  - mercer 11y ago
    Apparently to many of us here his past action are not irrelevant. It's an interesting discussion as to why this may or may not be the case, but it's clearly not a given.
- Randgalt 11y ago
  There's nothing horrific about Donald Rumsfeld. He was Secretary of Defense. Was he more horrific than any other Secretary of Defense? War is horrific. So is Leftist bias.
  - gregjwild 11y ago

GFK_of_xmaspast 11y ago

I wish he'd decide to develop a conscience.

backwardm 11y ago
The single comment on that post is great: "It’s amazing what people can do when they’re not being tortured to death!" —Evan Engel. +1 Evan.
- goodJobWalrus 11y ago
  There are other comments, such as (in order of most recommended): > Eagerly anticipating your gamification of waterboarding. and quoting Rumsfeld's' opening "I’ve done business, politics, and war." > Yes, we get it. You’ve killed people. and the rest in the same style. Maybe Rumsfeld's PR peeps didn't think this Medium appearance through.
  - mgiannopoulos 11y ago
    It amazes me that a professional PR company (obviously this was not written by Rumsfeld himself) approved the idea of posting on Medium where there is no full control of comments.
LinuxBender 11y ago
Perhaps you are on to something. Perhaps he wanted to be remembered for doing something good.
- krapp 11y ago
  >Perhaps he wanted to be remembered for doing something good. The man is a war criminal. He doesn't deserve to be remembered fondly for outsourcing an app, he deserves to die in a cell.

ThomPete 11y ago

I am if anything a critic of Rumsfeld and have called him the most overrated minister (his SID project is just one example of his unrealistic ideas) and it's easy to point fingers at the many damaging decisions he made in the Bush jr. administration. In other word I have nothing good to say about him. But I have no idea what kind of problematic (and wrong) decisions I would have to do if I was in power and so isolated from that (which I have no problem with) this is just a fantastic and wonderful thing to read. I wish more of the older generation would enrich us with games, apps and other perspectives to counter what seems to be a very youth centric avalanche of location based dating apps and other young generation issues. So props to Rumsfeld for never feeling too old to try new stuff.

MrZongle2 11y ago

If the author of this article were "Bob Smith", the HN readership reaction would be tepid at worst. Instead, everybody has brought political baggage to this discussion. History will fairly judge Rumsfeld long after he (and most of us) are dead, and not on his app-creation career. That his new venture into a technical field can't be objectively judged (without involving his unrelated past) on a technical site is sad.

nightcracker 11y ago
The article itself is also slathered with political paint and narrative. IMO, if you consider the comments to this article off-topic, I believe the article itself is as well.
bmelton 11y ago
Agreed. I skipped over the author portion of the header because I was fixated on how good the game looked visually. Reading through the description, I had intended to come back to HN and comment on how rich and contextual the game's introduction was. That Medium post was a story, with actual history and soul, and I was amazed by it from start to finish. I was busy marveling at how great that introduction was, and wondered whether or not it was a generational thing, that we get 140-character introductions for most products today... Then I came here, scanned to see if there was a comment enough like the one I intended that I didn't need to post, and found the comments you mentioned. So, to me, it looks like a great game, and without actually getting the app, the execution looks solid as well. It sounds like there was quite a bit of iteration on the project, and if he paid a team to build it, I don't know if it will reach profitability ever, but kudos to the man who, at 84, decides that there must be an app badly enough that he takes it upon himself to see it being built... whomever he happens to be.

bby 11y ago

I know dudes in they late 90s developing. I myself plan to develop well into my 100s (currently 97)