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Comment by ryno364 | Hacker News Reader

Reid Hoffman hates Musk. Think what you will of Musk (we all have our opinions), but Hoffman criticizing one of Musks companies is the equivalent of Steve Jobs criticizing Windows. Its a personal quibble and therefore not really news worthy.

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If you want to know why you shouldn't choose Windows it makes sense to get Steve Jobs' opinion and then evaluate the opinion.

Instead of listening to the critiques of actual Windows users? Jobs was an evangelist who couldn't see past his Nintendo-esque ecosystem zealotry, didn't use Windows and thereby couldn't understand why Windows won the enterprise and computer gaming market despite its flaws.

It’s like Bill Gates criticizing Apple… if you really want to split hairs about the analogy used.

This is not a very good comparison because Jobs was well known for very pointed and accurate critique of software, which was one of his super powers at Apple. Bill Gates was known for figuring out how to manage software engineering, but nobody would listen to Gates about that, and in fact the only time I ever saw him critique software, talking about the complete usability failure of Windows and Microsoft's supporting websites, it did not require any sort of deep insight.

Hoffmans critique about which businesses have good promise should be taken seriously, if with a grain of salt.

It’s an analogy, it’s always going to be imperfect!

Jesus Christ.

Sorry if that came across a bit too strong with too much overthinking, but in a pool of comments like this I'm trying to add a bit more meat instead of the lazy cynicism I see elsewhere!

If you want to know why you might want to buy a product ask the company that made it. If you want to know why you might not, ask their competitor. In both cases the answers are valuable, but in neither case should you take the answers at face value.

It's like some random lottery winner criticizing Apple - there's no special insight or perspective there. He is a fundamentally uninteresting, and pridefully smug person.

Better, like Balmer criticizing the iPhone. Because he famously did and got it 100% wrong. ;-)

I would want jobs opinion because Jobs would give a good analysis, more so because I would value his opinion.

Any other person selling an alternative… might just be BS.

Steve Jobs did have valid criticisms of Windows.

Saying it's like Pepsi criticizing Coca Cola is probably a better analogy.

This is like the guy at Techdirt writing another article about how dumb Elon is.

He still can be right.

But yeah its clear that xAI is a trainwreck and Space-X is weird cult hype.

That's like saying nobody should have listened to MLK criticising segregation because he hated the KKK.

I think that’s a pretty inappropriate comparison and you should withdraw it. Please edit your post?

The faux outrage is odd.

> faux outrage

Less faux than a bit silly. Their outrage isn’t fake. It’s just misplaced.

The comparison doesn’t work because the KKK’s violent racism isn’t comparable to commercial competition and the relatively-polite quibbles of two San Francisco billionaires. That’s less insulting than just wrong.

lol, far more odious things get posted every day on this website.

It would only be like that if MLK was trying to become the lead white supremacist.

ridiculous comparison

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