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The argument has little do do with software in actual fact. What it boils down to in long-term strategy and investment. Building things well so they may serve
by artsyca 6y ago
The argument has little do do with software in actual fact. What it boils down to in long-term strategy and investment.
Building things well so they may serve you for years and years is a form of investment in the long term.
There is a business philosophy credited to Japanese business but evident elsewhere too that thinking, planning and strategy should be as long term as possible, to a ridiculous extent.
I read the biography of Akio Morita, the founder of Sony and while I'm sure it was somewhat biased to laud his achievements, even from the early post-war era manufacturing recording equipment for high end use, in what can be called "start-up mode" the emphasis was on building things of very high quality that would last.
Truly this long term planning mindset is a manifestation of DRY, don't repeat yourself, and is crucial to survival of a nascent business.
The whole disposable software attitude "we'll revisit once we ship" attitude is sinking you before you ever get off the ground.
- paulryanrogers 6y agoYet Nintendo had resisted a significant online component in their games and platforms for two generations of consoles.
- artsyca 6y agoThat's actually part of it my dude. Nintendo is a centuries old company they move using old boring technologies. They only go in when they know they can go in all the way.. You know what I'm saying? In their home demographic people were not ready for online gaming until recent years. With long term investment comes a certain kind of risk appetite. It's the same reason banks haven't jumped into crypto or why so many enterprises continue using Java.. But I'm glad you used Nintendo as an example, being a software company. How about SNK or Capcom or Konami? You know what it's like getting blacklisted for jumping ship from one of these companies?
- dnh44 6y agoCan you go into a bit more detail about the blacklisting? I’ve never heard anything like that but it fits with something I read recently that the team that built Zelda Breath of the Wild had also been involved in making Majoras Mask.
- artsyca 6y agoIt's one of those things which are just understood but you can't very well rely on having worked for a competitor to land a job at another company Here is one article: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/06/konami-reportedly-blacklisting-ex-employees-across-japanese-video-game-industry/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/06/konam... but I have heard of similar stories across industries
- artsyca 6y agoEdit! With reference to the above comment I don't mean that these companies themselves would blacklist anyone but rather that their competitors would not hire anyone who worked there on principle to avoid that sort of association. Like in North America you could work for Microsoft and then Google but that sort of thing doesn't always fly.