4 ms·
Do we really need to wonder that long why a tight knit group of people is able to outperform a big corporation on design?
by contravariant 4y ago
Do we really need to wonder that long why a tight knit group of people is able to outperform a big corporation on design?
- recuter 4y agoThis thing is not only better designed it has all the same functionality as Spotify and a few other things. It is a complete replacement. What do all the people at Spotify do?
- karaterobot 4y agoAgreed that (ceteris paribus) a discrete open source project can have an edge on design, because it it's generally going to have a smaller scope, a more crisply defined mission, and fewer stakeholders to put their grubby fingerprints on the vision. As a designer, my most hated enemy is a system that cannot be simplified, because there is some arbitrary requirement that it remain as bloated as it's always been, plus let's keep shoveling more features on top of it because a VP said so. An additional advantage a FOSS project has, in theory, is that it probably doesn't have shareholders that demand growth and increased engagement all the time. So many bad product choices can be explained by the observation that companies with a huge market share still have to keep growing somehow, so they're going to try to keep users in the app longer, or just throw out a bunch of new features they hope will stick, whether anybody wants them or not. Or, the cargo cult method: redesign the app to copy whatever is currently growing, hoping that will work. Obviously, not all open source projects are well designed, and not all bloated unicorn products are badly designed. There are other factors.
- recuter 4y agoSutor, ne ultra crepidam.