Ask HN: Which companies gained a competitive edge purely via engineering?

5 pointsby j1000letzten Monat13 comments

For example: WhatsApp or Crash Bandicoot (1996)?

14 comments

mrhottakesletzten Monat

A long long time ago: Oracle

yepyouknoletzten Monat

Uh, wut?

Try “Sun Microsystems”!

mrhottakesletzten Monat

That is another company that built an advantage with engineering, true.

[deleted]letzten Monat

farseerletzten Monat

Google search was way better than yahoo or altavista

aristofunletzten Monat

Whatsapp, really?

j1000vor 22 Tagen

I recommend to read about WhatsApp how they scaled to nearly 1 billion users with only about 50 engineers. Also check how they optimised BE system.

Johanx64letzten Monat

Before FB acquisition:

Yes, really, it ran on potato feature phones you've never even heard of. That can only happen if you really bend backwards to make it happen.

Massive userbase with very tiny team.

aristofunletzten Monat

Okay. Cause it still feels like running on a potato phone on latest iphone :)

dennisjosephletzten Monat

Garmin

nimblistletzten Monat

In theory they still do. I can't imagine giving up weeks of battery life for wondering whether it's going to last through the day but apple/galaxy watch buyers see differently by a massive margin

AnimalMuppetletzten Monat

SGI.

Hewlett Packard.

DEC.

bitbasherletzten Monat

Bell Labs

hnthrow10282910letzten Monat

Crazy company. Not sure any has existed like it with possibly the exception of early Google