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A paid, Mac only app which could fairly easily be implemented as a plugin to any popular text editor... I'm not sure I understand the appeal - what am I missing

A paid, Mac only app which could fairly easily be implemented as a plugin to any popular text editor... I'm not sure I understand the appeal - what am I missing here, please? :)

petepete 7y ago
This is like comparing Dropbox to "having an FTP account, mounting it locally with curlftpfs, and then using SVN or CVS on the mounted filesystem". Yes, you could. Or you could use something that's polished and works, with a clean UI and years of real world testing.
- traderjane 7y ago
  The part that sticks out to me is that it only runs on Apple stuff. I imagine lots of Apple users are multi-device households.
- mikeash 7y ago
  For anyone missing the joke, when the Dropbox announcement was posted to HN, that was exactly the reaction it got.
- msla 7y ago
  > Yes, you could. Or you could use something that's polished and works, with a clean UI and years of real world testing. It doesn't work on most computers, of course.
Svoka 7y ago
Probably joy of having good looking and easy to use specialized apps. Of course “emasc can do anything” is ages old argument, but should it?
- ken 7y ago
  Yes! "It is better to have 100 functions operate on one data structure than 10 functions on 10 data structures." I don't care if it's literally Emacs, but I want all my data in one place. Half my programming career was spent taking one dumb format and converting it into another dumb format because the systems were incompatible, and for no good reason. People complain about needing "dongles" (i.e., adapters) with Apple's new laptops, but there's a simple and obvious fix (buy one), and we can see the endgame (everything USB-C) where even that won't be required. Programmers spend all day building custom software "dongles", with no end in sight. Why aren't they angry about that?
- sachdevap 7y ago
  Yes, the answer is yes it should do it if people want it and are willing to work on it. Let people decide what they want to build and use within the software they use.
slig 7y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224
- CriticalCathed 7y ago
  I use dropbox everyday. But, he's still right all these years later isn't he? Dropbox hasn't made money yet. Perhaps it never will.
  - zarathustraa 7y ago
    Andrew W. Houston is the co-founder and CEO of Dropbox. According to Forbes, his net worth is about $2.2 billion Dropbox has been touted as Y Combinator's most successful investment to date.
    - CriticalCathed 7y ago
      But do they turn a profit as a company?
      - zarathustraa 7y ago
        You're funny. But to answer your question, yes, it turned a profit: > The maker of cloud-based file-sharing software reported profit, excluding some costs, of 10 cents a share, above the 6 cent average estimate of analysts polled by Bloomberg.
        CriticalCathed 7y ago
        >excluding some costs So, not really then? From the same article: >The company also posted a narrower net loss of $7.7 million Dropbox is still not profitable.
        jazzyjackson 7y ago
        I'm sitting here laughing like how can they report a profit, excluding some costs? what? Thanks for pointing this out
immigrantsheep 7y ago
When I need something like that I prefer the crossplatform and open source http://speedcrunch.org http://speedcrunch.org
RodgerTheGreat 7y ago
I think you're missing the gap between "could fairly easily be" and "has been". As a programmer, the REPL and/or notebook interfaces for my favorite languages provide what Soulver offers already, so it isn't as valuable to me. To a non-programmer, Soulver seems like a very pleasant, user-friendly tool.
- chipotle_coyote 7y ago
  I'm a programmer, at least occasionally, and Soulver is a pleasant, user-friendly tool to me. When I open Soulver, it's because I want to do some unstructured multistep math work and it's faster and easier to do it in Soulver than a spreadsheet program. Jupyter Notebook could undoubtedly do similar work, but it doesn't read to me like it would be the best tool for the job.

A paid, Mac only app which could fairly easily be implemented as a plugin to any popular text editor... I'm not sure I understand the appeal - what am I missing here, please? :)

petepete 7y ago

This is like comparing Dropbox to "having an FTP account, mounting it locally with curlftpfs, and then using SVN or CVS on the mounted filesystem". Yes, you could. Or you could use something that's polished and works, with a clean UI and years of real world testing.

traderjane 7y ago
The part that sticks out to me is that it only runs on Apple stuff. I imagine lots of Apple users are multi-device households.
mikeash 7y ago
For anyone missing the joke, when the Dropbox announcement was posted to HN, that was exactly the reaction it got.
msla 7y ago
> Yes, you could. Or you could use something that's polished and works, with a clean UI and years of real world testing. It doesn't work on most computers, of course.

Svoka 7y ago

Probably joy of having good looking and easy to use specialized apps. Of course “emasc can do anything” is ages old argument, but should it?

ken 7y ago
Yes! "It is better to have 100 functions operate on one data structure than 10 functions on 10 data structures." I don't care if it's literally Emacs, but I want all my data in one place. Half my programming career was spent taking one dumb format and converting it into another dumb format because the systems were incompatible, and for no good reason. People complain about needing "dongles" (i.e., adapters) with Apple's new laptops, but there's a simple and obvious fix (buy one), and we can see the endgame (everything USB-C) where even that won't be required. Programmers spend all day building custom software "dongles", with no end in sight. Why aren't they angry about that?
sachdevap 7y ago
Yes, the answer is yes it should do it if people want it and are willing to work on it. Let people decide what they want to build and use within the software they use.

slig 7y ago

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224

CriticalCathed 7y ago
I use dropbox everyday. But, he's still right all these years later isn't he? Dropbox hasn't made money yet. Perhaps it never will.
- zarathustraa 7y ago
  Andrew W. Houston is the co-founder and CEO of Dropbox. According to Forbes, his net worth is about $2.2 billion Dropbox has been touted as Y Combinator's most successful investment to date.
  - CriticalCathed 7y ago
    But do they turn a profit as a company?
    - zarathustraa 7y ago
      You're funny. But to answer your question, yes, it turned a profit: > The maker of cloud-based file-sharing software reported profit, excluding some costs, of 10 cents a share, above the 6 cent average estimate of analysts polled by Bloomberg.
      - CriticalCathed 7y ago
        >excluding some costs So, not really then? From the same article: >The company also posted a narrower net loss of $7.7 million Dropbox is still not profitable.
        jazzyjackson 7y ago
        I'm sitting here laughing like how can they report a profit, excluding some costs? what? Thanks for pointing this out

immigrantsheep 7y ago

When I need something like that I prefer the crossplatform and open source http://speedcrunch.org http://speedcrunch.org

RodgerTheGreat 7y ago

I think you're missing the gap between "could fairly easily be" and "has been". As a programmer, the REPL and/or notebook interfaces for my favorite languages provide what Soulver offers already, so it isn't as valuable to me. To a non-programmer, Soulver seems like a very pleasant, user-friendly tool.

chipotle_coyote 7y ago
I'm a programmer, at least occasionally, and Soulver is a pleasant, user-friendly tool to me. When I open Soulver, it's because I want to do some unstructured multistep math work and it's faster and easier to do it in Soulver than a spreadsheet program. Jupyter Notebook could undoubtedly do similar work, but it doesn't read to me like it would be the best tool for the job.