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Back then all that stuff was basically low-hanging fruit. The time was right. If Xerox hadn't come up with them, someone else would have within a couple of year
by crazygringo 2y ago
Back then all that stuff was basically low-hanging fruit. The time was right. If Xerox hadn't come up with them, someone else would have within a couple of years.
Also, they were all conceptually pretty simple.
Believe it or not, running an app store is massively more complex than any of those things you listed. Dealing with payments across countries, legal entities, fraud, security, hiring processes, employee performance standards, and so forth. A laser printer or a GUI is much simpler in comparison.
Also, that terminal emulator you're describing -- first, it's not just an emulator, it's adding a lot of new features. Second, developer salaries have skyrocketed relative to inflation. So even accounting for inflation, $12M goes a lot less far than it did in the 1970's.
- Jtsummers 2y agohttps://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/software-developers.htm https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/... Median salaries in 2023 were $130k. Yes, salaries are higher now but not by an insane amount, but this is a software team. They don't need an office, they don't need custom hardware. They don't need to invent ethernet along the way to make this work. They need to make a terminal emulator that people are willing to spend money on (good luck). Push the salaries up to $200k/year and total cost to $300k to cover other expenses (HR, health insurance, buying their laptops, etc.) and $23 million supports a team of about 77 devs for a year or about 25 for 3 years.