2 ms·
So to make this a little more HN-y, there exists the possibility that two users were just using software in a counterintuitive and unplanned for fashion for wha
by patio11 14y ago
So to make this a little more HN-y, there exists the possibility that two users were just using software in a counterintuitive and unplanned for fashion for whatever reason makes sense to them as users. It happens all the time.
Ask me how many shopping lists are in Bingo Card Creator ("I like it because I can write them at school and then pull them up on my iPhone!") or about Appointment Reminder users who use the appointment schedule as I-can't-believe-its-not-Google-Calendar in between their actual appointments. (Quick SQL suggests there are over sixty AR customers who have no-contact-info-included calendar entries which don't appear to represent actual people/appointments, like "class", "doctor", "soccer practice", etc.)
Or more broadly, have you ever seen:
+ Wordpress drafts used as a company internal knowledgebase?
+ TI calculator programs used as notepads?
+ Video games used as photo sharing communities? (Long story short: it is called Flickr.)
etc, etc, etc
- orangethirty 14y agoI have a little paste bin clone running on the web for my family and friends to use (testing it before release as OSS). It allows for file uploads, and text/link storage. One day noticed someone was linking from one paste to another. Strange. Why would anyone save a link they have access to? Turns out they did not have access to Powerpoint and were using the program as an online presentation tool. It was quite clever. They would upload a file, writhe the caption under it in the comments box, then insert the link for the next item in the presentation. I would have never guessed someone could use it for such a thing. Went ahead and asked them about it, and they said the loved that feature... :)