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I think you guys are missing the point of this Twitter thread. Yes, the kindle itself is mediocre at best. Technically it’s got lot of issues, and I personally

by arielm 6y ago

I think you guys are missing the point of this Twitter thread. Yes, the kindle itself is mediocre at best. Technically it’s got lot of issues, and I personally still prefer a physical book over it any day. But... The thread was about being inspired. You can be inspired even while working on something that ultimately isn’t great. You can be inspired working with someone who has the reputation of not being the best boss. You can be inspired when you want to. So while working on this mediocre device, which is pretty much the only way to consume books digitally, this guy loved every minute. To me, that’s the lesson here.

amelius 6y ago
Yes, inspiration, that's how these so called technology leaders trick us engineers in doing work for them, even, at times, to the detriment of society.
- mam2 6y ago
  You poor thing
  - yjftsjthsd-h 6y ago
    > You poor thing If you have something constructive to say, even if that something is a reason criticism, then say it; this comes across as condescending and dismissive.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
mathattack 6y ago
I viewed it as a story in how a great CEO realized that he needed to personally step in to drive and protect a program that could cannibalize their existing business. Similar story to Netflix’s video streaming over the CDs.
- xxpor 6y ago
  And I think the critical implementation of that was "firing" Steve Kessel. Don't have him worry about his old P&L at the same time.
  - mathattack 6y ago
    Yes. Same as Hastings kicking all the CD folks off his executive team. The CEO of a startup I worked at limited the head of his most proilfitable business unit to 15 minutes per month. It seemed insane to put the cash cow at risk. He was right though. He couldn’t grow the future without doing that.
baybal2 6y ago
Very much it, I can't say that anybody doing hardware for the first time would be anywhere close on "completeness" to what Amazon managed to pull out (probably with tons of advisers, and external experts, but still...) I worked, work, and probably will keep working with tons of clients from Kickstarter/Indygogo space, and prime majority of them simply wrap up somewhere 6-9 months into the project because the "don't see the end to the tunnel," or realise that they picked a very wrong industry for easy money. P.S. I believe I might have once encountered some of people who worked on kindle 1, and it was far from pleasant: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18970281 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18970281
znpy 6y ago
the main point that most people miss is that you can deliver something mediocre and still beat the competition. your product doesn't have to be perfect, it has to be better than the competion.
cwyers 6y ago
I really doubt this guy thinks the first Kindle was mediocre for the time.
ctvo 6y ago
You throw a lot of unsubstantiated shade in the guise of "getting" the real message. > Yes, the kindle itself is mediocre at best. Which eReader is better than the Kindle in the same price range? > Technically it’s got lot of issues Like what? I also prefer real book, though when I've used the Kindle, I've had 0 problems. The delivery over cellular works, it has very good battery life, is light and the display does what it's suppose to do. > You can be inspired working with someone who has the reputation of not being the best boss Haven't heard Jeff Bezos isn't a good boss. The Twitter thread has little negative things about Jeff as a boss / executive, the contrary actually.
- ryantgtg 6y ago
  > Which eReader is better than the Kindle in the same price range? Kobo. But how is this relevant here?
solidasparagus 6y ago
Do people here really think the Kindle is a mediocre product? This feels to me like another case of HN's 'no one will ever need Dropbox, you can just hook up the open-source libraries'.

by arielm 6y ago

amelius 6y ago

Yes, inspiration, that's how these so called technology leaders trick us engineers in doing work for them, even, at times, to the detriment of society.

mam2 6y ago
You poor thing
- yjftsjthsd-h 6y ago
  > You poor thing If you have something constructive to say, even if that something is a reason criticism, then say it; this comes across as condescending and dismissive.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

mathattack 6y ago

I viewed it as a story in how a great CEO realized that he needed to personally step in to drive and protect a program that could cannibalize their existing business. Similar story to Netflix’s video streaming over the CDs.

xxpor 6y ago
And I think the critical implementation of that was "firing" Steve Kessel. Don't have him worry about his old P&L at the same time.
- mathattack 6y ago
  Yes. Same as Hastings kicking all the CD folks off his executive team. The CEO of a startup I worked at limited the head of his most proilfitable business unit to 15 minutes per month. It seemed insane to put the cash cow at risk. He was right though. He couldn’t grow the future without doing that.

baybal2 6y ago

Very much it, I can't say that anybody doing hardware for the first time would be anywhere close on "completeness" to what Amazon managed to pull out (probably with tons of advisers, and external experts, but still...) I worked, work, and probably will keep working with tons of clients from Kickstarter/Indygogo space, and prime majority of them simply wrap up somewhere 6-9 months into the project because the "don't see the end to the tunnel," or realise that they picked a very wrong industry for easy money. P.S. I believe I might have once encountered some of people who worked on kindle 1, and it was far from pleasant: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18970281 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18970281

znpy 6y ago

the main point that most people miss is that you can deliver something mediocre and still beat the competition. your product doesn't have to be perfect, it has to be better than the competion.

cwyers 6y ago

I really doubt this guy thinks the first Kindle was mediocre for the time.

ctvo 6y ago

You throw a lot of unsubstantiated shade in the guise of "getting" the real message. > Yes, the kindle itself is mediocre at best. Which eReader is better than the Kindle in the same price range? > Technically it’s got lot of issues Like what? I also prefer real book, though when I've used the Kindle, I've had 0 problems. The delivery over cellular works, it has very good battery life, is light and the display does what it's suppose to do. > You can be inspired working with someone who has the reputation of not being the best boss Haven't heard Jeff Bezos isn't a good boss. The Twitter thread has little negative things about Jeff as a boss / executive, the contrary actually.

ryantgtg 6y ago
> Which eReader is better than the Kindle in the same price range? Kobo. But how is this relevant here?

solidasparagus 6y ago

Do people here really think the Kindle is a mediocre product? This feels to me like another case of HN's 'no one will ever need Dropbox, you can just hook up the open-source libraries'.