tag:world.hey.com,2005:/dhh/feedDavid Heinemeier Hansson2024-03-15T17:29:26Ztag:world.hey.com,2005:World::Post/359182024-03-15T17:24:00Z2024-03-15T17:29:26Z Chart the course, set the pace, hold the line<div class="trix-content">
<div>I break the essential responsibilities of the company executive into three distinct buckets. They are:<br> </div><h1>1. Chart the course</h1><div>Where are we going? What are we building? Who is it for? Any executive running anything has to know the answer to these questions in order to lead anyone anywhere. If you don't have a clue where you're going, any road can take you there, and running in circles is as good as making progress. This is not viable.<br> <br>That doesn't mean having a five-year plan! Or even a quarterly target! We decide on what features we're going to build for <a href="https://basecamp.com/">Basecamp</a> and <a href="https://www.hey.com/">HEY</a> every 6-8 weeks. That's charting the course just in time and at a high resolution.<br> <br>Because if anything, being a "long-term thinker" is an invitation to smell your own intellectual exhaust fumes. It's much easier to bullshit from 30,000 ft than it is when imminent decisions stare you in the face.<br> <br>And someone's has to do it! Someone has to say: This is what we're doing. Let's go.<br> </div><h1>2. Set the pace</h1><div>Not only does work easily expand to fit the time allotted, but our ambitions will shrink along with our declining productivity. The slower you're moving, the less you think you can do, the slower you're moving. The only counter to this is to be ambitious, bold, and impatient.<br> <br>Again, this doesn't mean cracking the whip over a herd of cubicled programmers zombieing their way through yet another death march day on a 12-hour shift. Setting the pace isn't about demanding more hours, it's about demanding more <em>from</em> those hours.<br> <br> It's also about constantly questioning the premise of the work. Why are we doing it this way? Could it be done differently? Are you prepping for contingencies that are too remote to matter? Or are you not spending enough time where it really counts?<br> <br> The only way to tell is by knowing the work. Executives who drift high up in the clouds have a hard time seeing the terrain. You can only get so much information second-hand or from outdated maps. You have to be there to know.<br> <br> So to be bold, you must have insight – or you're just delusional. Credibility is built on pushing for a reach and then actually making it. If you're constantly pushing for the impossible, and none of it happens, you're a clown. Get out of here.<br> </div><h1>3. Hold the line</h1><div>Quality withers quickly when nobody sweats it. You have to take it personal, to some degree. It has to offend your sensibilities when things are not right, to some degree. Because you need that energy to halt the work and redo what isn't right when you find out. If you let it slide, if you don't sweat, eventually nobody else will.<br> <br>And holding the line on quality isn't just about the customer experience, it's about everything. It's about writing code that'll be a joy to read in three years. It's about giving support staff enough policy leeway to deal with problems (without giving the farm away). It's about making sure none of the writing that's signed by the company makes you cringe.<br> <br>Holding the line also means being willing to pay for it. Always look for a good bargain, when good quality is available at a great price, but never be cheap. You're holding the line so you'll be able to be proud of what you're producing tomorrow, next year, next decade. A culture of quality is built one product and process decision at the time.<br> <br>Do all these three things well, do them consistently, do them when it's hard, do them when it doesn't look like it's working, and regardless of what happens, you'll have done your best with what was there. Whether that's enough for success or sustainability is usually out of your hands anyway. But great execution according to these three responsibilities have a way of finding the gold.</div>
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David Heinemeier Hanssondhh@hey.comtag:world.hey.com,2005:World::Post/359062024-03-15T01:17:38Z2024-03-15T16:42:23ZBeware the leviathans<div class="trix-content">
<div>I've been <a href="https://signalvnoise.com/svn3/testimony-before-the-house-antitrust-subcommittee/">pleading</a> <a href="https://signalvnoise.com/svn3/testimony-before-the-north-dakota-senate-industry-business-and-labor-committee/">with</a> <a href="https://world.hey.com/dhh/testimony-before-the-arizona-house-of-representatives-e48f3e89">antitrust</a> <a href="https://signalvnoise.com/svn3/on-apples-monopoly-power-to-destroy-hey/">authorities</a> around the world to do something about Big Tech for years now. Especially with those awful app store monopolies that have been choking out developers left, right, and center. But now that <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2024/01/apple-announces-changes-to-ios-safari-and-the-app-store-in-the-european-union/">something</a> finally looks to be happening, I'm suddenly concerned that it might, and that we'll end up wishing that it didn't.<br> <br> It's not because I suddenly have a newfound appreciation for Apple's or Google's right to milk their mobile tollbooths for billions more. Au contraire. My concern is rather that the sovereign leviathans of the world, be it the EU or the US, might not exactly share as many interests with free market advocates as it appears on the surface.<br> <br> Let's start with the Digital Markets Act. That's the main antitrust battering ram hitting the gates of Apple's keep at the moment. And Apple doesn't seem to know what's up, down, or any which way around. They're stumbling from <a href="https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/02/apple_reverses_pwa_decision/">one defiant defeat</a> to <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/12/apple-to-allow-web-distribution-for-ios-apps-in-latest-dma-tweaks/">the next humiliating flip-flop</a> on policy. It's hard not to be filled with schadenfreude in response.<br> <br> Apple is finally getting a dose of its own infuriating medicine! It's fumbling in the dark trying to comply with vague, ambiguous rules that seem designed for maximum frustration. And it can't seem to get a straight answer from said authorities on exactly what it'll take to be legal. It has to invent a myriad of APIs and policies up front, only then to be told what will be accepted (or not) after the fact.<br> <br> Welcome to <a href="https://www.hey.com/apple/">our world</a>, Apple. This is exactly what it feels like to be a developer knocking on the door of your app store bureaucracy. Being bandied about from reviewer to reviewer, never certain what it takes to make you happy. Constantly wishing that the next update will just make your bureaucrats go away and leave us alone.<br> <br> But once I've let the dark delight subside, I must return to my principles. The reason developers are so frustrated with the app store monopolies is exactly the absence of clear rules that are consistently and predictably enforced. We want a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Carta">rule of law</a> where it's obvious what's kosher and what's not. Where everyone is treated the same, regardless of industry, power, or privilege. A lady justice blind to her subjects.<br> <br> In the best case scenario, this awful DMA adventure that Apple is currently struggling through will be a mirror for the company to reflect on its own behavior. And, having felt exactly that sense of intolerable frustration shared by countless developers, they'll use the introspection to reconsider their extractive ways.<br> <br> Yes, that's very much wishful thinking. But I refuse to stop hoping, because if you give up on hope, you're bound to become cynical, and that's a curse worse than any commercial dispossession.<br> <br> But let's return to the biggest potential threat here. Not from Apple, not from Google, but from the sovereign leviathans. The legislatures, the courts, and the rest of the governmental machinery slowly churning their big grinding gears in the US and the EU.<br> <br> The DMA is convoluted and complicated because the EU is trying to have its cake and eat it too. It purports to open markets and ensure competition, but at the same time embrace the power of consolidation by co-opting Apple's (and Google's) reach and gatekeeper privileges. This latter motive is what governments on both sides of the Atlantic have been pursuing for the internet since day one. To bring it under their control.<br> <br> You see this with the scarily <a href="https://www.legaldive.com/news/digital-services-act-dsa-eu-misinformation-law-propaganda-compliance-facebook-gdpr/691657/">authoritarian laws targeting "misinformation"</a> and <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/government-says-only-extreme-online-hate-speech-would-be-probed-by-human-rights-body-1.6797025">other forms of speech</a> that are spreading in both the new world and the old. You see it in the countless of examples of overt collaboration between the key platforms and government censors. <a href="https://twitterfiles.substack.com/p/the-censorship-industrial-complex">The Twitter Files</a> gave us a depressing look into how officials were circumventing the first amendment in the US, and most of the rest of the world doesn't even have a right to free speech enshrined in their constitution. So laws that seek increasingly draconian penalties for forbidden speech are coming out of the woodwork everywhere.<br> <br> And here's the kicker. These laws need implementation, and no process has proven more effective than deputizing the likes of Apple, Google, Amazon, and other Big Tech platform owners. Making them responsible for carrying out the censorship. Whether that takes the explicit form of official laws and their invocation, like the dystopian financial crackdown on <a href="https://world.hey.com/dhh/go-truck-yourself-a14306d9">the Canadian trucker protests</a> and their donors, or the <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/parler-ceo-blasts-aoc-elected-officials-who-called-to-ban-his-app-i-think-its-sick">threats</a> from officials that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/10/technology/parler-app-trump-free-speech.html">pushed Parlor off the internet</a>.<br> <br> Now I know that as soon as we dive into the specifics, like the Canadian trucker protests or Parlor or anything else from those divisive archives, this whole debate turns into a partisan team sport. Whatever lofty principles people hold in the abstract are quickly sacrificed, if there's a chance to score a win against the opposing side. This is when labels fly freely, and suddenly everyone is a nazi or a communist.<br> <br> But whatever side you're on (or whether you take a side at all!), you ought to recognize that the rings of power usually change side every now and then. Every overreach you find justified when its your team wielding the advantage is one you'll rue when it's turned back against you.<br> <br> I think even the most hardcore partisans actually know this, even if they're loathe to admit it. It's why you have a parade of Democrats in the US chasing Trump with every bogus legal claim under the sun while fretting that he'll "weaponize the courts to pursue his political enemies", if he wins this November. Pots and kettles, all black.<br> <br> (Yes, again, I recognize that mentioning Trump will completely shut off the frontal lobes of half the audience, if references to Canadian truckers or Parlor didn't do the job already. But the hypocrisy is just too grand to ignore. Regardless of whether you think Trump is a once-in-a-century villain or not.)<br> <br> All this is why reasonable people might well just <a href="https://x.com/DavidSacks/status/1768071968962806271?s=20">have second thoughts</a> about whether the US government should ban TikTok. I think there are plenty of valid reasons, most persuasively those on reciprocal trade, but let's not pretend the slippery slope hasn't been proven right repeatedly in the last few years.<br> <br> Emergency powers invoked when honking horns got too much. Misinformation missions expanding to include malinformation too (true information that's unhelpful/damaging to the cause/narrative). Political opponents labeled as traitors and in cahoots with foreign adversaries.<br> <br> I think it's perfectly reasonable to worry how a ban/forced sale of TikTok might pave the way for similar actions against <a href="https://x.com/DavidSacks/status/1768147618000167093?s=20">X</a> or <a href="https://x.com/DavidSacks/status/1768148314359554067?s=20">Rumble</a> or whoever fails to kick off people saying the wrong words.<br> <br> That's the context in which I worry about what comes next in the fight against Big Tech monopolies. A future where this intolerable concentration of power is not so much disbanded as simply subsumed into the growing arsenal of oppressive powers that are increasingly being collected by Western democracies. All in the name of fighting the ever-expanding list of forbidden words and <a href="https://www.justthefacts.media/p/criminalizing-free-speech-the-pfizer">topics</a>, amongst other boogeymen.<br> <br> I want to see the monopolies of Apple and Google addressed. And I also think the leviathans are our best bet in the short term, but I'm open to the idea that the short term isn't worth selling out our principles for in the long term. That maybe we ought to place our faith in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mScpHTIi-kM">iterative game theory</a>, and the fact that critical platforms do change, albeit rarely and slowly.<br> <br> There's one version of history that holds that it was the Justice Departments case against Microsoft that opened up the tech world to new entrants in the early 2000s. That without their intervention, we'd been doomed to live with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Explorer_5">awfulness of IE</a> forever, and Windows would have reigned supreme until the end of our days.<br> <br> But there's another version that sees the inherently disruptive force of the internet, the rise of Firefox, then Chrome, together with Google, Facebook, and the rest of that eras challenges to Microsoft, as happening without the intervention of the leviathan. And that those same forces, and the nature of playing successive rounds of the prisoner's dilemma, is <a href="https://world.hey.com/dhh/microsoft-taught-apple-nothing-592d398d">what lead Microsoft to lose the ultimate prize</a> on the next decades: mobile.<br> <br> Usually, I find it relatively easy to navigate such questions and counterfactuals to arrive at a position worth going all-in on. But not this time. This time I'll admit to be equally concerned with whether the EU, to take the DMA specifically, is successful or not.<br> <br> In the end, we might all come to echo <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7141047-marry-and-you-will-regret-it-don-t-marry-you-will">Kierkegaard's immortal sense of regret</a>: Tackle Big Tech, and you will regret it. Don't tackle Big Tech, and you will regret that too. Either way, you will regret it.<br> <br> Oy.</div>
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David Heinemeier Hanssondhh@hey.comtag:world.hey.com,2005:World::Post/358812024-03-13T20:37:56Z2024-03-13T20:37:56ZDevelopers are on edge<div class="trix-content">
<div>It's a double whammy of anxiety for developers at the moment. On the one hand, <a href="https://layoffs.fyi/">the layoffs are dragging on</a>. The industry has shed more jobs in a shorter period than any time since the dot-com bust over twenty years ago. Seasoned veterans who used to have recruiters banging on their door nonstop <a href="https://twitter.com/Carnage4Life/status/1767527635297722786">can suddenly barely get a callback</a>. And now the threat of AI suddenly got even more urgent and imminent with <a href="https://twitter.com/cognition_labs/status/1767548763134964000">the launch of Devin</a>.<br> <br> If you zoom out, though, developers are still flying high on tailwinds that took them to the moon over the past decade. Yes, hundreds of thousands of people have lost their jobs in the tech industry, but the preceding hiring bonanza still leaves us with an enormous and wealthy industry. And the wage gains secured during the go-go days are still massive, despite what inflation has eroded over the last few years. Contrast the fortunes of premium programmers in 2024 with their situation from 2014 or 2008, and they're still looking mighty privileged.<br> <br> But humans don't react to absolute status or wealth. All the anxiety or exhilaration is in the delta. Are we moving up or down? Forwards or backwards? And right now, except for a tiny group of gilded AI wizards, most programmers have either seen their prospects stalled or become more precarious. So yesterday's wins are quickly pushed aside by tomorrow's worries.<br> <br> There's some irony in this change of fortune. Programmers, as a group, have prospered tremendously by automating other people's jobs over the past half century. But when it's other people's livelihoods, we naturally have a much easier time seeing the big picture. That the aggregate prosperity of the world improves as productivity goes up. It's a little harder when it's your own profession feeling the pressure.<br> <br> It's hard to tell how real that pressure actually is, though. Okay, the layoffs are indisputable, and the tough hiring environment an inevitable consequence. But the wreckage of the dot-com bust was cleared in a few short years, and then it was back to full steam ahead. And exuberant tech analysts told cabbies in 2017 that self-driving cars were going to put them all out of a job in a hot minute. That still hasn't happened either.<br> <br> That's the trouble with The Future. It's awfully difficult to predict when it'll actually arrive. All we're doing is making bets and taking guesses. <br> <br> My guess would be that just like agriculture went from requiring the participation of 97% of the world's population in the age of subsistence farming to the mere 2% required for our industrial processes today, so too will go the way of the programmer.<br> <br> That is, I do think we've <em>probably</em> seen the high-water mark of the manual programmer. That maybe our industry and employment charts might look like the Tokyo stock market when we look back from the future. Sideways <a href="https://www.macrotrends.net/2593/nikkei-225-index-historical-chart-data">since the 90s</a>.<br> <br> Now that still leaves an enormous industry with plenty of prospects, of course. If anything, AI is likely going to make the tech industry even more integrated in society and thus more valuable. But we just might not need as many human programmers pounding code with their little meat fingers. Just like the aggregate value of the agricultural industry has gone up a lot since the pre-industrial era, even if the number of hands in the field have shrunk to almost nothing.<br> <br> So while it's hard to do, it's useless to worry. The Future is out of your hands and out of your control. No profession has ever successfully resisted automation or redundancy in the face of technological advancement over the long term. Screaming at Devin will only distract you from enjoying the last glorious years of a golden run.<br> <br> C'est la vie!</div>
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David Heinemeier Hanssondhh@hey.comtag:world.hey.com,2005:World::Post/358562024-03-12T23:39:27Z2024-03-12T23:39:28ZBe less precious<div class="trix-content">
<div>The essence of the book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Radical-Candor-Revised-Kick-Ass-Humanity-ebook/dp/B07P9LPXPT">Radical Candor</a> is the concept of ruinous empathy. That by trying your best to couch employee performance feedback in overly gentle language, you end up confusing the message, and cheating the recipient out of the clarity they desperately need to improve – or prepare for what happens if they don't. <br> <br> This concept extends to more than just direct employee feedback. It can also seep into other forms of communication, policies, and ultimately the entire culture. At 37signals, we've labeled this broader problem being "overly precious".<br> <br> Let me give you an example. We used to have official "mental health days" for employees. With an explicit invitation that people really should just take some time off if they felt "overwhelmed" or "mentally fatigued". Here's the old paragraph:<br> </div><blockquote> <em>Basecamp recognizes, too, that your mental health is just as important as your physical health. Consider taking a mental health day every now and again when you're feeling overwhelmed or mentally fatigued. If a day or two won't cut it, we'll work with you to find a way to reduce the burden of your work at Basecamp on your overall mental health. We really do want your work at Basecamp to be the best work you do in your life, and we appreciate that that's not possible if you're uncertain about your health.</em></blockquote><div> <br>That's precious. Overly precious. In fact, I cringe when I now read this. The idea that employees are so mentally fragile that "feeling overwhelmed" is a reason to be absent is bonkers. Everyone feels "overwhelmed" every now and then. That's not an adequate reason not to show up for work!<br> <br>Could you imagine if the rest of the world ran on something like this? That your trash cans wouldn't get emptied if the truck driver "felt overwhelmed"? No. Just no.<br> <br>Not every day is going to be magical at work. Some days you really do just have to power through. And if you can't, then use some paid time off to recover. Taking it out of the same allowance that someone else would spend on a holiday.<br> <br>In fact, I've come to believe that this type of language and expectation setting actually makes people more fragile. That it plants the idea that working in front of a computer is so mentally taxing that almost nobody can bear it without the occasional "mental health day". That's just not true, and it's not helpful.<br> <br>Getting rid of this nonsense is part of how we've been scrubbing the precious out of the organization. And we've been far better off for it over the past few years.<br> <br>That doesn't mean scrubbing out caring. It doesn't mean turning into a hard ass. The opposite of precious is not being cruel, but being clear. It's expecting a reasonable baseline from people that anyone out in ThE ReAL wORlD could recognize as fair.<br> <br>Being too precious is the same as being fragile. That's not a goal to aspire to. We should all be chasing higher resilience instead.</div>
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David Heinemeier Hanssondhh@hey.comtag:world.hey.com,2005:World::Post/357672024-03-08T23:23:31Z2024-03-08T23:23:31ZGoogle's sad ideological capture was exactly what we were trying to avoid<div class="trix-content">
<div>The Gemini AI roll out should have been Google's day of triumph. The company made one of the smartest acquisitions in tech when <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2014/01/26/google-deepmind/">they bought DeepMind in 2014</a>. They helped set the course for the modern AI movement with <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/1706.03762.pdf">the Transformer paper in 2017</a>. They were poised to be right there, right at the fore font of a whole new era of computing. And then they blew it.<br> <br> If it wasn't all so terribly dark and sad, it would actually be funny. <a href="https://twitter.com/Patworx/status/1760189582870536408">Rendering George Washington as a Black man</a>. Equivocating on whether <a href="https://twitter.com/bindureddy/status/1761877215338508661">Musk's memes are worse or not than actual, literal Hitler</a>. Oh, and <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/02/23/business/woke-google-gemini-refuses-to-say-pedophilia-is-wrong-after-diverse-historical-images-debacle-individuals-cannot-control-who-they-are-attracted-to/">defending pedophilia</a>. Yeah, the Gemini launch had it all. Like a risqué stand-up comic shocking her audience for effect. Except, Gemini wasn't joking.<br> <br> In pictures and texts, it ironically made the point of the "AI safety" crowd incredibly well, but in the opposite direction. The threat from AI will come less from "perpetuating existing biases in the world" and more from "injecting the biases and ideology of its overseers".<br> <br> How on earth Google could release something so twisted, so wrong to the world? The company's executives, as well as Google co-founder Sergei Brin, tried to brush it off as "bugs", but few people bought that story. It seemed more likely that Gemini was working just fine by <a href="https://ai.google/responsibility/principles/">the company's muddle Google AI Principles</a>. A set of principles that unapologetically puts social justice and anti-bias instincts as prime directives #1 and #2. While failing to even mention "accuracy" or "usefulness".<br> <br> But this part of the story has already been diagnosed to death. Gemini was a catastrophic, confidence-shattering launch. It also caused Google's stock price to take quite the dive. Presumably because it called into question whether all of those investments and years of research will ultimately be squandered on a futile search for cosmic justice. Investors are right to worry.<br> <br> The part that's even more fascinating to me than the hilarious broken product is what kind of organization could possibly design and release such an abomination to the world. The answer came courtesy of <a href="https://www.piratewires.com/p/google-culture-of-fear">a Pirate Wires report this week</a>. It's shocking reading. Even if you've paid attention to the institutional capture by the social justice/woke/whatever ideology that <a href="https://world.hey.com/dhh/proof-of-the-peak-ede4199c">peaked</a> from 2020-2022.<br> <br> While the rest of tech has <a href="https://world.hey.com/dhh/meta-goes-no-politics-at-work-and-nobody-cares-d6409209">started to return to sanity</a> on this issue, Google clearly has not. It appears completely captured and paralyzed by this stifling ideology. An asylum run entirely by its most deranged inmates, holding everyone else captive. Even its founder duo, who seem either incapable or unwilling to act to restrain it.<br> <br> But I can totally see how they got there. How Sergei and Larry could feels like it's too late, too hard, too painful to deal with the cultural capitulation. Because that's almost how Jason and I felt at times prior to April 2021, when some of the same forces and sentiments were spreading inside our own company.<br> <br> The Pirate Wires report was entitled "Google's Culture of Fear", and that's exactly what it felt like at times at our company leading up to April 2021. That the ship was being forced in a bad direction, by bad actors, with bad ideas, but that if you were going to question the compass, there'd be hell to pay. Both internally and externally. You were going to be called names. Accused of horrible things. And, really, do you want to deal with all that right now? Maybe it'd be easier to just let dragons lie.<br> <br> But the problem with ideological dragons like this is that they're never content with the political scalps or capital accumulated. There's always a hunger for more, more, more. Every little victory is an opportunity to move the goal posts further north. Make ever smaller transgressions punishable by ostracization and shame. Label even bigger swaths of normal interactions and behaviors as "problematic". It just never fucking ends.<br> <br> That is unless you say "enough". Enough with the nonsense. Enough with the witch hunts. Enough with the echo chamber.<br> <br> <a href="https://world.hey.com/dhh/basecamp-s-new-etiquette-regarding-societal-politics-at-work-b44bef69">That's what we did at our company in April of 2021</a>, and it hurt like hell for a couple of weeks. And that was at a small software company with no board or investors. I can't even imagine how it would have gone then if we'd had either of those. Good odds that they'd buckled under the pressure, and Jason and I would have been pushed out in a futile attempt to appease the mob.<br> <br> So I totally get why Sergei and Larry might have more than a little trepidation about rocking the boat. Google appears to be so deeply captured at this point, the rot has been left to fester for so long, that it's going to be extraordinarily painful to correct now.<br> <br> On the other hand, there's more cover. The worst of the woke scourge has indeed passed in tech. Plenty of other companies have now <a href="https://world.hey.com/dhh/where-next-for-dei-0dc866b4">dismantled their DEI bureaucracies</a> or made them a shadow of their former might. It is possible to reverse course, and it's infinitely easier to do so in 2024 than it was in 2021. But it's still a motherfucker.<br> <br> If I were a betting man, I'd bet it's going to happen, though. Maybe not as spectacularly and decisively as we did it at our company, with one clean cut. But gradually, like most major corporations have wound down the woke excesses while pretending it's all just a correction for "over hiring".<br> <br> What's clear to me is that addressing this is existential to Google. Just like it was existential for us. If you follow these bad ideas to their logical conclusion, you end up with worse than useless products. You end up with a search engine that wants to lecture people rather than finding the facts. There's no mainstream market for such a bullshit product in the long run.<br> <br> Eventually the market will force the correction. But Google is a very rich company. It could coast on the fumes of its former glory for a long time. Let's hope that there's more than an empty, hollowed out shell of a company left by the time they get this right and return to sanity.<br> <br> I never thought I'd say this, but I'm actually rooting for Google on this one. Big tech is a game of thrones, and all us mere peasants are better off when the big powers all counter each other in a variety of ways. We need a stronger Google to counter a strong Apple and a strong Microsoft.<br> <br> So. Hard choices, easy life. Easy choices, hard life. We made some incredibly hard choices in April of 2021. We've lived a comparably very easy life on that vector ever since we finished the cleanup. Sergei and Larry, you guys can do it too. But you have to want to do it. You have to want Google to be relevant in AI. You have to want to make the world's information accessible and useful again, without the ideological nonsense. Vamos! </div>
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David Heinemeier Hanssondhh@hey.comtag:world.hey.com,2005:World::Post/357492024-03-07T23:44:41Z2024-03-07T23:44:41ZCould Apple leave Europe?<div class="trix-content">
<div>Apple's responses to the Digital Market Act, its recent 1.8b euro fine in the Spotify case, and Epic Sweden's plans to introduce an alternative App Store in the EU have all been laced with a surprising level of spite and obstinacy. Even when Steve Jobs was pulling <a href="https://newslang.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Thoughts-on-Flash.pdf">power moves with Adobe and Flash</a> or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/jul/16/apple-iphone-4-fix-free-bumper">responding to Antennagate</a>, we never saw such an institutional commitment to flipping off legislators and platform partners. It might have been ruthless, but it didn't come across as personal.<br> <br>Which is curious! Because you'd think that a creative thinker like Steve Jobs would be more likely to wear his heart on his sleeve than a professional bean counter like Tim Cook. More likely to lash out. But assuming Cook is still signing off on the company's strategy, and it's hard to imagine otherwise, his cool cucumber public persona seems to be turning into more of a hot potato with every aggrieved move Apple pulls. Which raises questions!<br> <br>Like, what's next if the EU keeps turning up the heat on that already hot potato? At what point does it start to boil? If they're already lashing out with malicious compliance, vindictive App Store evictions, and pissy press releases on account of where we are today, what might they do if the regulatory pressure in Europe doesn't relent next month, next quarter, or next year? What if the EU is actually serious about this?<br> <br>Well, Apple could quit Europe. Stop selling its products in the EU. While it's a big market, it's actually not huge, by Apple standards. Some 8-10% of revenue. So maybe $35b per year, out of some $383b in total. At what point does Cook look at that number and say "not worth it, we're out"?<br> <br>Prior to witnessing Apple's actions of the last few years, I would have said no way. Tim Cook just isn't the kind of CEO to make such a big move. He's too conservative, too timid, too focused on the bottom line. But that mental model has been seriously tested lately. A CEO that signs off on public letters like the <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2024/03/the-app-store-spotify-and-europes-thriving-digital-music-market/">one in response to their loss in the Spotify case</a> might actually have it in them to do something big.<br> <br>It's not without precedence that big tech companies threaten to leave a major market. Facebook famously threatened to do just that in Australia over the fight regarding newspaper royalties. But as far as I recall, nobody has actually done it. Not on a scale like Apple and the EU.<br> <br>But we've gone through a lot of surprises in the last decade. Major, world-affecting events and decisions almost nobody would have contemplated as realistic possibilities just a few years prior to them happening.<br> <br>I hope there are bureaucrats within the EU at least entertaining the possibility. Stranger things have happened. </div>
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David Heinemeier Hanssondhh@hey.comtag:world.hey.com,2005:World::Post/357192024-03-07T00:19:31Z2024-03-07T00:19:31ZCommitting to Windows<div class="trix-content">
<div>I've gone around the computing world in the past eighty hours. I've been flowing freely from Windows to Linux, sampling text editors like VSCode, neovim, Helix, and Sublime, while surveying PC laptops and desktops. It's been an adventure! But it's time to stop being a tourist. It's time to commit. <br> <br>So despite my <a href="https://world.hey.com/dhh/finding-the-last-editor-dae701cc">earlier reservations</a> about giving up on TextMate, I've decided to make Windows my new primary abode. That's Windows with Linux running inside of it as a subsystem (WSL), mind you. I would never have contemplated a switch to Windows without being able to run Linux inside it. But it's still a change of scenery you could not possibly have convinced me was in the cards a few years ago!<br> <br> Where the original expedition was motivated by Apple's callous call to nuke PWAs in the EU (which they later retracted), the present commitment is encouraged in part by Apple's atrocious handling of the Epic AB situation. I could not believe that Phil Schiller, the Apple executive in charge of App Store policy, would <a href="https://www.epicgames.com/site/en-US/news/apple-terminated-epic-s-developer-account">commit the following in writing</a>:<br> </div><blockquote> <em>Your colorful criticism of our DMA compliance plan, coupled with Epic's past practice of intentionally violating contractual provisions with which it disagrees, strongly suggest that Epic Sweden does not intend to follow the rules.</em></blockquote><div> <br>So public criticism of Apple is now motivating grounds for being denied access to the App Store? What kind of overtly authoritarian bullshit is this?<br> <br>But it's actually time to look past the negative motivations too. That's part of the reason for burning the boat, and committing to Windows for me personally. I don't want to compute purely out of spite. I want to compute out of passion. And, believe it or not, I've found a lot of surprising delights with this Windows/Linux combo that's sprouting just that kind of passion.<br> <br>Like finally figuring out that <a href="https://world.hey.com/dhh/fonts-don-t-have-to-look-awful-on-windows-564c9d2f">fonts can look gorgeous on Window</a> too, if you run it with a great high resolution screen and refrain from fractional scaling. I had this prejudice that Windows simply didn't know how to render fonts, and it turned out to be false. Awesome!<br> <br> And VSCode continues to grow on me too. The key turned out to resist recreating TextMate, and something as simple has picking a radically different color theme helped break the constant comparison. So too did diving into the configuration, turning off all the IDE-y stuff, code suggestions, and more. Just focusing on VSCode as a text editor rendered in Tokyo Nights.<br> <br> That theme inspiration came from <a href="https://twitter.com/dhh/status/1764340531877105824">my ongoing exploration of neovim</a>. It's such a radical departure from editors like TextMate and VSCode, but that's half the reason I've been having fun. Even if the extreme focus on personalized configurations isn't actually well-aligned with my beliefs in convention over configuration.<br> <br> But in the grand scheme, none of this matters. Windows is great. Running Linux inside of it at full speed is fantastic. Whether I end up with VSCode or neovim here, it's going to be fine.<br> <br> What's going to be even better than fine is using this personal change of computing to <a href="https://twitter.com/dhh/status/1765412689130758313">countering the Mac monoculture we'd be running at 37signals</a>. One encouraged and sanctioned by yours truly, mind you, but also one at odds with the fact that more than half the users on our biggest product, <a href="https://basecamp.com">Basecamp</a>, live on Windows.<br> <br> Again, it's not like I'm going to burn the MacBooks that have accumulated at our house. It's still <a href="https://world.hey.com/dhh/you-can-own-more-than-one-type-of-computer-73439146">OK to own more than one computer</a>! But one of them has to be the primary one where you're doing your work, and that one for me is now going to be running Windows.</div>
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David Heinemeier Hanssondhh@hey.comtag:world.hey.com,2005:World::Post/356982024-03-05T23:09:54Z2024-03-05T23:09:54ZApple is in its Ballmer era<div class="trix-content">
<div>During Ballmer's reign as CEO of Microsoft, the company always made plenty of money. While the stock traded sideways, Ballmer made sure it was still raining dividends. Yet, today, that era of Microsoft is not looked upon too fondly. It's seen as being anchored in the company's historic paranoia, Windows-centric world view, and as missing the boat on mobile.<br> <br>Then along came <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satya_Nadella">Satya Nadella</a>. <br><br>Now, it's tempting to write a hagiography of whoever is CEO when a company is flying high, and Microsoft has soared in recent years. It's currently the most valuable company in the world. The only one with an over three trillion dollar market capitalization. But we don't need to be blinded by <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Halo-Effect-Business-Delusions-Managers-ebook/dp/B000NY128M/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1F6QLLQ0I1BFS&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.8ddQg9n4dkT6Q4E-izfFaHgzQUfBjb_nQoV7dspQWJjmutAoYx8Ct5Tz1XNRasCWcRqkN6TqPWQhH6rMRuZarJgFIEgZlkChOSINJCfuIfqRcE_u5SR4vO7Zpmudd6wnNDL7pvknvtuMa_QmuJ2BpsHc3oRuO6t72mA3m-WHDtbZW2eJzOERMyNaVfvRR7DbZZhlsSkccdcPFSyfFOQmFPqK0I-ENBNRtUlel3cE2_9QqGjZBk9GuOjfUj02PqQlfoCPBvrbGS8LxJ14uhmYGPuNREQpiIBZd0ihE9OgbNw.TKn3SvGLGIdfe2wKiswj7GLI5yLpeiOwdWvJjFKyZdk">the halo effect</a> to realize that Microsoft under Nadella is a fundamentally different company to the one it was under Ballmer. A better company making better products.<br> <br> I've only been running Windows for a few weeks now, but the proof is in the pudding. Windows is increasingly attractive to developers like me, because Nadella not just buried Microsoft's hatchet with open source, but outright embraced it. And open source runs the world for the majority of developers working with the web.<br> <br> Thus it's a strange but wonderful feeling to be running Ubuntu 22.04 under the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), and finding everything so beautifully integrated and super fast. To see <a href="https://code.visualstudio.com/">VSCode</a> as a fully open source project, thriving without the coercion of a platform mandate, and winning the hearts and minds of developers on a level playing field. And, of course, to see Microsoft with <a href="https://openai.com/">the smartest card</a> in all of AI in their deck. Oh, and as excellent stewards of GitHub!<br> <br> And then you look at Apple. Sure, they're making gobs of money these days, like Ballmer did so well during his time, but, also like Ballmer, they're anchored in an aggrieved past. One that includes a self-image of a persecuted victim in the antitrust arena, one which just can't seem to get the love and respect from builders on its platforms that it believe it rightly deserves. One that would write shit like this in <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2024/03/the-app-store-spotify-and-europes-thriving-digital-music-market/">an actual press release</a>:<br> </div><blockquote> <em>A large part of [Spotify's] success is due to the App Store, along with all the tools and technology that Spotify uses to build, update, and share their app with Apple users around the world.<br> <br> We’re proud to play a key role supporting Spotify’s success — as we have for developers of all sizes, from the App Store’s earliest days.</em></blockquote><div> <br>Yes, that's literally Apple taken credit for Spotify's success in response to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/apple-hit-with-over-18-bln-euro-eu-antitrust-fine-spotify-case-2024-03-04/">the EU fining them $1.8 billion for illegal practices</a>. After all the malfeasance and self-preferencing Apple employed to help Apple Music unfairly gain ground against Spotify. It's truly an incredible document. One that I hope marks the sad high water point for Apple's hubris. One we'll point to once this cast of executives currently steering the ship finally depart their positions.<br> <br> Because I've increasingly come to the conclusion that nothing will fundamentally change at Apple until they have the kind of leadership transition that unlocked so much value at Microsoft. Until they find their Nadella to replace their Ballmer, we should expect more indignant press releases, more threats, more evasion, more malicious compliance.<br> <br> I've referred to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRelVFm7iJE">this antitrust deposition of Bill Gates from 1998</a> before. It's an ugly video. Microsoft and Gates at their very worst. And it's incredible how similar the posture of Gates and the posture of Apple's writing in that press release on the Spotify verdict shimmers with the same light.<br> <br> But look at Microsoft now. They've managed to literally get to the top of the world while also engaging with the broader development community in an incredibly productive way. Does that make Microsoft perfect? Of course it doesn't. Nor does it erase our collective memory of what it once was. But today - right here, right now - they're a model for what Apple could become.<br> <br> Oh, and for all the shit Ballmer gets, and much of it is deserved, I will give him that he knew the value of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vhh_GeBPOhs">DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS</a>. Maybe now that he's in his golden years, he could pass on some of that wisdom to his fellow boomer, Tim Cook. Or maybe just tell him about how good retirement actually is, and perhaps recommend a sports team that Cook could buy to pass the time.<br><br>Either way, Apple needs a cultural reboot.</div>
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David Heinemeier Hanssondhh@hey.comtag:world.hey.com,2005:World::Post/356062024-03-02T14:50:39Z2024-03-02T14:50:39ZYou can own more than one type of computer!<div class="trix-content">
<div>I probably wouldn't have done a deep dive on Apple alternatives without the announcement that they were killing progressive web apps (PWAs) on the iPhone in the EU. Most people don't switch operating systems willy-nilly, and for good reason: They're different! And different is weird at first! But I'm actually glad Apple gave me the final push to venture outside the walled garden for a longer stroll, because the expedition has been a delight.<br> <br>And now that <a href="https://9to5mac.com/2024/03/01/apple-home-screen-web-apps-ios-17-eu/">Apple has done a complete 180 on PWAs in the EU</a> – they're not going anywhere, the company announced today – I'm even happier with the way it all worked out. Apple gave me an excellent reminder that having all your computing eggs in one basket leaves you mighty vulnerable to predatory behavior. Because what are you going to do? If you're ALL-IN on Apple hardware, software, and services, you're as good of a captive consumer as it gets. You might complain, but you won't leave.<br><br>So with that timely reminder, I did a complete exit from Apple services. Apple email+calendar had already become <a href="https://www.hey.com/">HEY</a>, but since then, I've also moved my photos to Google Photos (a breeze – the auto-importer on iOS does all the work automatically!) and my notes to iA Writer + Dropbox. Leaving nothing on the service side tying me to one platform or another. Everything important is multi-platform, which guarantees freedom of movement.<br><br>I'm still <a href="https://world.hey.com/dhh/finding-the-last-editor-dae701cc">undecided on the future of my programming editor</a>, but it's been overdue to have a look and see around anyway. From VSCode to neovim, there are plenty of compelling options out there. Many of which run as well on the Mac as they do on Windows as they do on Linux. Enough to make me give up TextMate? I don't know.<br><br>But it also doesn't even really matter, is what I've learned. It's OK to own more than one type of computer! I love computers! So having Android in my pocket, Windows on my desk, and Apple in my backpack? That would be totally fine too!<br><br>Better than fine, actually. I make multi-platform software for a living. <a href="https://basecamp.com/">Basecamp</a>, the most important product we sell at 37signals, has Windows as its #1 platform. It's kinda embarrassing how little we've paid heed to that fact over the years. <br> <br>I'm already seeing the dividends from spending a few weeks using Windows in anger: We're improving the design in a variety of ways. From better scrollbars to reconsidering our fonts. There's a lot of little things we can do to improve the look and feel of Basecamp (and HEY!) on Windows, but it requires we actually live there for a while.<br> <br>I think it's fair to say that within certain parts of the web communities, the Mac has become an echo chamber with both designers and programmers. Understandably so. Apple makes some really, really good laptops these days, and the Unix underpinnings were far superior to anything Windows had to offer until recently with WSL2. But it is a blind spot. I can see that clearly in our own products.<br> <br>So even if you love the Mac, I think you owe it to yourself and your customers to have a look around, if you make software for people on other platforms. You'll go through 24 hours of withdrawals switching to Android or Windows for a while, but it's remarkable how quickly it all subsides, if you take care to use comparable quality hardware.<br> <br>🎶 Reebok, baby, you need to try some new things? Have you ever had shoes without shoe strings? 🎶</div>
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David Heinemeier Hanssondhh@hey.comtag:world.hey.com,2005:World::Post/355622024-02-29T21:14:46Z2024-02-29T21:22:01ZFonts don't have to look awful on Windows<div class="trix-content">
<div>I always thought it was a software problem — or at least a difference of aesthetics expressed in software. But it turns out the reason many Mac owners, including yours truly, so strongly dislike how fonts typically look on Windows is actually a hardware problem!<br> <br>See, every Mac with a screen has since 2018 shipped with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retina_display">a retina-class display</a>. That means a pixel-per-inch count in excess of 218. High enough that you can't see the individual pixels with the naked eye. With a high-resolution display like that, you can run it at 2x or 200%. So a 27" 5K Apple Studio Display (218 PPI) that runs natively at 5120x2880 can run at 2x and give you the equivalent of a 2560x1440 workspace, but with much nicer rendering. And that's the magic. That 2x/200%. That's why fonts on the Mac look so good out of the box.<br> <br> If you connect your Windows machine to a screen of similar caliber, you get similar font rendering. I'm typing this on a 32" 6K monitor running at 200% in Windows 11 using <a href="https://ia.net/writer">iA Writer</a>, and it looks amazing. Just as amazing as it does when I write essays in iA Writer on the Mac using the same screen. They're identical!<br> <br> I did not know this!!<br> <br> To make matters worse, I just spent last week using a PC on a 27" 4K monitor (163 PPI) where I accidentally committed the other common cardinal sin that make fonts look like shit on any system: Fractional scaling. I had the screen set to 150%. No wonder it looked offensively bad compared to the Mac! You can't split a pixel, so the system has to do all sorts of typographically nasty tricks when doing non-integer scaling, and the end result is awful font rendering.<br> <br> But none of this is actually Windows' fault, per se. It's all about the hardware. Apple has the power to enforce retina-class displays across its entire lineup, so as a result everyone who looks at a Mac sees beautifully rendered fonts. Windows, on the other hand, runs on everything from rinky-dingy $200 laptops with super low-resolution screens and up to the best computers money can buy. You're quite likely to see a PC with awful fonts because it just doesn't have the hardware to do better.<br> <br> Although part of the problem is also that many PCs are just optimized for different things than buttery-smooth font rendering. Like playing games. That 27" 4K display I was using last week had an awesome 240hz refresh rate and it was OLED. So colors were super vibrant, and it was excellent for maxing out the frames-per-seconds needed for competitive gaming. Just ace for that, just ugh for reading, writing, and programming.<br> <br> So it's a trade-off. This lovely 6K Pro Display is great for text, great for photography, great for video, but not so great for gaming, since it tops out at 60hz/60fps. And it's totally fair to prioritize one thing over the other. Apple has famously never prioritized games over anything, and it shows. But they <em>have</em> prioritized beautiful font rendering, and that shows too.<br> <br> I just wish I knew about all this before dismissing Windows out of hand as a suitable alternative to macOS on account of font rendering for years. Not that this is somehow secret information, but it doesn't seem widely distributed. As I've been tweeting about comparing Windows and macOS, I've gotten a ton of replies that were essentially "yeah, Windows sucks at fonts". And that's just wrong.<br> <br> If you want to dive even deeper into the technical specifics of why fractional scaling wrecks font rendering, checkout <a href="https://tonsky.me/blog/monitors/">Tonsky's excellent treatise</a>. He also covers the general problem with low-density displays, and what happens to the fonts when you render them on those.<br> <br> But the simple conclusion here is that if you want great looking text on Windows, you need to run a high-density display. Nothing crazy. You don't need 8K (unless maybe you're trying to swing a 40" monitor), but you do need retina-style PPI counts.<br> <br> Apple has set some good rules of thumb here with their 3 desktop displays. The 24" runs 4.5K, the 27" runs 5K, and the 32" runs 6K. That's all right on the money of that 218 PPI retina target. Their 14" MacBook Pro even runs a native resolution of 3024x1964, giving it a very impressive 254 PPI. That's the bar, if you want similar looks.<br> <br> One final note on beautiful fonts and Windows is worth making, though. And that's the fact that the default system font is the atrocious Segoe UI. Now that's surely a difference of aesthetics, not hardware or software limitations, but I absolutely hate this tinny, thin font. And unless you change the font you're using in apps, that's what you'll see. Ugh!<br> <br> But Microsoft thankfully has a brand new font that's actually rather nice on the horizon for the new default. It's called <a href="https://microsoft.design/articles/a-change-of-typeface-microsoft-s-new-default-font-has-arrived">Aptos</a>, and they've just rolled it out as the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/28/technology/microsoft-word-font-aptos.html">new default for Office</a> where it replaces Calibri (a font I don't care for at all either!). So fingers crossed that they'll make this font the default on Windows itself soon enough. I think it would go a long way to make the system more appealing to switchers from the Mac. I've already <a href="https://www.softpedia.com/get/Office-tools/Aptos-Font.shtml">downloaded it</a> and made it my default font in Chrome. It's very nice. Not trying to ape Apple, but distinctive Windows, in a good way.<br> <br> With the font rendering issue identified and fixed, my bigger problem is now that the only thing really holding me back from switching to Windows full-time is my beloved text editor, TextMate. Yep, the pressure is on for finding <a href="https://world.hey.com/dhh/finding-the-last-editor-dae701cc">The Last Editor</a>, and finally liberating any sentimentality about leaving macOS. Exciting!</div>
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David Heinemeier Hanssondhh@hey.comtag:world.hey.com,2005:World::Post/355202024-02-27T18:59:57Z2024-02-27T18:59:58ZFinding The Last Editor<div class="trix-content">
<div>Some programmers can code under any conditions. Open office? They'll bring headphones. Whatever editor is on their system? They'll make it work. Using a different framework or language every few years? No problem. I envy that level of versatility, but I've come to accept it just isn't me. I bond with a quiet room, an editor, and a programming environment far more deeply than that.<br> <br>Case in point, I've been using the <a href="https://macromates.com/">TextMate</a> programming editor since it was first created back in 2004. That's twenty years now. Almost as long as my time with Ruby working on Rails. TextMate has seen its popularity come and go in that time, and today, few people are still choosing it. But I don't care. It's damn near <a href="https://world.hey.com/dhh/finished-software-8ee43637">Finished Software</a> as far as I'm concerned, and I love programming with TextMate.<br> <br> It's all the little things. Like the algorithm for escape-completion of words within the current document. The macro recording and replay mechanism that I've used to setup the small handful of automations I use on a daily basis, like cmd-return to turn "method" into "def method/n $cursor\n end" or "doo<tab>" into "do |$cursor|\n [tab $cursor]\n end". It's the superb column mode. Oh, and it's the All Hallow's Eve color theme, and the perfection with which it renders Bitstream Vera Sans Mono.<br> <br> It's not much, because I'm not looking for an IDE. I want to write my code in a plain text editor, and let that constraint force me to design programs and frameworks that require nothing more. It's amazing how sensitive you become to extraneous elements when you literally have to type all of them by hand. It's surely one of the reasons I never got on with explicitly-typed languages, which basically require an IDE to flow.<br> <br> When I flatter myself, I think of it like climbing free solo. Minus the imminent risk of death. It's choosing for something to be harder, because the constraint has value.<br> <br> So I'd long thought that TextMate might well be that forever editor for me. I've tried all of the major alternatives, but none of them has nailed the basics in the way TextMate does for me. Most of The New Stuff they brought to the party was stuff I'd pay to forgo.<br> <br> But here's the problem. TextMate is tied to the Mac. And tying myself to the Mac seems like an increasingly bad idea. Apple has turned into the kind of company that I just don't want to have to rely on. That doesn't mean I can't use any of their products, but I absolutely do not want to feel like I have to. I want to have the independence where walking away is always an option, and it just isn't, as long as I'm committed to TextMate.<br> <br> Thus began the search for The Last Editor. One that isn't tied to a specific platform, or preferably even a specific company, and that I trust will still be around until I'm done programming.<br> <br> <a href="https://code.visualstudio.com/">VSCode</a> has become the obvious choice for most in the web world, but the longer I spend working with it, the more I realize that its heart is beating to become a full-fledged IDE, and all I want is a text editor. <br> <br> I don't think we're going in the same direction, VSCode and I, and frankly, even with their latest redemption arc, I'm not keen to tie my editor commitment to Microsoft. Who knows what kind of villainy they may once again descent into, if you hope to still be writing code for another 20-30 years.<br> <br> The suggestion I've heard a lot is <a href="https://www.sublimetext.com/">Sublime</a>. They have clients on macOS, Windows, and Linux. I hear a lot of good things about it. The spiritual successor to TextMate.<br> <br> But last time I gave it a shot, it felt like uncanny valley. Very similar to TextMate, but not quite, and all the little differences added up to a shimmer I just couldn't shake. That's why I'm thinking it might be better to try something radically different.<br> <br> Enter vim. It's part of the ultimate neck-beard duo of editors together with emacs. It's an editor with a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vi_(text_editor)">history that traces back to the late 1970s</a>, and it's iconically quirky. The long-running joke is that nobody knows how to even quit it when they first start (the command is :q!). But talk about standing the test of time!<br> <br> The modern interpretation of vim is called <a href="https://neovim.io/">neovim</a>, and it's got a cult following, including people whose parents weren't even born when vi originally came about. It's still vi. It's still :q! to quit. It's still quirky. But it's also fast, modern, and integrates with the latest editor evolutions like language servers.<br> <br> I actually spent a summer programming in vim prior to learning Ruby, and, remarkably, a good portion of all those quirky commands have stuck in my brain. Partly because the magic of vim is it's ubiquity. Every Linux system has some version of it installed, so whenever I'm editing files on a remote system, it's with vi mode.<br> <br> So we'll see. I'm still of two minds of whether I'm going to allow Apple's villainy separate me from my beloved TextMate. But I'm willing to experiment and entertain the option now.<br> <br> Let's go, neovim. SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT! </div>
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David Heinemeier Hanssondhh@hey.comtag:world.hey.com,2005:World::Post/354842024-02-25T20:27:11Z2024-02-25T20:27:11ZSwitching to Android was easy<div class="trix-content">
<div>In addition to <a href="https://world.hey.com/dhh/vscode-wsl-makes-windows-awesome-for-web-development-9bc4d528">trying out Windows</a> for a week, I also switched my main phone number to Android recently. And that turned out to be far easier. Dangerously easy, you might say, if you were in Apple’s shoes. But it’s all down to how deep you’re mired in the platform services soup.<br><br>I used to be all-in on the Apple software story. Apple Mail, Apple Calendar, Apple Notes, Apple Photos, iMessage, Apple Just-About-Everything. It’s really hard to switch from iPhone to Android when that’s the case. But it’s surprisingly easy to make that <em>not</em> the case, and then switching becomes trivial.<br><br>For me, <a href="https://www.hey.com/">HEY</a> delivered two easy outs on the key apps I use on a phone: Email + Calendar. With the HEY combo now packing both, there was literally zero lock-in on that front hopping from an iPhone 15 Pro to a Samsung S24+. (No wonder Apple is so keen to infuse friction into this kind of mobility by forcing customers to be stuck through subscriptions bought via in-app payments that won’t easily transfer!).<br><br>After that, I had to transfer a few remaining iMessage conversations to WhatsApp and Signal. That turned out to be much easier than I thought too. Partly because most of the people I talk to on a regular basis are either international travelers or live in Europe, so WhatsApp is already their default. I had actually been the weirdo using iMessage with a bunch of people who preferred WhatsApp!<br><br>After that, I realized that all the major social apps and utilities I use simply have Android versions that are as good as the iOS counterparts. I kinda knew that, but living with the phone as my primary really hammered it home. It really doesn’t matter whether you run X or TikTok or Instagram or YouTube on iPhone or Android. You won’t be able to tell the difference in most cases.<br><br>I was pleasantly surprised by Android Auto as well. It’s actually nicer than CarPlay! I find that it connects to the cars I have quicker, the music starts playing sooner, the integration with Signal and WhatsApp is nicer, Spotify looks better, and Google understands my voice commands more often than Siri.<br><br>And of course there’s the added bonus that my Samsung will let me play Fortnite with the kids. You have to install the apk file <a href="https://www.fortnite.com/mobile/android">directly from Epic’s web page</a>, but compared to how it used to be, the scare warnings and hoops Google make you hop through have been reduced to almost nothing. And Fortnite runs amazing on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip.<br><br>The switch also made me cancel the Apple One bundle that I still had. The kids never really liked any of the games on offer with Apple Arcade, I never found any shows worth the time on Apple+, and I always did prefer Spotify’s playlists and UI to Apple Music (even though it’s annoying we still don’t have lossless in 2024!!).<br><br>Which has left me with the one Apple service that I’m finding it the hardest to quit: Apple Photos. And I’m thinking it’s really just because I have to jump to Google Photos. Export the 150GB of photos, import it over there, and get it done. Then find a different way to share photos with family still on iOS somehow. But I wish there was a non-Google version that was as good as either Apple Photos or Google Photos. Maybe I should also give Dropbox another look for photo management!<br><br>But that was it? All the old pet peeves I had about Android has been resolved: Scroll acceleration is now great. Font rendering is now very good (I wish Microsoft would poach some font people from Android or macOS!). And, finally, FINALLY, the Snapdragon chips have caught up enough that it just isn’t a meaningful difference (200+ on Speedometer 2.1 is Good Enough).<br><br>The Samsung hardware is also excellent. With the S24+, you get a 6.7” phone that weighs just 196g. That’s basically the same as the 6.1” iPhone 15 Pro, and a lot lighter than the bigger iPhone. It feels great in the hand. The screen gets significantly brighter than the iPhone outside (2600 vs 2000 nits). And these days, Samsung’s software is very unobtrusive. I didn’t even bother reaching for a custom launcher. It Was Fine!<br><br>What the whole thing has shown me more than anything is that computing freedom requires that you don't put all your eggs in one basket. That’s how you get stuck with a bunch of rotten eggs, if the basket suddenly falls apart. And Apple has been falling apart for me in terms of trustworthiness, stewardship, and just overall likability over the past few years.<br><br>Is Google some perfect alternative? Absolutely not! But I’m not switching from Apple to Google as much as I’m switching from Apple to a constellation of strong but distinct alternatives. Samsung, Meta, Google, Amazon. A little from here, a little from there.<br><br>Tech is better when power is distributed between multiple, competing companies. Living under the absolute rule of a single king is absolutely awful. Even if that king still does make very nice phones and very nice computers!</div>
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David Heinemeier Hanssondhh@hey.comtag:world.hey.com,2005:World::Post/354822024-02-25T19:07:31Z2024-02-25T19:07:31ZVSCode + WSL makes Windows awesome for web development<div class="trix-content">
<div>I’m kinda shocked. Windows actually got good for web developers. Between <a href="https://code.visualstudio.com/">VSCode</a>, <a href="https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/about">WSL</a>, and Intel’s latest desktop chips, I’ve been living with a PC for over a week that runs my programming tests faster than an M3 Max, ships with an excellent window manager out-the-box, and generally feels like a completely viable alternative to macOS for working with the web.<br><br>Hell, not just viable, but better in many regards. WSL lets you run a real Linux distribution natively, so you can use the same package manager that you’ll deploy against. Oh, and since it’s x86, you’ll be building Docker images for your server hardware in a fraction of the time it takes to multi-arch on arm64.<br><br>Now it’s true that to get this kind of speed, you need to rock a desktop machine. The Dell I got had an Intel i9-14900K, which is how you get those 500+ <a href="https://browserbench.org/Speedometer2.1/">Speedometer 2.1</a> scores, super fast Docker builds, and record-setting programming test runs. And this beast surely consumes far more wattage than does the M-series of chips.<br><br>But I had somehow bought the premise that an M3 Max was the undisputed king of quick in mainstream computers today. Not so. That <a href="https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/14-inch-space-black-apple-m3-max-with-14-core-cpu-and-30-core-gpu-36gb-memory-1tb">$3,200 M3 Max MacBook</a> can in fact be beat by a <a href="https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/desktop-computers/new-xps-desktop/spd/xps-8960-desktop/usexpsthcto8960rpl27">$2,349 Dell XPS</a> in the tests that are likely to matter to most web developers. Especially for those who leave their laptop at the desk 95% of the time.<br><br>I did also have a go with <a href="https://frame.work/">a Framework 13 laptop</a>, which uses the AMD Ryzen 7040 CPU. That’s a really nice chip, but it still lags behind the M-series by a bit. It’ll run the Speedometer 2.1 in 300-350 and our HEY test suite in about 3m31s . My M2 Pro laptop can hit over 500(!) on the Speedometer, and complete the test suite in 2m16s (although it quickly throttles on repeated runs to ~3 minutes).<br><br>So Apple clearly still has a bit of an advantage with laptops. And I’m sure ultimate battery life is also better, even though I found it perfectly adequate with the Framework 13.<br><br>It’s on the desktop, with chips like the i9-14900K, that Windows shows what’s possible outside the M-chip universe. That CPU clocked the fastest ever run I’ve seen on our HEY test suite with a 1m37s result. And it too can push above 500 on the Speedometer 2.1.<br><br>But even on the laptop side, there’s plenty to like about the alternatives. Framework has a super novel approach to repairability and upgrades. You can easily swap out any component by yourself, often without tools. Anyone who went through multiple rounds of keyboard replacements with their MacBooks in the horror days of the butterfly keyboard can appreciate how helpful that might be.<br><br>Even more impressive, though, is that you can <a href="https://frame.work/marketplace/mainboards">keep upgrading the CPU and motherboard</a> on the Framework! They first launched with 11th gen Intel chips, then released a 12th gen board, and now this AMD variant. You could have kept the same laptop through all those generations. Very cool. And it does make me feel a bit sheepish having bought entirely new laptops to go from M1 to M2 to M3.<br><br>So there’s a lot to like in Windows land these days. The M-chip shock dominance has subsided, and even if there’s still an advantage on the laptop side, it’s much less than it has been. That surprised me. But it’s surprised me even more how well Microsoft has managed to integrate Linux with Windows. I thought for sure there’d be a performance penalty to running under WSL. Or that it would be clunky and kludgy. But it just wasn’t.<br><br>VSCode is part of the trick here. It ships out of the box with an excellent WSL integration where all the files actually live inside the Linux subsystem, so there’s none of that old cross-the-filesystem-chasm slowdown that I remember from my last go-around with Windows. <br><br>Literally all you have to do is open Powershell, type “wsl --install”, pick your username/password, and you’ll have Ubuntu 22.04 running. Then install VSCode, which auto-detects that WSL is installed, and voila, you can type “code .” in the Ubuntu terminal to open any directory in VSCode on the Windows side. Now that’s slick!<br><br>After seeing all this in action, and living with it for a week, I seriously contemplating switching daily desktop driver. But I ultimately didn’t. And the reason is that I’m simply just not willing (yet?) to give up <a href="https://macromates.com/">TextMate</a> for VSCode nor willing to deal with the font rendering on Windows. I suspect both are pretty idiosyncratic reasons, which almost certainly won’t apply to the broad masses of web developers. Most of whom have already embraced VSCode, and probably aren’t quite as particular as yours truly about font rendering.<br><br>And that’s really exciting! That the Mac finally has a no-apologies-needed alternative for people who work with the web and need solid unix underpinnings to get the job done. Apple desperately needs the competition for the mindshare of web developers.<br><br>Oh, and did I mention you can actually play AAA games on the PC? That $2,349 Dell ships with an NVIDIA 4070, which is plenty of power to drive everything from Fortnite to Cyberpunk 2077. Games that simply just doesn’t exist on the Mac, and maybe never will.<br><br>It’s wild how we’ve come full circle. Microsoft was the top villain of the late 1990s for everyone I knew in tech, and Apple was the underdog darling. Now it’s the other way around. Switching to OSX in 2001 felt like the rebel move. Now daring to run Windows in 2024 would make you the odd one out in a lot of communities. I for one hope to see a bunch of Windows machines, maybe even Framework laptops, at tech conferences going forward.<br><br>I’m also keeping both of these PCs at the house. And who knows, if someone eventually ports a color-perfect version of TextMate’s <a href="https://github.com/textmate/themes.tmbundle/blob/master/Themes/All%20Hallow's%20Eve.tmTheme">All Hallow’s Eve</a> theme, I might give VSCode another crack. And if somehow it becomes possible to get Mac-style font rendering, I can’t see what would hold me back (no, the MacType hack ain’t it).<br><br>So kudos to Microsoft! By burying the hatchet with Linux, and open source in general, you've arrived at an incredibly productive combination of tools for developers like me. And now the chips from Intel and AMD are finally giving Apple a run on the hardware side too. I just love to see it, and I love to be this positively surprised.</div>
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David Heinemeier Hanssondhh@hey.comtag:world.hey.com,2005:World::Post/351992024-02-13T00:05:50Z2024-02-19T00:29:16ZEvery generation needs their own apocalypse<div class="trix-content">
<div>Danish 8th, 9th, and 10th graders vote in <a href="https://skolevalg.dk">a mock election</a> every year in Denmark. The results for 2024 were a startling refutation of the idea that young people must be inherently left-leaning. The dominating winner was Liberal Alliance, a center-right party that speaks to the virtues of individualism, entrepreneurship, tax cuts, and a limited welfare state. They took just about every third vote.<br><br>Some of that is being ascribed to the star power of the party’s young leader, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Vanopslagh">Alex Vanopslagh</a>. At an age of just 32, he has managed to lift his party to incredible heights amongst not just the kids, but <a href="https://www.altinget.dk/artikel/aarets-foerste-meningsmaaling-vermund-har-styrket-la">the adults too</a>. In large part, it's claimed, because of <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@liberalalliance_">his presence on TikTok</a> (where he’s known as “Daddy Vanopslagh”) and other social media.<br><br>There’s enough material here for a decade’s worth of social study PhDs to analyze for the how and the why this is happening in Denmark. I’m not going to do any of that. I’m just going to zoom in on one aspect of this phenomenon: The kids in this cohort – the 8th, 9th, and 10th graders who voted – are the ones coming after the Greta Thurnberg years. The ones who failed to see the world come to an end in short order, as <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Apocalypse-Never-Environmental-Alarmism-Hurts-ebook/dp/B07Y8FHFQ7">at times breathlessly predicted</a>, and, perhaps as a result, no longer list climate alarmism as a central concern.<br><br>Which shows the trouble with predicting the future. Whether it be of the climate, the economy, or politics. The weather, the money, and the people have a funny way of proving experts wrong time and again. Just when they think they have it all figured out, the story takes an unexpected turn. And you really don’t have to live through too many of such turns before you start developing a healthy skepticism for the people who are so sure about what’s going to happen next.<br><br>And if there’s anything this cohort has lived through in their formative childhood years, it’s world events humbling the experts. <br><br>So maybe that’s what happening on the climate question too. Having lived their entire childhood under a story of imminent climate calamity, they’ve become young adults without seeing that doom’s day come to their calendar.<br><br>Or maybe it’s even simpler than that. Maybe no generation wants to inherit the favorite apocalypse of the one that went before it.<br><br>Who the hell knows. But it’s interesting!</div>
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David Heinemeier Hanssondhh@hey.comtag:world.hey.com,2005:World::Post/351972024-02-12T22:07:31Z2024-02-14T00:47:37ZThe compounding seeds of creativity<div class="trix-content">
<div>Early on in my career, I learned a very important lesson about creativity: It can’t be saved for later. Creativity is perishable, just like inspiration. It has to be discharged regularly or it will spoil. And if you let enough of it go to waste, eventually your talents will sour and shrivel with it.<br><br>This was counterintuitive to me. I naively thought I could run out the clock every day on a creatively dead-end job, and then pursue my all own endeavors full of zest at night, with all the creativity I had saved. But it didn’t work like that. Spending eight hours a day spinning my intellectual wheels would get me nowhere at night when I finally tried to move.<br><br>That’s how I realized that being fully engaged at work is how you plant the best seeds for your own adventures. So when weighing the pros and cons of a given job, you ought to think carefully about whether you’re cultivating those seeds, and tending to their long-term value for your career and your spirit. Nothing spoils them both like a bullshit job.<br><br>I fully appreciate that not everyone gets to do their favorite things all the time at work. And some times you’re assigned a particularly arid plot to turn. But it’s exactly then you must realize that at least half the creative equation is completely under your control. That you can will the way to rain, if you chose to sieve reality through a new perspective.<br><br>I like to imagine this sieve as one of those corny self-help tapes: I will make the most of my time here. I will find the sharp creative angle on even the most blunt, boring problem. I will exercise all of my intellectual capacity today in service of raising my talents for tomorrow.<br><br>I’ve seen that A/B test run time and again over the past twenty years with employees. The ones who are able to judo seemingly boring problems into interesting pursuits always end ahead on creativity and competence, and have more of it left over at the end of the day.<br><br>And a few years later, the person who discharged all their creativity against even the most trivial problems has grown their intellectual granary manyfold over the one who kept holding back.<br><br>As you sow, so shall you reap.</div>
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David Heinemeier Hanssondhh@hey.comtag:world.hey.com,2005:World::Post/350402024-02-07T20:08:20Z2024-02-07T20:08:20ZCampfire is SaaS without the aaS<div class="trix-content">
<div>It hasn’t even been a week since we started selling <a href="https://once.com/campfire">Campfire</a> under the new <a href="https://once.com/">ONCE</a> model, but we’ve already sold more than quarter of a million dollars worth of this beautifully simple installable chat system. People are using it to replace existing systems costing tens of thousands of dollars per year, as well as all sorts of backup- or second-system setups. It’s a great start!<br><br>While the Shopify store has been ringing up customers, we’ve been <a href="https://once.com/campfire/changelog">busy improving the software</a>. Now the website promises at least 3 years of security updates, but we haven’t made any big promises about general improvements or new features (beyond adding a Bot API). But in the past week, we’ve been doing just that. Improving, tinkering, extending. Over-delivering on an under-promise.<br><br>And I have to say, that process has worked out much better than I anticipated. I feared that going to an installable software model would give us some degree of a headache in terms of rolling out updates or people having a difficult time installing the system in the first place. But it’s been, knock on wood, almost entirely smooth sailing. A few minor issues here or there when people try to integrate the software into existing proxies or uncommon Linux distributions, but otherwise barely a hitch.<br><br>This has essentially allowed us to have our cake and eat it too. For Campfire to deliver a very SaaS-like experience, but without the aaS, as Jason quipped yesterday. But herein lies a marketing challenge. A lot of prospective customers look at this setup and say “it’s too good to be true, where’s the catch?”.<br><br>Rory Sutherland captures this problem beautifully in <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@_lets.talk.money/video/7332161924290891040?_r=1&_t=8jgcc8Mlozh">this clip on TikTok</a>. He gives the example of how low-cost airlines had to emphasize all the things you didn’t get when ordering a fifty euro flight from Paris to London to become credible alternatives to full-cost carriers. Baggage fees, no assigned seating, no meal, all that stuff. They had to do this to convince travelers of why the flight was so much cheaper than traditional carriers, lest everyone thought it was because they skimped on maintenance or hired terrible pilots.<br><br>I think we have a similar problem with ONCE. And I still haven’t quite cracked the marketing angle on how to remedy it, even with Sutherland's advice. When you say stuff like “it’s 99.9% cheaper than Slack on a 500-seat account”, they rightfully suspect that it’s a gimmick, even though, it really isn't. So what we need is a credible story about how Campfire is worse to make it credible to people that we didn’t skimp on the core experience.<br><br>I’ll be noodling on that one.</div>
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David Heinemeier Hanssondhh@hey.comtag:world.hey.com,2005:World::Post/350142024-02-06T19:35:23Z2024-02-06T19:35:23ZCelebrating a million copies of REWORK<div class="trix-content">
<div>It’s been 14 years since <a href="https://basecamp.com/books/rework">REWORK</a> was first published. It was our first big-publisher book, and it hit the New York Times bestseller list right out the gate. In the first two years, it sold over 200,000 copies. And then... it just kept selling. Now it has passed one million copies sold around the world!<br><br>The book consists of 87 short essays, and is meant to be read in a single afternoon. It’s a business book for people who don’t have the patience to read a handful of ideas stretched to fit 300 pages. The kind of book that Jason and I would have loved to read, if somebody else had written it.<br><br>Although it wasn’t as much written as it was edited. Much to the shock and initial resistance of the publisher, we literally cut the manuscript in half in the last round of editing. We didn’t just kill our darlings, we went on a murder spree. What was left was an incredible dense tome of the very best lessons we’d accumulated over many years, told in plain English. <br><br>No jargon, no filler, no bullshit.<br><br>That’s why the book has drawings for every essay! The publisher didn’t feel they could charge full price for a book that didn’t look as fat as other business books. But we refused to pad the material itself, so we did what every clever kid faced with an imposed page count has done a million times before us: We increased the font size, we shrunk the margins, and we bumped the line spacing. Oh, and we added a picture for every essay. That made the book look like every other 300-page business book.<br><br>But the essays themselves are so short, so punchy, that I’ll quote one of my favorites here in full. It’s called ASAP is Poison:<br><br></div><blockquote>Stop saying ASAP. We get it. It’s implied. Everyone wants things done as soon as they can be done.<br><br>When you turn into one of these people who adds ASAP to the end of every request, you’re saying everything is high priority. And when everything is high priority, nothing is. (Funny how everything is a top priority until you actually have to prioritize things.) <br><br>ASAP is inflationary. It devalues any request that doesn’t say ASAP. Before you know it, the only way to get anything done is by putting the ASAP sticker on it. <br><br>Most things just don’t warrant that kind of hysteria. If a task doesn’t get done this very instant, nobody is going to die. Nobody’s going to lose their job. It won’t cost the company a ton of money. What it will do is create artificial stress, which leads to burnout and worse. <br><br>So reserve your use of emergency language for true emergencies. The kind where there are direct, measurable consequences to inaction. For everything else, chill out.</blockquote><div><br>Timeless and succinct. I yearn to hit that brevity today!<br><br>But I think that’s part of why this collection of mostly twenty-year old lessons continue to sell in such great numbers. REWORK was and is an antidote to the poison of not only ASAP, but business as usual. An uppercut to pompous MBA heads droning on and on about “synergies” or some shit like that.<br><br>So happy one million, REWORK! You’ve stood the test of time.</div>
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David Heinemeier Hanssondhh@hey.comtag:world.hey.com,2005:World::Post/349802024-02-05T21:16:26Z2024-02-05T21:16:26ZIt’s easier to forgive a human than a robot<div class="trix-content">
<div>One of the reasons I think AI is going to have a hard time taking over all our driving duties, our medical care, or even just our customer support interactions, is that being as good as a human isn’t good enough for a robot. They need to be computer good. That is, virtually perfect. That’s a tough bar to scale.<br><br>Let’s take the cars for a minute. Every single year, tens of thousands of people are killed in car accidents in the US. In 2022, it was 42,795 to be exact. The self-driving car argument is that if you could even improve that by 25%, you’d be saving 10,000 lives. That sounds incredible! But it’s also the kind of effective-altruism math that just doesn’t fly in <em>The Real World</em>.<br><br>Because let’s just say you’re Tesla. And suddenly half of everyone in America is being driven by one of your robo-cars. Your self-driving tech is highly advanced. 50% better than humans! That leaves you responsible for 10,000 deaths per year. Eeks! Okay, let’s say you’re another order of magnitude better, that’s still 1,000 deaths. Two orders? 100 deaths. Per year.<br><br>The math is easy, the human element is hard, and the legal ramifications perhaps impossible.<br><br>The medical angle is even more sticky. I have no doubt that AI will quickly be better at diagnosing most diseases than your average primary physician. Maybe it already is. But that’s still going to mean a lot of misdiagnosis, because human doctors get it wrong all the time. Malpractice lawsuits are one of the key contributors to healthcare costs through insurance rates and settlement figures.<br><br>How many misdiagnosed patients could Healthcare AI handle before the malpractice lawsuits sink the business? A dozen? A hundred?<br><br>Which gets us to the lowest level of criticality out of these three examples: Customer service. We played around with a few systems in this space at 37signals, and it was kinda awesome to see the AI handle even hard cases with aplomb in many instances. But it also got a bunch of answers wrong. Sometimes really wrong.<br><br>What’s a tolerable error rate for having a robot tell your customers some nonsense about your product? That might make them upset enough to tell another 10 people never to try your product again? I don’t know! But it’s probably not 5%. Maybe it’s not even 1%. Maybe the customer service robot actually has to get to 0.01% error rate before it’ll beat a human that gets it wrong 100x more often (1%) before the psychology of the equation works.<br><br>I find that fascinating. That we humans can look at two situations where answer A is clearly better than answer B on a litany of objective measures, and then we’ll still go with B, because it’s <em>psychologically compatible with our mental constitution</em>.<br><br>Maybe this is just a phase. Maybe once AI is adopted widely enough, we’ll learn to love our robot helpers, and we’ll start showing them some semblance of the sympathy we would their human counterparts.<br><br>But also, maybe not. Maybe fallible humans have an inherent advantage over AI by being forgivable? We’ll see.</div>
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David Heinemeier Hanssondhh@hey.comtag:world.hey.com,2005:World::Post/349742024-02-05T16:00:34Z2024-02-05T16:10:36ZBasecamp turns 20<div class="trix-content">
<div>On February 5, 2004, we <a href="https://signalvnoise.com/archives/000542">released the first version of Basecamp</a> to the world. It was built to solve our own problems running client projects as an agency where we found email alone to be lacking. The first version was really just the basics: Messages, todo lists, milestones. We didn’t even have file uploads! But it was easy, it was affordable, and it quickly became a success.<br><br>Mainly because it simply solved a real problem right away. Anyone who’ve tried to organize a larger project over email can instantly recognize how <a href="https://basecamp.com/">Basecamp</a> cures the pain of keeping everyone in the loop, ensuring things didn’t fall through the cracks, and having a record of decisions for later. <br><br>That problem is still the same today, which is why Basecamp continues to thrive. Using the same core recipe, two decades after its initial release.<br><br>That kind of longevity is rare on the internet. It’s even more rare amongst independent software makers. Over time, most companies either stumble, get acquired, or see their core problem solved through other means. That may well happen to Basecamp one day too, but that day is not today.<br><br>In fact, Basecamp is more relevant than ever. Technological progress has brought many blessings, but boy has it also brought new hassles. Too many companies now live a split-brain existence with data and collaboration scattered over half a dozen tools. All SaaS, all asking a monthly fee. The confusion around what goes where and how to find it is immense. <br><br>Joan Westenberg captured this predicament of “modern work” perfectly the other day:<br><br> <figure class="attachment attachment--preview attachment--lightboxable attachment--jpeg">
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</a>
</figure><br><br>In contrast, Basecamp puts <a href="https://basecamp.com/features">everything in one place</a>. Bringing <a href="https://basecamp.com/books/calm">some much-needed calm</a> to the daily life of millions of people who are just trying to get stuff done. That simplicity sadly seems like somewhat of a secret cheat code these days.<br><br>But it’s how we’ve been working for twenty years. <a href="https://basecamp.com/shapeup/4.0-appendix-01">Using Basecamp to build Basecamp</a>. Using Basecamp to build <a href="https://www.hey.com/">HEY</a>, <a href="https://once.com/">ONCE</a>, <a href="https://rubyonrails.org/">Ruby on Rails</a>, <a href="https://hotwired.dev/">Hotwire</a>, and a million other commercial and open source projects. With a comparably tiny team, which, thanks to Basecamp, see extraordinary productivity through asynchronous collaboration and long stretches of uninterrupted time.<br><br>We’ve made it the spirit of Basecamp to share exactly how we do this. Not just with the software itself, but also with <a href="https://37signals.com/books/">books</a>, <a href="https://world.hey.com/jason">blogs</a>, <a href="https://37signals.com/podcast/">podcasts</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/37signals">videos</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqXjGiQ_D-A">keynotes</a>, and <a href="https://github.com/basecamp/">open source</a>.<br><br>That’s how we’ve built this brand. By out-sharing and out-teaching the competition. We’re never going to have hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital to light on fire with targeted ads or a huge sales force. But we damn well have the energy, the enthusiasm, and, most importantly, the stamina to keep teaching you the interesting lessons we learn along our way.<br><br>So happy birthday, Basecamp! If you’d like to help us celebrate, just <a href="https://basecamp.com/pricing">sign up for a free trial</a> and see what it looks like today. Over the past two decades, tens of millions of people have used Basecamp, but many don’t know just <a href="https://basecamp.com/new">how good it’s become in 2024</a>. Bristling with novel features, <a href="https://updates.37signals.com">constantly updated and improved</a>, and better than ever. <br><br>If you don’t need Basecamp yourself, you can also bring a gift of recommendation. Help someone stuck either just on email or drowning in the modern mess of a million overlapping tools find calm with Basecamp. They'll thank you quickly!<br><br>Either way, we're here to stay. Basecamp is the kind of ever-green product that solves a perpetual problem, which will be needed as long as humans need to collaborate with each other. Maybe in another 20 years, the interface is all AI-driven and ski-mask accessed, but I'm pretty sure you'll still be saying "it's in Basecamp".<br><br> <figure class="attachment attachment--preview attachment--lightboxable attachment--png">
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David Heinemeier Hanssondhh@hey.comtag:world.hey.com,2005:World::Post/349212024-02-02T18:05:00Z2024-02-04T00:43:44ZDare to connect a server to the internet<div class="trix-content">
<div>The <a href="https://twitter.com/dvassallo/status/1753301148445081616">merchants of complexity</a> thrive when they can scare you into believing that even the simplest things are too dangerous to even attempt by yourself these days. That without their rarified expertise, you’ll be left vulnerable. So best just to leave ever-more of your burdens to them, and they’ll happily carry (for a fee!). Don’t listen, don’t succumb. You need less help than you think, and it’s not as scary as they’d have you believe.<br><br>This is a general, ever-green principle of computing in the age of <a href="https://andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt/TheEmperorsNewClothes_e.html">the emperor’s new clothes</a>. It’s incredibly profitable to dress up what used to be simple problems into complicated solutions, if you can somehow convince the punter that it’s necessary. You see this all over in software, in frameworks, in consulting.<br><br>But it applies particularly well when it comes to <a href="https://basecamp.com/cloud-exit">cloud computing</a>, and <a href="https://once.com">connecting your own application to the internet</a>. It used to be common place for people to run applications on servers sitting in the closet of their company. At a time when locking these boxes down and making them secure was actually rather tricky business. But now, a couple of decades on, it’s never been easier to confidently connect a computer to the internet, and have it serve up a web app securely on port 443. Yet the FUD trying to dissuade you from doing this is as thick as ever. Don’t listen.<br><br>Tools like Docker have made it trivial to create closed and isolated systems that can be easily updated and kept secure. Gone are the days of manually tinkering with a box, trying to harden it down. Now all that work has been distributed, and most people run the same handful of base images that have been <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus%27s_law">hardened by a million eyeballs looking in the same place</a> for the same trouble. This is a golden age of secure, baseline computing. We should be celebrating!<br><br>But where’s the profit in admitting to such progress? Why would someone pay outrageous fees for services dressed up in claims of security, if they’d realize that the fundamentals have so improved? That’s a business problem for some, and they try to solve it by waving their arms like a scarecrow flapping in the wind. Don’t listen.<br><br>You can run your own server. You can connect it to the internet. <a href="https://world.hey.com/dhh/the-hardware-we-need-for-our-cloud-exit-has-arrived-99d66966">You can own it</a>. <a href="https://once.com">You can own the software too</a>. Not everything needs to be a service, not everyone wants a monthly, recurring cost on a million line items to run their business or their life.<br><br>Dare to embrace the underlying progress of containers and security. Dare to question the financial equation of renting vs buying. Dare to connect a server to the internet.</div>
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David Heinemeier Hanssondhh@hey.comtag:world.hey.com,2005:World::Post/348852024-02-01T18:58:02Z2024-02-01T18:58:02ZCampfire is now for sale<div class="trix-content">
<div>After a couple of weeks of final <a href="https://world.hey.com/dhh/patek-levels-of-finishing-467e5dc0">Patek-level polishing</a> with early-access customers, <a href="https://once.com/campfire">Campfire is finally for sale for all</a>! This is The Moment of Truth where we get to see whether all that excitement turns into credit card swipes. That release rush. I love it.<br><br>And I especially love this release, because we’re trying to validate an entirely new-old way of selling software. Almost every major web system sold in the last 15-20 years has been Software as a Service. We helped kickstart that craze with <a href="https://basecamp.com/">Basecamp</a> back in 2004. And my lord has it eaten the world.<br><br>I still love SaaS. It makes a lot of sense for a lot of systems in a lot of cases. Very hard to imagine <a href="https://www.hey.com/">HEY</a> as a product, because email systems require so much continued maintenance and management these days. But it’s not for all systems, not for all cases, not for all people. <br><br><a href="https://once.com/">ONCE</a>, the umbrella brand we’re building to sell installable web software, is the argument that thanks to technological progress, it’s now both viable and desirable to make software products again – rather than services.<br><br>Campfire is the perfect first step into this new-old world. Company chat has become a commodity, thanks to Slack and Teams. But it’s still priced like a novel luxury. And it’s exactly the kind of software where a simple version that nails the basics is all you need. So <a href="https://twitter.com/dhh/status/1752088686295208120">why would you pay $1,000,000/year for a system where you might be held for a $78,000 ransom</a> in case you want your data back out? <a href="https://twitter.com/dhh/status/1749541141463343442">Or even $10,000/year</a>? Or even $100/month? If all you need is chat, that’s just bonkers.<br><br>So Campfire is priced at just $299. One payment, no subscription. You can use that license to run a chat system on your own server, and you’ll pay nothing more than the cost of the license. Or you can buy a cloud VM from <a href="https://www.hetzner.com/cloud/">Hetzner</a> with 2 CPUs/4GB of RAM for ~$5/month. That system is good enough to run at least 500 concurrent users. Something that would cost you a staggering $7,500/month, if you were using Slack on their monthly Business+ plan.<br><br>Just look at that 3-year total cost of ownership. Campfire running on Hetzner would cost you $479 for 500 users over three years ($299 + 36 * $5). Slack with the same number of seats would cost you $270,000!!! The ONCE solution is literally 99.9% cheaper. It’s crazy.<br><br>But that’s the kind of crazy you need to bring real competition to a stale distribution space for software. You’re not going to unseat Slack being 10% cheaper. But 99.9% cheaper? Yeah, that might get people’s attention!<br><br>Of course you’re getting “more” with an enterprise product like Slack. There’s screen after screen of enterprisey settings. And maybe you need that. Maybe that’s worth 1000x more to you. Totally fine if it is. But also, maybe it isn’t, and now at least there’s an easy, commercial alternative from a company with <a href="https://37signals.com/policies/until-the-end-of-the-internet/">a 20-year record of standing behind its products</a>.<br><br> <figure class="attachment attachment--preview attachment--lightboxable attachment--png">
<a download="Campfire-Icon.png" title="Download Campfire-Icon.png" data-click-proxy-target="lightbox_link_blob_1530966631" href="https://world.hey.com/dhh/51a19fc9/blobs/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsibWVzc2FnZSI6IkJBaHNLd2Ruc2tCYiIsImV4cCI6bnVsbCwicHVyIjoiYmxvYl9pZCJ9fQ==--8d4eba354bf43e174a06435a8e1ceedd77eb08f1/Campfire-Icon.png?disposition=attachment">
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David Heinemeier Hanssondhh@hey.comtag:world.hey.com,2005:World::Post/348342024-01-30T19:43:33Z2024-01-30T19:53:50ZWhere next for DEI?<div class="trix-content">
<div>It was a rough 2023 for DEI. After the ideology completely conquered both the corporate and cultural world from 2020-2022, the reversal last year was astounding. <a href="https://world.hey.com/dhh/the-law-of-the-land-c2231109">The Supreme Court ruled the use of race in college admissions illegal</a>, Ibram X. Kendi’s Antiracst Research center <a href="https://dailyfreepress.com/2023/09/21/amid-mass-layoffs-bu-center-for-antiracist-research-accused-of-mismanagement-of-funds-disorganization/">fell apart in scandal</a>, the <a href="https://abc7news.com/meta-facebook-fraud-stolen-money/14235262/">former Meta DEI executive plead guilty to stealing $4M</a> from the company, X’s change of ownership continued to pry open the Overton window, and <a href="https://world.hey.com/dhh/the-waning-days-of-dei-s-dominance-9a5b656c">countless other developments</a> all accelerated the rapid counter swing of the pendulum.<br><br>In tech, where much of the most fervent corporate advocacy started, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/corporate-america-slashing-dei-workers-amid-backlash-diversity/story?id=100477952">DEI departments have been decimated</a>. And now the EEOC, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, has delivered unequivocal clarification that doing any form of preferential hiring on the basis of race (or sex or other protected classes) is (still!) flat-out illegal.<br><br>The latter came in a <a href="https://x.com/mcuban/status/1751756023382052914?s=20">remarkable exchange on X</a> between Mark Cuban, who’d taken to defend letting DEI considerations be “part of the [hiring] equation”, and Andrea R. Lucas, a sitting EEOC Commissioner:<br><br> <figure class="attachment attachment--preview attachment--lightboxable attachment--jpeg">
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</figure><br><br>Title VII refers to a part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. EEOC has <a href="https://www.eeoc.gov/statutes/title-vii-civil-rights-act-1964">the statute in full on their website</a>. It doesn’t really beat around the bush:<br><br></div><blockquote><em>It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.</em></blockquote><div><br>And directly addresses Cuban’s admission of using race and sex as “part of the equation”:<br><br></div><blockquote><em>...an unlawful employment practice is established when the complaining party demonstrates that race, color, religion, sex, or national origin was a motivating factor for any employment practice, even though other factors also motivated the practice.</em></blockquote><div><br>Which is all really very sensible! You can’t hire people on the basis of race, not even if that consideration is only “part of the equation”. That’s exactly as it should be.<br><br>But it’s also in direct opposition to the DEI mantra of yesterday. That companies needed to explicitly consider race in their hiring practice in order to correct for “historical inequities”. That is, as anti-racism proudly claims, to address past discrimination, we have to discriminate today. In order to ensure that demographic distributions at the national level are mirrored within every corporate environment. The infamous quote from Kendi goes:<br><br></div><blockquote><em>The only remedy to racist discrimination is antiracist discrimination.<br>The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination.<br>The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.</em></blockquote><div><br>These aspirations are not compatible. You can’t both follow the law, and not consider race in your hiring decisions, while somehow actively correcting for real or perceived disparities in the racial makeup of a company during that same process. <br><br>What you’re allowed to do, of course, is things like the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rooney_Rule">Rooney Rule</a>. Where you seek to broaden the pool of applicants through targeted outreach. But when it comes down to hiring candidate A or B, it’s illegal to let race enter the equation.<br><br>None of this is new, of course. The Civil Rights Act is from 1964. It was passed to <em>address</em> the explicit and discriminatory use of race in hiring practices. Not to apply discrimination in the opposite direction to get desirable statistical outcomes.<br><br>But during 2020-2022, this colorblind principle was sacrificed on the new altar of “antiracist discrimination”. <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2023-black-lives-matter-equal-opportunity-corporate-diversity/">The results were startling</a>. In 2021, the S&P 100 – the cream of Corporate America – added 300,000 jobs. 94% of these positions went to people of color, 6% to white applicants. This was antiracism in action. And, according to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, plainly illegal.<br><br>I think we’ll see a flood of lawsuits trying to capitalize on this documented pattern of illegal hiring practices soon. The Supreme Court has set the tone in the case of academia, and the EEOC has been clear that “discrimination on the basis of race is illegal”, which of course makes “antiracist discrimination” illegal too. So the legal path has clearly been paved. Especially when employers, like Mark Cuban, go on the record with their illegal “part of the equation” hiring practices.<br><br>With corporate DEI bureaucracies getting dismantled, I think it’ll be corporate legal departments who drive the agenda for hiring practices going forward. And rule number #1 has gotta be: Don't discriminate on the basis of race. Don’t break the law.</div>
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David Heinemeier Hanssondhh@hey.comtag:world.hey.com,2005:World::Post/347242024-01-26T16:40:08Z2024-01-26T16:40:09ZWe need a Right To Compute<div class="trix-content">
<div><a href="https://world.hey.com/dhh/apple-s-new-extortion-regime-to-keep-big-app-makers-d4d03ea9">The App Store dispute</a> can be boiled down to one big question: Is the iPhone a computer or not? If it’s a computer, we ought to have the right to compute. Like consumers have won the right to repair. If it’s a computer, it ought to be yours, and you ought to have the right to install whatever software you should so choose.<br><br>If it’s not a computer, then what is it? A gaming console? An appliance? A toy? There’s a spectrum in those definitions where consumers perhaps wouldn’t expect the right to install software of their own choosing, even if there’s a “computer” somewhere inside it. And I suspect it’s that mental model that animates the Apple Stans on this issue. They want to escape from the freedom of owning a computer.<br><br>But I think most people, when it comes down to it, believe that their smartphone is indeed a real computer. And that after paying $1,000 for this computer, they should be able to install whatever software they should so choose. Without having to ask Apple or Google for permission.<br><br>That they should be able to have a direct relationship with companies like Adobe or Epic or Netflix or 37signals, which isn’t intermediated by some toll-booth operator telling them what’s allowed or asking for an outrageous cut. Just like they’ve been able to do with every modern personal computer since the dawn of computing.<br><br>Mac developers are <a href="https://daringfireball.net/2024/01/the_sixth_finger">rightfully worried</a> that this golden era of computing is coming to an end, though. That Apple is signalling a future where every piece of software that runs on computers has to be approved by app store bureaucrats, busy protecting the business model of the platform. And I think they’re right to worry about this, so now is the time to enshrine this right to compute. While people still remember what it’s like to be free to install software of their own choice.<br><br>The irony here is that Apple has the best argument for why that freedom is perfectly compatible with a safe computing platform: The Mac. It’s has been an incredibly stable and secure platform for over twenty years now. Ever since it adopted Unix underpinnings, it’s had a fundamental solid reputation for being a safe, mainstream computing platform.<br><br>Apple promotes it as such all the time! Their ads aren’t cast with computer geeks and science nerds who have to constantly battle the forces of darkness on malware or scams. No, they’re full of regular people doing word processing, photo editing, movie watching, and project management. On their computer! Using software they would have installed from the internet!<br><br>That’s the fundamental paradox of Apple’s situation. In order to advance their scarecrow case for an iPhone you can install your own software on, they have to sully the reputation of their other computing platform. It’s a strategy tax applied as repetitional harm.<br><br>To counter this nonsense, we need a right to compute.</div>
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David Heinemeier Hanssondhh@hey.comtag:world.hey.com,2005:World::Post/346982024-01-25T23:40:49Z2024-01-26T17:43:51ZApple’s new extortion regime to keep big app makers<div class="trix-content">
<div>Apple’s recent <a href="https://world.hey.com/dhh/apple-actually-lost-a-court-case-for-once-but-they-refuse-to-comply-in-good-faith-2bc316a5">threat of financial audits</a> for developers who dare link to their own website was a big, revealing moment to a lot of people. Folks who perhaps didn’t think Apple would be “that kind of company”. That they wouldn't so blatantly threaten developers into compliance with such overtly onerous and punitive terms. But they did. And now they’re doubling down.<br><br>At first glance, it could seem like Apple actually attempted some semblance of good faith compliance with the Digital Markets Act that goes into effect March 7 in the EU. But once you start peeling the onion, you realize it’s stuffed with poison pills so toxic you can scarcely believe Apple’s chutzpah.<br><br>Let’s start with the extortion regime that’ll befell any large developer who might be tempted to try hosting their app in one of these new alternative app stores that the EU forced Apple to allow. <br><br>And let’s take Meta as a good example. Their Instagram app alone is used by over 300 million people in Europe. Let’s just say for easy math there’s 250 million of those in the EU. In order to distribute Instagram on, say, a new Microsoft iOS App Store, Meta would have to pay Apple $11,277,174 PER MONTH(!!!) as a “Core Technology Fee”. That’s $135 MILLION DOLLARS per year. Just for the privilege of putting Instagram into a competing store. No fee if they stay in Apple’s App Store exclusively.<br><br> <figure class="attachment attachment--preview attachment--lightboxable attachment--png">
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</figure><br><br>Holy shakedown, batman! That might be the most blatant extortion attempt ever committed to public policy by any technology company ever.<br><br>And Meta has many successful apps! WhatsApp is even more popular in Europe than Instagram, so that’s another $135M+/year. Then they gotta pay for the Facebook app too. There’s the Messenger app. You add a hundred million here and a hundred million there, and suddenly you’re talking about real money! Even for a big corporation like Meta, it would be an insane expense to offer all their apps in these new alternative app stores.<br><br>Which, of course, is the entire point. Apple doesn’t want Meta, or anyone, to actually use these alternative app stores. They want everything to stay exactly as it is, so they can continue with the rake undisturbed.<br><br>This poison pill is therefore explicitly designed to ensure that no second-party app store ever takes off. Without any of the big apps, there will be no draw, and there'll be no stores. All of the EU’s efforts to create competition in the digital markets will be for nothing. And Apple gets to send a clear signal: If you interrupt our toll-booth operation, we’ll make you regret it, and we’ll make you pay. Don’t resist, just let it be.<br><br>Let’s hope the EU doesn’t just let it be.</div>
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David Heinemeier Hanssondhh@hey.comtag:world.hey.com,2005:World::Post/346472024-01-23T16:29:42Z2024-01-25T01:12:44ZIs greed really seasonal?<div class="trix-content">
<div>As <a href="https://world.hey.com/dhh/the-tech-layoffs-continue-1b124e7b">the tech layoffs continue</a>, there’s naturally a search for someone to blame. People are losing their jobs after all, so that must mean someone is acting malevolent, dammit. This is when the age old accusation of greed is trotted out. Companies are only laying off people now because they’re greedy! If only we could eradicate greed, everyone would still have a job, and all would by dandy. Oh please.<br><br>The idea that greed is this seasonal affliction that only seem to infect companies and executives occasionally is not a good explanation for these layoffs or, well, anything at all. It’s a cope, as the kids would call it.<br><br>The beauty, if you will, of the capitalist system is that it produces progress and wealth without relying on benevolence or bleeding hearts. Adam Smith captured this perfectly in OG economist text, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Nations-Adam-Smith-ebook/dp/B0C5BCTXX2/ref=sr_1_4?crid=KRH3YGHB6GHT&keywords=The+Wealth+of+Nations&qid=1706027431&sprefix=the+wealth+of+nations%2Caps%2C144&sr=8-4">The Wealth of Nations</a> from 1776:<br><br></div><blockquote><em>It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.</em></blockquote><div><br>In the grand scheme of coordination between strangers and acquaintances, most everyone, save for a few saints, has themselves and their families closest. That is, they’re optimizing for their own interests, which is easily mistaken for greed, but is in fact the method that produces our dinner, as Smith would have it.<br><br>That’s not to say layoffs are “good” or “fair” or any of the other <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-world_hypothesis#:~:text=The%20just%2Dworld%20hypothesis%20or,fitting%20consequences%20for%20the%20actor.">just-world fallacy</a> term one might seek to apply. Layoffs suck. Most for the people laid off, but certainly also for the companies paying severance, incurring public ill will, and missing their financial projections.<br><br>That’s why greed is such a poor explanation for what’s going on. The most greedy executive would have been shrewd enough to foresee all this, never hired too many people in the first place, and booked all the savings from not having to pay out severance as profits.<br><br>I think a much better explanation is that nobody knows what the hell is going to happen tomorrow during times of turmoil. And lord have we had turmoil lately. Economists can’t predict whether rates are going up or down, whether people want to buy homes or luxury watches, or even if we’re heading for a recession, a ceasefire, or what the weather in California will be in 2024.<br><br><a href="https://world.hey.com/dhh/nobody-knows-anything-9c773a5a">NOBODY KNOWS ANYTHING!</a><br><br>While that’s a good explanation for choices that turn out poorly, it’s a terrible coping mechanism for grieving layoffs. Because it accepts the humanity of everyone involved. That nobody, not you, not highly-paid executives, not stock analysts, have a perfect crystal ball to predict tomorrow. And that no matter how much money you pay a professional CEO, they’ll make bad bets, like hiring too many people in anticipation of growth extrapolations based on yesterday’s weather.<br><br>At large scales of coordination, greed is a constant. It doesn’t wax or wane, and it absolutely does not sleep. But it’s also the drive of aggregate progress, even if impervious to individual hardship, and remains the key human leverage for the betterment of all. If you need a more palatable name, just call it enlightened self-interest. That’s a better way to cope.</div>
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David Heinemeier Hanssondhh@hey.comtag:world.hey.com,2005:World::Post/346462024-01-23T15:39:02Z2024-01-23T16:37:58ZThere are no secrets left<div class="trix-content">
<div>First-time entrepreneurs are often insecure about all the things they believe they don’t know. Maybe if they just get this one investor involved, they’ll know everything they need to do to crack product-market fit. Maybe if they just compose a board full of smart people, they’ll avoid all the common mistakes. If only it was so, but it ain’t. Everything worth knowing is already public.<br><br>That is to say that great general business ideas and concepts don’t stay private. Anyone who believes they’ve found a novel angle of analysis is out there sharing it in books, podcasts, blogs, and twitter. You couldn’t make most business advisors shut up about their best ideas if you paid them!<br><br>This is wonderful news for entrepreneurs. A million lifetimes of entrepreneurial learnings have already been compressed for you by people eager to share. Every metric you could possibly measure has been defined and benchmarked. Every marketing trend has been dissected. Every personnel perspective illuminated.<br><br>I should know, because I’ve been doing this <a href="https://basecamp.com/books/calm">kind</a> <a href="https://basecamp.com/books/remote">of</a> <a href="https://basecamp.com/books/rework">sharing</a> for over twenty years. So whenever I’m invited to join a board, “do a quick call”, or otherwise offer my advice, I know that I have nothing new to tell people. All the insights I can offer have already been offered, usually in a better-edited form than any on-the-fly account I could produce on the spot.<br><br>But the truth of this axiom – that there are no secrets left – actually come from our own experience with the only equity partner Jason and I ever took: <a href="https://signalvnoise.com/svn3/the-deal-jeff-bezos-got-on-basecamp/">Jeff Bezos</a>.<br><br>We’ve had some wonderful sessions with Jeff over the years. In the early days, we’d meet once every twelve months or so. I have some great memories of talking about “investing in things that doesn’t change”, and many of the other key insights that Jeff has extracted from running Amazon. But as nice as it was, none of it was exclusive. Jeff would tell everyone these same ideas, because they were great ideas, and they deserved to be spread!<br><br>I was reminded about this as I was listening to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcWqzZ3I2cY">Jeff’s latest podcast with Lex Fridman</a>. It’s a really good show. Packed with peak thinking that’ll improve the business instincts of anyone listening. And it’s all free! You didn’t need to take any of Jeff’s money as investment or sell him secondaries to get access to it.<br><br>Which brings me to the real scarce insight Jeff gave Jason and I early on: What entrepreneurs need most is confidence, not advice. He’d always preface any advice with “you know your business better than I do” and “just keep doing what you know is right”.<br><br>So realize Jeff’s wisdom: Nobody will know your business better than you do, if you’re attempting anything novel. Accept that general business advice can bring another perspective, but you’ll ultimately have to develop your own.<br><br>The magic is in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMQUW4pMl8E&t=45s">your own fingers</a>.</div>
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David Heinemeier Hanssondhh@hey.comtag:world.hey.com,2005:World::Post/346282024-01-22T23:35:03Z2024-01-22T23:36:50ZThe benefit of seniority ought to be bandwidth <div class="trix-content">
<div>Juniors are judged on effort, seniors are judged on outcomes. That’s a common and useful heuristic for evaluating employees. It neatly separates productivity from effectiveness, and places a premium on the latter. But the biggest benefit of this distinction ought to be of the second order: Increased bandwidth.<br><br>With junior people, you not only owe them frequent feedback to aid their advancement, but it’s a prerequisite to getting what you want out of the work. That’s not to say you have to micromanage every little thing, but you can’t just stay hands off – or too many things will end up coming out wrong.<br><br>The value of this frequent feedback is clear: diligent practice demands diligent direction. It’s a beautiful process that can grow capacity in fertile minds with potential. But it requires a lot of managerial bandwidth.<br><br>And good managerial bandwidth ought always to be scarce. There’s nothing more dangerous than excess managerial bandwidth. This is how you cultivate constant churning of plans and processes. We’ve always tried to starve the managerial bandwidth at 37signals by having the bulk of it provided by <a href="https://signalvnoise.com/svn3/moonlighting-managers-aint-got-no-time-for-bullshit/">moonlighting managers</a>.<br><br>It’s a little like “if you want something done, ask a busy person”. If you want “just enough management, but absolutely no more, hire managers who’d rather be building”.<br><br>Which brings me to senior employees. The best of them all encompass the ideal of being <a href="https://signalvnoise.com/posts/1430-hire-managers-of-one">managers of one</a>. Capable to finding the right path independently to a destination worth heading. Interested in taking fuzzy problems and turning them into crisp solutions.<br><br>That’s how you increase organizational bandwidth. When the team has enough senior people who only need a rough pointer, preferably at <a href="https://basecamp.com/shapeup/0.3-chapter-01#six-week-cycles">infrequent intervals</a>, and then <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPmhvY0GCMQ">just get on</a> with the act of delivering delightful solutions.<br><br>This framing also makes it clear when to demand more of someone who has ostensibly reached a role of seniority, but ends up sucking out more bandwidth than they contribute back. That’s not tenable. You need that bandwidth for junior folks who deserve it. (And you should be wary of adding more lest you end up with too much.)<br><br>As I see it, the goal of the organization is to mix just enough junior talent that it's preparing for the future, with enough of the seniority needed to tend to the present. And the balance should yield enough productive bandwidth that a busy working manager can get a tolerable amount of what they want, but not quite all of it.<br><br>Simple. But not easy.</div>
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David Heinemeier Hanssondhh@hey.comtag:world.hey.com,2005:World::Post/345202024-01-19T19:22:07Z2024-01-19T19:27:22ZCampfire is ONCE #1<div class="trix-content">
<div>With the successful launch of <a href="https://www.hey.com/calendar/">HEY Calendar</a> a week in the rearview mirror, we’re ready for our second big launch of the new year: ONCE #1. And... drumroll... it’s a rebirth of Campfire! The original web-based chat system we built back in 2006. Brought back to the future as installable software you only need to buy once.<br><br>You’ll find the entire rationale for why we’re excited about this retro concept of installable server software on <a href="https://once.com/">once.com</a>, but let me give you the short spiel. SaaS has been ruling the world of web-based software for two decades now, and made a lot of people wealthy in the process. For good reason, SaaS is great for systems that need to be services. The kind of software that’s constantly evolving or difficult to operate. Like <a href="https://basecamp.com/">Basecamp</a> or <a href="https://www.hey.com/">HEY</a>.<br><br>But there’s also a lot of SaaS that does not need to be a service. That could just as well be a simple product. A <a href="https://world.hey.com/dhh/finished-software-8ee43637">finished product</a>, even. And we think standalone chat is the perfect example of that. It’s simply ridiculous to hear people paying hundreds of dollars a month, if not thousands, if not TENS OF THOUSANDS, for a system like Slack. When all they need is a basic system for their employees to talk to each other.<br><br>That’s the category we’ve set our bull’s eye on with Campfire. Dead-simple chat. Without all the endless configuration screens, without all the enterprisey compromises. Just the basics, done really well.<br><br>And we’re going to sell this system for a one-time price of $299. That’s right, for some organizations, they may well be able to save two or three or four orders of magnitude on their chat-system bill by hosting Campfire themselves. And included in that price is free bug and security fixes for at least three years. And you get all the source code to audit and study.<br><br>We think that’s a pretty good deal! Now, the flip side of this is of course that there’ll be some folks that just need some of those complicated, complex features of enterprisey chat setups. Campfire won’t be for everyone in all circumstances. But that’s fine. With a price this low, you can easily afford to run Campfire as a second system. If you really need to control your data or just want a backup.<br><br>So let’s talk about data control. It’s something I’m really excited about with Campfire. YOU OWN IT ALL! All your data, both the messages and the file uploads, live on YOUR server. We never see any of it. We don’t have any user metrics reporting back to our server (although we do collect crash reports, but you can opt out of that too!). This makes Campfire suitable for even the most stringent GDPR or security requirements. You could install this in any European country, work with the data of children or patients. Fully locked down, as you see fit.<br><br>Secondly, we’ve gone all-in on mobile web apps (PWA) for use on phones and tablets. This means routing around the damage Apple and Google are causing app makers and consumers with their draconian app store bureaucracies. And it means we don’t have to add 30% on top of the price either.<br><br>Campfire’s mobile web apps use the latest PWA technology, so you get push notifications, badge counts, and all that good stuff people expect from native applications. As I’ve said before, it’s not quite as polished an experience in all regards, but for something like chat, it’s more than good enough.<br><br>But enough talk. Go have a look at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akijDEmjp5Y">Jason’s product demo video</a> to get a feel for whether Campfire might work for you. Then checkout <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yESRTbpKGg8">my installation video</a>, if you’re curious how you’d get up and running. If all of that has piqued your interest, signup to be notified for the full release coming shortly at <a href="https://once.com">once.com</a>. We're rolling out invitations to the first batch of interested parties now, and then more next week.<br><br>Let’s try something new together!</div>
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David Heinemeier Hanssondhh@hey.comtag:world.hey.com,2005:World::Post/344592024-01-17T19:09:23Z2024-01-17T19:15:09ZMicrosoft taught Apple nothing<div class="trix-content">
<div>Apple is protecting its App Store racket with the same kind of <a href="https://world.hey.com/dhh/apple-actually-lost-a-court-case-for-once-but-they-refuse-to-comply-in-good-faith-2bc316a5">indignant entitlement</a> that characterized Microsoft during <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRelVFm7iJE">its darkest monopoly days</a>. They’re in full <a href="https://www.justice.gov/atr/file/704971/download">“cut off the air supply” </a>mode in Cupertino, <a href="https://appleinsider.com/articles/24/01/17/apple-bills-epic-games-73-million-in-legal-costs">pursuing Epic for a $73m legal bill</a> in a lawsuit they partially lost. But the red mist of vindictiveness is blinding Apple’s view of history, and making them repeat the mistakes it took Microsoft two decades to undo.<br><br>It’s the ultimate monopoly irony too. Apple owes its entire modern existence to the fact that the DOJ was breathing down Microsoft’s neck in the late 90s. This legal threat made Microsoft desperate to prop up a semi-credible alternative to their Windows and Office monopolies, and Apple fit the bill perfectly. A basket case of a company, with an irrelevant, shrinking marketshare, in dire need of a lifeline.<br><br>So in 1997, <a href="https://www.cultofmac.com/567497/microsoft-investment-saves-apple/">Microsoft invested $150m into Apple</a>, and promised to bring Office and Internet Explorer to the Mac. Back then, these were crucial monopolies without which any platform would struggle. This saved Apple, but it didn’t save Microsoft.<br><br>In Redmond, they were still bent on total domination. At the height of its monopoly power over the internet, Microsoft had an incredible 94% marketshare. It used this marketshare to seriously slow down the evolution of the internet, as it continued to perceive it as a threat to the Windows and Office cash cows. And it worked. They really did <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8674644">slow down the evolution of the internet</a>, and even disbanded the IE team, once total domination was assured.<br><br>But Microsoft’s brutish tactics also managed to turn an entire generation of developers against them. And the bill for that didn’t come due until Windows Phone. Nobody, and I mean nobody, wanted to lift a finger to help Microsoft gain a foothold in mobile. The wounds from the late 90s and early 2000s were still fresh in many developers minds. So many cheered as Apple went from underdog, favored by developers for their embrace of Unix roots in their operating system, to the dominant player on a new platform.<br><br>Microsoft has had to work hard to undo that poisoned relationship ever since, and under Satya Nadella, seems to have broadly succeeded in that mission. Microsoft is no longer developer’s enemy #1, Apple is. <br><br>Now that’s not a universal statement, just like it wasn’t for Microsoft. There are hardcore Apple stans who will defend every atrocious monopoly abuse they commit, just like there were hardcore Microsoft stans doing the same in 2000. But the vibe has swapped. I don’t know of many developers brewing a burning hatred for Microsoft these days, but I know plenty of developers who feel like that about Apple.<br><br>Apple would be wise to study the long arc of Microsoft’s history. Learn that you can win the battle, say, against Epic, and end up losing the war for the hearts and minds of developers. And that while the price for that loss lags beyond the current platform, it’ll eventually come due, and they’ll rue the day they chose this wretched path.</div>
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David Heinemeier Hanssondhh@hey.comtag:world.hey.com,2005:World::Post/344382024-01-17T00:50:41Z2024-01-17T00:50:41ZApple actually lost a court case for once, but they refuse to comply in good faith<div class="trix-content">
<div>Apple just <a href="https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/national-international/supreme-court-rejects-apples-appeal-on-app-store-fees-amid-epic-games-legal-battle/3194946/#:~:text=The%20justices%20rejected%20Apple%27s%20appeal,the%20popular%20Fortnite%20video%20game.">lost an appeal</a> on the ruling from the Epic case that mandated the company allow app developers the right to link to their own websites. And it seems like Apple had been preparing for this outcome, because immediately thereafter, Apple revealed an elaborate bad-faith compliance with the ruling.</div><div><br></div><div>Okay, sure, <a href="https://developer.apple.com/support/storekit-external-entitlement-us/">the company says</a>, you can link to your website from your app, so consumers may know that there's a cheaper way to buy your software, but if you do so, we will charge a 27%(!!!) commission on that link, require you to submit financial reports every few weeks(?!), will reserve the right to audit your books at any time(???!), AND hold the threat of expulsion from the App Store over your head, in case we find you to be out of compliance.</div><div><br></div><div>Not even the mob is that greedy, capricious, or meticulous in its shakedown efforts!</div><div><br></div><div>Meanwhile, Apple can't stop padding itself on the back for just how awesome and benevolent they are, as they threaten to ram these poisonous terms down the throat of anyone even thinking about taking advantage of the judge's ruling.</div><div><br></div><div>I don't believe we've ever seen this level of arrogance from a major tech monopolist in the history of the computing industry. And that's saying something, because we've had to contend with a few! But <a href="https://developer.apple.com/support/storekit-external-entitlement-us/">just read this update of the terms</a>. Bananas.<br><br> <figure class="attachment attachment--preview attachment--lightboxable attachment--png">
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David Heinemeier Hanssondhh@hey.com