4 ms·

Visualization of Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, and Microsoft’s Consumer Product Lines

79 points by apeconmyth 4y ago

giuliomagnifico 4y ago
Nice, looks like very “2000” style.
- papercuts 4y ago
  Thanks, that could be a clue to where my head is stuck! Haven't been able to bring a designer onboard yet so definitely going art brut with the style for now.
papercuts 4y ago
Oh wow, thanks HN, within seconds of being on the front page, our site is down, cheers! Checking with my web host about what to do now, but love having this problem! Hope to have the site back up to share this visualization with you soon!
- ffhhj 4y ago
  Congrats! It's up now. Curious about which Dreamhost service are you using to host your website?
  - papercuts 4y ago
    Thank you, I was just about to write up some props for DreamHost, because they were totally awesome today! My site basically crashed within moments of being on the front page, but it turned out to be just as much about the traffic as it was a few technical elements I have not been on top of. It was only down for an hour, but I was chatting with support within minutes, and the same person stuck with my ticket through resolution. WooCommerce cart ajax and cron jobs were partially to blame, but DreamHost suggested a few new plugins, and I can tell on the backend that everything is happier now. Meanwhile, traffic has been flowing in happily since. (What a day!!!) Anyway, I’m using DreamPress Plus and have been very happy with the service and support!
site-packages1 4y ago
Is posting things under alternate accounts to boost the submission allowed? I note that user "papercuts" and user "apeconmyth" appear to be the same person posting and interacting on their company submission.
- apeconmyth 4y ago
  Hi, sorry, meant no offense. Apeconmyth is my old account here on HN, which is why I posted from there. I created the new Papercuts account after making the front page. I'm not trying to play games.
JamesCoyne 4y ago
https://web.archive.org/web/20220727222556/https://www.papercutslibrary.com/process-notes/a-non-exhaustive-yet-fairly-thorough-view-of-big-tech-via-amazon-apple-alphabet-and-microsofts-consumer-product-lines/ https://web.archive.org/web/20220727222556/https://www.paper...
aYsY4dDQ2NrcNzA 4y ago
Re: Apple I don’t see how any of these are to be considered a “product”, especially since they can’t be purchased or acquired in any way apart from some actual product: * Touch ID * Apple ID * FairPlay * bridgeOS * any of the apps bundled with the OS, such as Automator or Stickies
- papercuts 4y ago
  Thank you for the feedback, I see what you are saying. Definitions were difficult, and hopefully I'm not being too fast and loose with the "product line" categorization of this chart in general. I put these in for visibility sake, and also perhaps because Apple didn't have as much to go in here than expected, but will definitely consider your notes for a future revision, thanks again!
  - aYsY4dDQ2NrcNzA 4y ago
    Actually, I think it would be good to illustrate how few product lines Apple has as compared to its competitors.
- wmeredith 4y ago
  This also struck me as odd. I can't use Siri on my Android phone in order to "fragment my exposure to big tech".
  - papercuts 4y ago
    Yes, in terms of "fragmentation," Mix & Match is vague and only possible in certain ways, but it gets more specific with tips #2-4 about browsers, search, and AI assistants. As an Apple user, I avoid Safari to fragment (the tip is about switching to Firefox), and also have changed to Neeva to fragment my Google exposure. Otherwise, I hear you, and definitely hoped for more clean lines and opportunities, but the book turned into being more about raising awareness of these companies' reach and incepting the mere suggestion that a user could (or even want to) fragment or limit their exposure in any way.
- 4y ago
ffhhj 4y ago
Really nice! Please make one for their products graveyard, ie: https://killedbygoogle.com/ https://killedbygoogle.com/
gzer0 4y ago
https://comparecloud.in/ https://comparecloud.in/ https://github.com/ilyas-it83/CloudComparer https://github.com/ilyas-it83/CloudComparer Tangentially related, and more cloud focused, but this tool is the best resource I have come across to compare cloud services and offerings between the six cloud providers. Yes, even has IBM, Oracle, and Alibaba :)
TheRealNGenius 4y ago
It looks pretty shit
- TheRealNGenius 4y ago
  it's the truth
smm11 4y ago
I'm considering everything under Alphabet to be at risk of going away at any second. Also, no idea IMDB was Amazon.
- papercuts 4y ago
  Great point, with their track record it’s partially a cautionary tale in Alphabet’s case! IMDb being Amazon is so big. As if the rating system wasn’t already degrading enough, their ownership of it blows the whole deal in my book. Goodreads was a discovery for me. We are purposely not selling the Papercuts Library on Amazon, but I had been eyeing a Goodreads account. Skipping it as well now.
hnbear 4y ago
This is a really cool idea. At first I thought it was a random cloud and would benefit from organization, but then reading down saw the key. The only downside is that it’s not obvious up front which area maps to what business segment, eg if I want to find “Mobile” I have to scan the cloud for things that mentally match to that (eg Android, iOS). It does make the comparison of products in each area clear though, by virtue of density, but not what the area represents.
- papercuts 4y ago
  Thank you very much. There were so many competing design notions to consider, and while I eventually went heavy on adding things, it was partly due to the seeming bare minimum already being too much, so why not see how far I could reasonably push it. Unfortunately I admit that the chart is less impactful than hoped because of it… but hopefully it is also a little fun, and maybe someone picks up something from it (like IMDb below!). On the positive, I agree that being able to eyeball the “comparison of products in each area” is the one element that works nicely, once you pick up on it.
papercuts 4y ago
Before we drop off the front page, I just wanted to say thanks again to the HN community for an amazing day! I was very nervous about sharing here... but while this viz is part of a book meant for a lay-consumer audience, it was written with the goal of being able to withstand the general scrutiny of the Hacker News crowd... so thanks for taking a look and sharing your thoughts and comments!

79 points by apeconmyth 4y ago

giuliomagnifico 4y ago

Nice, looks like very “2000” style.

papercuts 4y ago
Thanks, that could be a clue to where my head is stuck! Haven't been able to bring a designer onboard yet so definitely going art brut with the style for now.

papercuts 4y ago

Oh wow, thanks HN, within seconds of being on the front page, our site is down, cheers! Checking with my web host about what to do now, but love having this problem! Hope to have the site back up to share this visualization with you soon!

ffhhj 4y ago
Congrats! It's up now. Curious about which Dreamhost service are you using to host your website?
- papercuts 4y ago
  Thank you, I was just about to write up some props for DreamHost, because they were totally awesome today! My site basically crashed within moments of being on the front page, but it turned out to be just as much about the traffic as it was a few technical elements I have not been on top of. It was only down for an hour, but I was chatting with support within minutes, and the same person stuck with my ticket through resolution. WooCommerce cart ajax and cron jobs were partially to blame, but DreamHost suggested a few new plugins, and I can tell on the backend that everything is happier now. Meanwhile, traffic has been flowing in happily since. (What a day!!!) Anyway, I’m using DreamPress Plus and have been very happy with the service and support!

site-packages1 4y ago

Is posting things under alternate accounts to boost the submission allowed? I note that user "papercuts" and user "apeconmyth" appear to be the same person posting and interacting on their company submission.

apeconmyth 4y ago
Hi, sorry, meant no offense. Apeconmyth is my old account here on HN, which is why I posted from there. I created the new Papercuts account after making the front page. I'm not trying to play games.

JamesCoyne 4y ago

https://web.archive.org/web/20220727222556/https://www.papercutslibrary.com/process-notes/a-non-exhaustive-yet-fairly-thorough-view-of-big-tech-via-amazon-apple-alphabet-and-microsofts-consumer-product-lines/ https://web.archive.org/web/20220727222556/https://www.paper...

aYsY4dDQ2NrcNzA 4y ago

Re: Apple I don’t see how any of these are to be considered a “product”, especially since they can’t be purchased or acquired in any way apart from some actual product: * Touch ID * Apple ID * FairPlay * bridgeOS * any of the apps bundled with the OS, such as Automator or Stickies

papercuts 4y ago
Thank you for the feedback, I see what you are saying. Definitions were difficult, and hopefully I'm not being too fast and loose with the "product line" categorization of this chart in general. I put these in for visibility sake, and also perhaps because Apple didn't have as much to go in here than expected, but will definitely consider your notes for a future revision, thanks again!
- aYsY4dDQ2NrcNzA 4y ago
  Actually, I think it would be good to illustrate how few product lines Apple has as compared to its competitors.
wmeredith 4y ago
This also struck me as odd. I can't use Siri on my Android phone in order to "fragment my exposure to big tech".
- papercuts 4y ago
  Yes, in terms of "fragmentation," Mix & Match is vague and only possible in certain ways, but it gets more specific with tips #2-4 about browsers, search, and AI assistants. As an Apple user, I avoid Safari to fragment (the tip is about switching to Firefox), and also have changed to Neeva to fragment my Google exposure. Otherwise, I hear you, and definitely hoped for more clean lines and opportunities, but the book turned into being more about raising awareness of these companies' reach and incepting the mere suggestion that a user could (or even want to) fragment or limit their exposure in any way.
4y ago

ffhhj 4y ago

Really nice! Please make one for their products graveyard, ie: https://killedbygoogle.com/ https://killedbygoogle.com/

gzer0 4y ago

https://comparecloud.in/ https://comparecloud.in/ https://github.com/ilyas-it83/CloudComparer https://github.com/ilyas-it83/CloudComparer Tangentially related, and more cloud focused, but this tool is the best resource I have come across to compare cloud services and offerings between the six cloud providers. Yes, even has IBM, Oracle, and Alibaba :)

TheRealNGenius 4y ago

It looks pretty shit

TheRealNGenius 4y ago
it's the truth

smm11 4y ago

I'm considering everything under Alphabet to be at risk of going away at any second. Also, no idea IMDB was Amazon.

papercuts 4y ago
Great point, with their track record it’s partially a cautionary tale in Alphabet’s case! IMDb being Amazon is so big. As if the rating system wasn’t already degrading enough, their ownership of it blows the whole deal in my book. Goodreads was a discovery for me. We are purposely not selling the Papercuts Library on Amazon, but I had been eyeing a Goodreads account. Skipping it as well now.

hnbear 4y ago

This is a really cool idea. At first I thought it was a random cloud and would benefit from organization, but then reading down saw the key. The only downside is that it’s not obvious up front which area maps to what business segment, eg if I want to find “Mobile” I have to scan the cloud for things that mentally match to that (eg Android, iOS). It does make the comparison of products in each area clear though, by virtue of density, but not what the area represents.

papercuts 4y ago
Thank you very much. There were so many competing design notions to consider, and while I eventually went heavy on adding things, it was partly due to the seeming bare minimum already being too much, so why not see how far I could reasonably push it. Unfortunately I admit that the chart is less impactful than hoped because of it… but hopefully it is also a little fun, and maybe someone picks up something from it (like IMDb below!). On the positive, I agree that being able to eyeball the “comparison of products in each area” is the one element that works nicely, once you pick up on it.

papercuts 4y ago

Before we drop off the front page, I just wanted to say thanks again to the HN community for an amazing day! I was very nervous about sharing here... but while this viz is part of a book meant for a lay-consumer audience, it was written with the goal of being able to withstand the general scrutiny of the Hacker News crowd... so thanks for taking a look and sharing your thoughts and comments!