Hacker News Reader

Comment by justin_oaks | Hacker News Reader

I'd like to give praise for the "Target User Group" section on the homepage.

Not only does it say what users the app is for, but also who it is NOT for. I think this kind of information is invaluable in deciding whether or not to use or suggest an app.

I can understand if app developers want EVERYBODY to user their app (whether or not its the best for the job) or if the app developer just doesn't want to take the time to write out who the app is NOT for. But I will praise those who do include that information.

View on HN

After reading the parent comment - I thought to myself “so what”.

But after reading it on the product page - I fully agree: seeing clearly the targeted personas and out of scope usage significantly elevates my trust in the product and the team behind it.

Have not used the software, but now I want to try

I like it and I'll take it a step further. I think this is important information for a developer to admit to THEMSELVES at least. Being all things to all people is a route straight to burnout for an open source project.

And yet, it is not available on macOS, presumably THE platform where that target user group lives.

And what makes you think that?

I wish Stackoverflow included "daily operating system" in their surveys, but I'd wager that 50%+ of professional developers use MacOS. For many reasons probably, but for me it's simply because it's a nice BSD system that translates well to Linux servers (prod).

    > but I'd wager that 50%+ of professional developers use MacOS

Ok, I will take that bet against you. If you think it true, then you are living in a bubble. Probably 90% use MS Windows with no choice, because they work in a big enterprise that uses MS Office and Exchange/Outlook. For enterprise email, is there any competition at this point? I don't know any.

> If you think it true, then you are living in a bubble.

This is probably true. I only really talk to US startup devs.

In that case, I would take your side of the bet! US startup devs appears (from HN) to have pretty liberal hardware policies. If choosing a laptop, many will choose the best hardware, which is currently a MacBook.

Startups don’t employ the majority of engineers. Windows would still dominate.

Edit: I can’t read. Disregard.

You are very much living in a bubble. Real developers don't use macs.

pip install pyspread works just fine on macOS (assuming you have pip and python installed, which anyone who would be interested in having a python-enabled spreadsheet would have).

Not quite true, as others have pointed out. However, the installation instructions say this:

> While there have been reports that pyspread can be used on OS X, OS X is currently unsupported (can you help?).

I think that would make many non-technical users uncomfortable.

I found a typo in the "Target User Group" section.

Original Sentence:

> Furthermore, Peter is worried about algorithmic errors and calculation inaccuracies is his complicated tables.

Correction:

> Furthermore, Peter is worried about algorithmic errors and calculation inaccuracies in his complicated tables.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com