5 ms·
Paul Graham is Braindead
- earthboundkid 19y agoFrom http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=80815 http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=80815 : "id Software has set up a second development team - and its first project is likely to raise some eyebrows. "That group has begun by working on a web-browser-based version of the developer's popular Quake 3 Arena first-person shooter, Quake Zero, which will be funded by advertising."
- henning 19y agoBetter to offend some than to bore everyone.
- ntoshev 19y agoI thought that if an article with such title is upvoted here, it will say something interesting. Not so.
- dshah 19y agoYes, but it seems from discussion here earlier news.yc user accounts are reviewed as part of the YC application process (this has been mentioned before). As such, even though PG would never penalize users for upvoting critical articles, I'm guessing there are some users that are paranoid anyways and playing it safe.
- create_account 19y agoYou're not going to be much of an entrepreneur if you're afraid of disagreeing with your investors every now and then.
- awt 19y agoI wonder if that guy has ever actually tried using OSX?
- nkohari 19y agoI have, and I actually am considering buying a Macbook Pro. That doesn't change my argument.
- jey 19y agoIBM will be king for a long time to come. Just because a few rogue techno-mavericks are starting to use these little "personal computers" doesn't mean anything. They have no effect on nor relevance to the rest of society. A dinky little machine is good for people who aren't serious and who just want a toy. You can't get work done on a little toy. Mainframes will always be the way real, serious, moneymaking business is done. After all, look at how much money is put into the mainframe market today. Do you see any self-respecting professional who doesn't pay attention to the mainframe market? It's obvious that "PCs" are for amateur hobbyist techno-mavericks who have nothing better to do with their free time than waste it. -- While Mac may not win in the long run, Windows sure as hell is on the way to the land of nostalgia. It'll still be around, and people will still use it and depend on it, but they won't like it -- just like COBOL. I'd be pretty unhappy if my checks stopped clearing because all the COBOL programmers maintaining IBM 360s suddenly vanished.
- staunch 19y agoI think it's good etiquette to put a date in the title if you're posting something that's old, like this. "Paul Graham is Braindead (April 2007)" or something. This guy's post is barely coherent and shorter than many comments on this site.
- nkohari 19y agoYou noticed that too? :) It was only meant as a rant, but it ended up getting several thousand views. Not sure why. I still think the core argument is valid, if you can ignore my ramblings about rubber chickens and Larry Ellison. ;)
- dpapathanasiou 19y agoThis is a more valid criticism of Graham, without the personal attacks: http://www.raydeck.com/2006/10/paul-graham-is-hurting-the-children/ http://www.raydeck.com/2006/10/paul-graham-is-hurting-the-ch...
- pg 19y agoBut this one is disagreeing with something else. Is this the Microsoft-isn't-dead thread, or the general pg-sucks thread?
- dpapathanasiou 19y agoI took this to be the general "emperor has no clothes" (perhaps contrarian is a better phrase) thread, but if this is supposed to be the Microsoft-isn't-dead thread, then I'll delete my comment.
- deleted 19y ago[deleted]
- aswanson 19y agoAh, he is typing. As I suspected, news of his brain's demise have been highly exagerrated.
- create_account 19y agoMaybe he left behind a text file of replies, to be posted here one by one by an automated script in such an event.
- blored 19y agoI voted you up not because you aren't retarded, but because that was truly hilarious.
- Jd 19y agoIt seems the entire argument could be summed up as follows: PG focuses simply on product development I focus on product development with obvious monetization, which for some reason I call 'marketing.' If you have a product which cannot obviously be monetizatized, you should not quit your day job. Therefore, PG is 'hurting the children' by encouraging people to spend time developing products which may not be easily monetized. An even more concise summary: Don't put any effort into anything unless you are sure you can make money off of it. Altruism is stupid. PG believes in altruistic behavior, therefore he is stupid.
- dejb 19y agoTo be perfectly frank I think he has a point. Paul Graham has some great things to say and he is certainly not braindead. But on this one I think he is dead wrong.
- abstractbill 19y agoI disagree. When I first read pg's Microsoft-is-dead essay my response was definitely of the "well duh" variety.
- pg 19y agoThis pair of comments reproduces the phenomenon described in the last paragraph of the essay. Perhaps that happens if you write about any super controversial topic, no matter what conclusion you draw.
- Jd 19y agoI'm in the 'Well duh' category too, but I still think Apple is over-rated. Too much enthusiasm for Jobs & co. will do no one any good.
- create_account 19y agoI think you're in the 'duh' category based on what you've written here.
- Jd 19y agoWow, down-modded by create_account for questioning the wisdom of Jobs. Sorry.
- mattmaroon 19y agoLol @ linkbaiting.
- zeantsoi 19y agolotta koolaid being drank round here
- nkohari 19y agoGuess I should come and defend myself just in case I ever want to come to the west coast. :) First off, the title is obviously not meant to indicate that Paul Graham is, in fact, braindead. In reality, I respect Paul immensely, and it was for this fact that I felt strongly enough that I had to comment. As for the title, I was simply matching one sensationalist title with another. (Note that the title of neither article was actually representative of its real argument.) Secondly, although many wish it (sometimes myself included), Microsoft is not dead nor dying. My core argument is that if Paul wanted to say that entrepreneurs shouldn't fear Microsoft, then so be it; his point would have been much stronger and well-stated. I also would have agreed with him... no one should be afraid of Microsoft, they're just a company. Instead, he said things like "no one uses Windows" and "everyone can see the desktop is over" and completely undermined his own credibility. Anyhow, as I said in another comment, it was just meant as a rant, and I'm surprised the post has gotten as much interest as it has. I still stand by what I said, but I probably could have toned down the sensationalism a bit. :) Thanks for visiting and commenting; it's very good to get the opposing view. I wish you could have read the 30-odd comments that were left, most in agreement, before I switched back to Wordpress and nuked them... :/
- nanijoe 19y agoI think you should defend yourself becuase you are NOT on the west coast. PG patrols the east coast with a mean machete, lopping off the heads of all that offend.