6 ms·

Obscure software company?!

by MrRiddle 6y ago

swyx 6y ago
she is writing for a general audience, please lets not get upset about that one and focus on actual lack of evidence.
- MrRiddle 6y ago
  She’s setting up a scene for a play. Just from those couple line I’m writting whole thing off as same neocon Russian witch hunt we saw in recent years. Obscure company? Ain’t that some bullshit.
  - edoceo 6y ago
    I'm with you on that, those words serve to diminish the work and reputation of JetBrains even before the ~average reader understand who they are and what they do. Like "some idiot, edoceo" seeds that I'm a fool vs "my CTO, edoceo" (of course the truth is in the middle)
  - IncRnd 6y ago
    Read her next tweet, which was clearly part of a sequence of tweets. She wrote, "JetBrains is not a household name but is used by 79/ Fortune 100." Jetbrains is an obscure software company for most people, despite a number of people using their software daily.
    - sam_lowry_ 6y ago
      I wouldn't be surprised if we find out that JetBrains has bigger reach worldwide than NYT.
- fnord123 6y ago
  Agree. But Jet Brains is arguably more of a household name than VMWare.
  - swyx 6y ago
    distinction without a difference as far as the new york times is concerned. i'm saying we as developers shouldnt make that our number 1 complaint (which it is, given responses to her twitter) instead of focusing on the irresponsibility of the NYT publishing a "may be" article with 1 line of speculation and 15 paragraphs of context/fluff and 0 lines of evidence or findings.
tharne 6y ago
To anyone outside of tech it's completely obscure. No one besides developers and people who work with them know what the heck JetBrains is. The same way almost no one outside of tech would know what "Vim" is, even though to us it seems like a household name.
- ramphastidae 6y ago
  But would it be reasonable to call Vim an obscure text editor? Of course not. Just because a software company isn’t a household name doesn’t make it obscure.
  - phillipcarter 6y ago
    It's amazing to me how many programmers get shook to the core when something that seems so obviously important to them is actually not a big deal to the rest of the world.
    - pfranz 6y ago
      I think the characterization is what's surprising. I would imagine there's a major supplier for petri dishes out there that everyone in the medical field knows of, but I've never heard of them and wouldn't call them "obscure" just because it's niche. Using that criteria every software company outside of Microsoft or Apple would be considered obscure.
      - phillipcarter 6y ago
        The characterization really, truly, does not matter.
        dumpsterdiver 6y ago
        > It's amazing to me how many programmers get shook to the core when something that seems so obviously important to them is actually not a big deal to the rest of the world. > The characterization really, truly, does not matter. I don't think that's a fair sentiment. Within the niche that Jetbrains occupies it is one of the most well known players out there, and so it truly is not obscure. It was an unfair characterization. Furthermore, the reporting provides no evidence to support its very damaging claim. To those of us who are familiar with configuring these types of systems, we know very well how easy it is to leave a single permission unattended to. The damage done by this type of irresponsible reporting is serious. Personally, I hope they get their pants sued off for their complete lack of discretion and disregard for journalistic integrity.
webel0 6y ago
My issue with the “obscure” comment is what it suggests to the non-dev reader. It is easy to think that “Obscure” companies can be pushed around more easily by state actors. That their product has never been critically evaluated for security issues. There may well have been an issue emanating from jetbrains. I don’t know. But when you combine these insinuations with the fact that the company is run by Russian nationals (quite different from the Russian government!) you simply get stronger insinuations, not facts.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
eunos 6y ago
Gonna build the narrative yo

Obscure software company?!

swyx 6y ago

she is writing for a general audience, please lets not get upset about that one and focus on actual lack of evidence.

MrRiddle 6y ago
She’s setting up a scene for a play. Just from those couple line I’m writting whole thing off as same neocon Russian witch hunt we saw in recent years. Obscure company? Ain’t that some bullshit.
- edoceo 6y ago
  I'm with you on that, those words serve to diminish the work and reputation of JetBrains even before the ~average reader understand who they are and what they do. Like "some idiot, edoceo" seeds that I'm a fool vs "my CTO, edoceo" (of course the truth is in the middle)
- IncRnd 6y ago
  Read her next tweet, which was clearly part of a sequence of tweets. She wrote, "JetBrains is not a household name but is used by 79/ Fortune 100." Jetbrains is an obscure software company for most people, despite a number of people using their software daily.
  - sam_lowry_ 6y ago
    I wouldn't be surprised if we find out that JetBrains has bigger reach worldwide than NYT.
fnord123 6y ago
Agree. But Jet Brains is arguably more of a household name than VMWare.
- swyx 6y ago
  distinction without a difference as far as the new york times is concerned. i'm saying we as developers shouldnt make that our number 1 complaint (which it is, given responses to her twitter) instead of focusing on the irresponsibility of the NYT publishing a "may be" article with 1 line of speculation and 15 paragraphs of context/fluff and 0 lines of evidence or findings.

tharne 6y ago

To anyone outside of tech it's completely obscure. No one besides developers and people who work with them know what the heck JetBrains is. The same way almost no one outside of tech would know what "Vim" is, even though to us it seems like a household name.

ramphastidae 6y ago
But would it be reasonable to call Vim an obscure text editor? Of course not. Just because a software company isn’t a household name doesn’t make it obscure.
- phillipcarter 6y ago
  It's amazing to me how many programmers get shook to the core when something that seems so obviously important to them is actually not a big deal to the rest of the world.
  - pfranz 6y ago
    I think the characterization is what's surprising. I would imagine there's a major supplier for petri dishes out there that everyone in the medical field knows of, but I've never heard of them and wouldn't call them "obscure" just because it's niche. Using that criteria every software company outside of Microsoft or Apple would be considered obscure.
    - phillipcarter 6y ago
      The characterization really, truly, does not matter.
      - dumpsterdiver 6y ago
        > It's amazing to me how many programmers get shook to the core when something that seems so obviously important to them is actually not a big deal to the rest of the world. > The characterization really, truly, does not matter. I don't think that's a fair sentiment. Within the niche that Jetbrains occupies it is one of the most well known players out there, and so it truly is not obscure. It was an unfair characterization. Furthermore, the reporting provides no evidence to support its very damaging claim. To those of us who are familiar with configuring these types of systems, we know very well how easy it is to leave a single permission unattended to. The damage done by this type of irresponsible reporting is serious. Personally, I hope they get their pants sued off for their complete lack of discretion and disregard for journalistic integrity.

webel0 6y ago

My issue with the “obscure” comment is what it suggests to the non-dev reader. It is easy to think that “Obscure” companies can be pushed around more easily by state actors. That their product has never been critically evaluated for security issues. There may well have been an issue emanating from jetbrains. I don’t know. But when you combine these insinuations with the fact that the company is run by Russian nationals (quite different from the Russian government!) you simply get stronger insinuations, not facts.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

eunos 6y ago

Gonna build the narrative yo