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I'll humor you and think of some examples. For fun and humor :) If you look at history, I think you're in good company. I think the following people fit this

I'll humor you and think of some examples. For fun and humor :) If you look at history, I think you're in good company. I think the following people fit this case: * Vincent van Gogh (no one used his paintings) * Ted Nelson (no one used his version of hypertext) * Douglas Engelbard (really ironic when you think about it, made all kinds of multimedia prototypes and it took 50 years and his name is nowhere to be found) * Ignaz Semmelweis (really really unfortunate, relied on very primitive correlational analyses on childbed fever, got the treatment right -- hand washing -- yet no one believed him while he was alive) People that didn't make the cut: * Alan Turing (people did use his Enigma, I thought about him for a second because of how the British government treated him) * Stanislav Petrov (many people "used" his "product" without anyone knowing, I considered him because still too few people know about this hero)

noduerme 5y ago
Ahh. yeah I had to google Petrov, but I've read his story before. And why don't I know his name? Without that guy, none of us would be alive. So what you're saying is that lots of people are underappreciated in their time. That's cool. I just want someone to buy me a beer once in awhile.
- mettamage 5y ago
  Post a Ripple or Stellar address, and I'll buy you one ;-)
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - someguy101010 5y ago
    GBOKXX2RD7H2V2BKVV2WO4CG5V3HMIIJJTDBKG3Y7HJNBEKTFBY52IPW
    - blooalien 5y ago
      ROFLMAO! Let us all know how many beers you get outta that, yo! I'm genuinely curious. ;)
noduerme 5y ago
Can we actually go back to talking about why it sucks to spend years making some product awesome, that no one actually wants to use? You learn a great deal about interfaces, UX. A/B. You prepare for massive scalability. Long pause. If it was a decent idea, it's stolen by someone else who has more resources. Otherwise, it dies. Either way, no one even knows you tried. (Yeah yeah, that's back to Mr. Petrov. Maybe I should spend a year making a statue of him).
- agustif 5y ago
  Just don't spend years making something before you know someone wants it? Over-optimizing for future scaling is also bad, YAGNI, etc... Pivots are a thing, if the product ain't working can you tweak it/change it to be something else?
kossTKR 5y ago
It's just not very fullfiling to become an icon after you die, or after another company steals your idea or whatever. We are social beings, we want some amount of payoff weather in be cultural, social or monetary capital. Lots of brilliant people lived horrible lives, lots of extremely mediocre but well connected people lived happily making bank prototypes made in the shadows - and that's just how it is - but i get the gist of what OP is saying. Off course the perspective that you built something "for the Zen of it" is important, but i increasingly think it's a perspective pushed mostly to benefit the beneficiaries at the absolute top - no one want's to do stuff "for free" though the pay may be of personal value, altruistic etc.
felixr 5y ago
> Alan Turing (people did use his Enigma Enigma is the German cipher device he was instrumental in cracking. It was not his machine.
eru 5y ago
Alan Turing did not make the Enigma. He helped crack it.

noduerme 5y ago

Ahh. yeah I had to google Petrov, but I've read his story before. And why don't I know his name? Without that guy, none of us would be alive. So what you're saying is that lots of people are underappreciated in their time. That's cool. I just want someone to buy me a beer once in awhile.

mettamage 5y ago
Post a Ripple or Stellar address, and I'll buy you one ;-)
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- someguy101010 5y ago
  GBOKXX2RD7H2V2BKVV2WO4CG5V3HMIIJJTDBKG3Y7HJNBEKTFBY52IPW
  - blooalien 5y ago
    ROFLMAO! Let us all know how many beers you get outta that, yo! I'm genuinely curious. ;)

noduerme 5y ago

Can we actually go back to talking about why it sucks to spend years making some product awesome, that no one actually wants to use? You learn a great deal about interfaces, UX. A/B. You prepare for massive scalability. Long pause. If it was a decent idea, it's stolen by someone else who has more resources. Otherwise, it dies. Either way, no one even knows you tried. (Yeah yeah, that's back to Mr. Petrov. Maybe I should spend a year making a statue of him).

agustif 5y ago
Just don't spend years making something before you know someone wants it? Over-optimizing for future scaling is also bad, YAGNI, etc... Pivots are a thing, if the product ain't working can you tweak it/change it to be something else?

kossTKR 5y ago

It's just not very fullfiling to become an icon after you die, or after another company steals your idea or whatever. We are social beings, we want some amount of payoff weather in be cultural, social or monetary capital. Lots of brilliant people lived horrible lives, lots of extremely mediocre but well connected people lived happily making bank prototypes made in the shadows - and that's just how it is - but i get the gist of what OP is saying. Off course the perspective that you built something "for the Zen of it" is important, but i increasingly think it's a perspective pushed mostly to benefit the beneficiaries at the absolute top - no one want's to do stuff "for free" though the pay may be of personal value, altruistic etc.

felixr 5y ago

> Alan Turing (people did use his Enigma Enigma is the German cipher device he was instrumental in cracking. It was not his machine.

eru 5y ago

Alan Turing did not make the Enigma. He helped crack it.