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Comment by ericabiz | Hacker News Reader

The great thing about working for an Internet company (I'm assuming you do since you've been on Hacker News for a while) is that you can really live anywhere. I moved my most recent startup to Austin after living in the Valley for 10 years and SoCal for 2. I'm already ridiculously happy with the move. And it seems like much of California is following me here--we are even getting an In-N-Out Burger this year!

Austin is a great place to run a company. Lower cost of living, lower taxes, and now Google Fiber. Plus the people here are amazingly friendly. I'm happy to compare/contrast vs. the Valley or SoCal--shoot me an email (email in my profile) if you have questions.

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>And it seems like much of California is following me here--we are even getting an In-N-Out Burger this year!

California has been driving people away for decades: http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/cr_71.htm#.UWRs1Bkhf... . My own family moved out of CA when I was 10 for the usual reasons: high housing costs and long commutes. Housing costs have stayed high and so have commutes; consequently, a lot of people are leaving for the usual places: Phoenix, Austin, Seattle. . .

"Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded"

I live in Dallas and I like the lower cost of living and everything. But now I wish I lived in Austin. :)

The thing I hate about both Dallas and Austin is driving. I used to live northeast and could walk everywhere much easier. Austin seems to be pretty bike-friendly though, and Dallas is becoming more so.

If you choose where you live and work carefully, living without a car in Austin isn't so bad. In particular, car2go is a godsend. That plus my bike and the bus get me around.

I would agree with you if it weren't for the heat. And don't give me anything of that "It's a dry heat" bullshit; >90 days in a row over 100 degrees is enough to make the city turn into Do The Right Thing.

My office for the past few summers has had a shower, so I biked most of the time. Riding the bus isn't bad either as long as you can wait in the shade.

Lived in both Austin and North Dallas. Compared to Austin traffic, Dallas is a parking lot. Austin has random spouts of traffic and a plethora of backroads. Dallas, the side highways are the backroads. Beltline Road would be backed up from 6 AM to 2 AM daily. Awful, awful traffic.

We tried to go from Dallas to Plano one time on a weekday at 4:30. Took 3 hours for a 15-20 mile trip. Nuts to that.

There's a couple of choke points where you can't take backroads in Austin without going all out of your way. In particular, anything crossing Lady Bird Lake.

Redbud Trail is great.

Other than that, yeah, you're going to fight traffic.

The city proper not so much, but the immediate northern suburbs are increasingly bike-friendly.

The necessity of driving is also one of my biggest issues with the area. My list is quite a bit longer than that, though. I would already rather be in Austin, and this announcement just makes that worse.:)

After growing up in Southern California and moving to a city in the north east, I really miss driving. And the sun. Austin is sounding better every day.

Shhhh! Don't tell him that Austin is great. Everyone will move here, then turn it into California.[1]

EVERYBODY: AUSTIN SUCKS, DON'T MOVE HERE! [2]

[1] it's possible that this has already happened, of course. [2] I just moved back (from Hawaii) in 2011.

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