Ask HN: Ever launched a failed desktop app?

9 pointsvram223 comments

Question inspired by recent Ask HN thread:

Ask HN: Have you launched a failed web business?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12280881

Yes, skyPlux desktop [1]. It was a Traditional Astrology application that I was developing in Python/PySide for sale. Unfortunately it didn't got anywhere as I was mostly working for my PhD thesis and never got the timing right. It was pretty ugly by my current standards..

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC7jCWm6EC4

Astrology, interesting. I remember seeing astrology apps and their printed output - horoscopes, etc. - probably done in dBase, Foxpro or Clipper - back in the day. Hadn't thought about it for years. Wasn't into it myself, but my guess is that the apps or their output (operated by real human astrologers (automation!), or corner xerox shops), actually sold, maybe even well.

A non-techie friend once consulted me about making an app to predict results of horse races, applying the "rules" in some really old esoteric book he had. Didn't do it after all, forget why. Maybe I thought the "rules" were not implementable or were logically inconsistent (I mean leaving aside the fact that you cannot predict such things, and not to mention rigging either).

Feel free to share any points about your story. Edit: I mean, you do not have to just restrict yourself to only answering questions like those by the other (web business) question poster. Could share anything of interest.

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