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What people are saying is that not only have the pieces to make Slack been around for awhile, but IRC has implemented those pieces successfully for 20 years. T

by dimino 10y ago

What people are saying is that not only have the pieces to make Slack been around for awhile, but IRC has implemented those pieces successfully for 20 years. The only "innovation" Slack provided was the UI, and that's textbook "bad startup idea", because of how easy it is for someone else to step into the space.

Latty 10y ago
Except, that's not true. As I pointed out with History, IRC does not do that. Even if you count hacks like bots or additional services, it doesn't do it well, easily, or as a core part of the thing that is there the second you set it up without extra effort.
- dimino 10y ago
  I don't understand why people keep saying it's not "easy" or IRC doesn't do history "well"? ZNC or another bouncer is plenty easy to set up and configure, and you get a full history of all messages in a chat. Slack didn't innovate, it simplified. I called it a "UI" simplification, but you can call it whatever you like. They didn't innovate on technology, and that's a dangerous place to build your startup, because someone like Microsoft can eat your lunch and there's nothing you can do about it.
jerf 10y ago
"but IRC has implemented those pieces successfully for 20 years." It did indeed... implement them as pieces. The out-of-the-box experience for an IRC network does not look like Slack. And the UI was a non-trivial component. Personally I'm in the segment who doesn't much care and for whom IRC is a fine amount of bandwidth... but a looooot of other people, including lots of people with money, want something more. Slack is not "just IRC". The proof is that if it was, we wouldn't be talking about Slack, we'd be talking about IRC. We aren't.
- dleslie 10y ago
  We are talking about IRC. Right now. In this thread. ;)
- dimino 10y ago
  The UI was a trivial enough component that it can be replicated by a dozen competitors, to suddenly become a hugely busy space such as it is now. Those people with money can easily be stolen out from under Slack, precisely because they didn't innovate, they simplified. Slack is "just IRC", and the proof is that if it were more, there wouldn't be nearly as much competition in the space, with more people joining every month, it seems.

by dimino 10y ago

Latty 10y ago

Except, that's not true. As I pointed out with History, IRC does not do that. Even if you count hacks like bots or additional services, it doesn't do it well, easily, or as a core part of the thing that is there the second you set it up without extra effort.

dimino 10y ago
I don't understand why people keep saying it's not "easy" or IRC doesn't do history "well"? ZNC or another bouncer is plenty easy to set up and configure, and you get a full history of all messages in a chat. Slack didn't innovate, it simplified. I called it a "UI" simplification, but you can call it whatever you like. They didn't innovate on technology, and that's a dangerous place to build your startup, because someone like Microsoft can eat your lunch and there's nothing you can do about it.

jerf 10y ago

"but IRC has implemented those pieces successfully for 20 years." It did indeed... implement them as pieces. The out-of-the-box experience for an IRC network does not look like Slack. And the UI was a non-trivial component. Personally I'm in the segment who doesn't much care and for whom IRC is a fine amount of bandwidth... but a looooot of other people, including lots of people with money, want something more. Slack is not "just IRC". The proof is that if it was, we wouldn't be talking about Slack, we'd be talking about IRC. We aren't.

dleslie 10y ago
We are talking about IRC. Right now. In this thread. ;)
dimino 10y ago
The UI was a trivial enough component that it can be replicated by a dozen competitors, to suddenly become a hugely busy space such as it is now. Those people with money can easily be stolen out from under Slack, precisely because they didn't innovate, they simplified. Slack is "just IRC", and the proof is that if it were more, there wouldn't be nearly as much competition in the space, with more people joining every month, it seems.