I Am the Only User | Hacker News Reader

I Am the Only User

blubsblog.bearblog.dev

64 pointssmp024 comments

Very related: an app can be a home-cooked meal

https://www.robinsloan.com/notes/home-cooked-app/

I fully agree with the article. I'm much more productive when I don't think about potential future users of my obscure little projects. It's also so much easier to deploy because it targets one environment.

“I don’t have to finish this” is also quite liberating

There is this quote that I can’t find by Tarantino, basically saying he did the movies all for himself thinking there has to be other people like me out there. I cannot be the only guy who’s weird the way I am.

PS: if anyone knows the source please share. I think it was in an interview.

I believe it was James Cameron talking about "lengthy flying scenes". Something along the lines of: "I want to see it".

Edit: found it, it appears to be ripped from his masterclass

https://twitter.com/fiendformojitos/status/16111646188895641...

Edit: sorry, didn't mean to sound like the Tarantino quote doesn't exist, they've probably said similar things.

I think it was on Howard Stern [0], see video.

[0] https://www.unilad.com/film-and-tv/quentin-tarantino-makes-h...

One of the reasons why Adam Sandler movies are so terrible is because he doesn't make them to make squillions in an international release. He makes them as an excuse to goof off with his buddies. (Hence why Spade and Schneider tend to appear.) Any profit he makes off people who are into the result is gravy.

The worst thing about Adam Sandler is that he can act, and he can make very good movies, he just chooses not to.

There's a nugget of wisdom in there

Yeah that's so true. You can see his acting skills in films like "Punch Drunk Love".

That was the movie I was thinking of, but there are a handful of others examples as well.

He'll choose to when he's good and ready. He was amazing in Uncut Gems. What's worse, to be in a position to make shitty movies because you want to, because they're made for you and your buds? Or to have to appear in someone else's shitty movies because you're on the Hollywood work treadmill and can't support your lavish lifestyle without taking whatever work you can get?

It seems a bit selfish but there is some additional rational for this...

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." -Richard Feynman, Personal observations on the reliability of the Shuttle

Just know if you are designing software to protect a life be willing to test it on yourself first. After all, "I am the Only User"

Some days I feel this is the fundamental difference between the GPL and BSD like licenses.

If you are building the thing for others, you obvously care about what and how others will use the software, so use the GPL.

When you are building it for yourself, it does not matter how others use the software, go ahead and use a BSD license.

Not sure that follows. GPL is about preserving the freedom to access and modify code especially of those derivatives.

All I can do is repeat myself, in your case, you care how others are using your software, so you are building it for them and you want to make sure that they use it in the correct spirit. This is what the GPL is for.

However due to the weird economy of software. Research costs are quite high. but manufacturing and distribution are about as close to zero as you can get. It is very possible to say "I built this for myself, but because it is easy to do, you can use it if you want". In this case you don't care about once it leaves your hands, once someone else gets it your part of the process is over. This is what the BSD style licenses are for.

This is true, I enjoy creating small apps for my 4 year old kid and productivity was off the roof too.

Every engineer needs to be a little bit product designer. Narrowing scope to something specific and measurable is critical or projects just go on forever…

I feel like we think “I’m not at work so I can skip all that stuff.” And then we suffer for it.

I like this. In fact I think I need this strategy.

I have few apps that I Am the Only User, never shared them.

And the apps that I have shared, I never use them.

You should probably do opposite.

Exact same here. My most popular tool is one I don't use because I no longer play the game the tool is for.

Every great idea starts with a single user. Thx for sharing.

If you fail, reduce expectations until success is achieved.

also worth noting: once you ship for yourself, you can update the app to work for more users. but it at least already works for one!

Obligatory:

https://youtu.be/wwvLlEtxX3o

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