It traces back to accessibility. Think of folks with shaky hands. The screen helps to stabilize the tremors. A similar thing applies to typing on a bumpy bus or while walking.
That said, it also depends on screen size. Back when Swype first became popular, Android screen sizes ranged from 3-5". That was another factor driving it's popularity back in the day.
Definitely not for everyone or in every situation though
I don't have a lawn, but I could use some more software around native habitat restoration for Green Seattle work parties. I end up using Claude or ChatGPT for plant identification because iNaturalist isn't as good, then getting the background on each plant - native? non-native? invasive?
When I'm planting, site selection is important but I'm really slow at it, even when using AI.
I also use AI for some plant diagnosis but that hasn't led to any meaningful action, except that I'll be more thoughtful about site selection for some plants in the future.
Most of this could just be a collection of documents in a Claude project, but hey if more people are working on it I'm all for that even if there are competing tools.
I found it was a slow read in parts, but it was time well spent. There are deep themes that run through the whole letter and provide much better context for the quotes I've seen in the news. I'd also add that while the letter does offer feedback for the tech industry, the main focus felt like a more positive vision of what the future could be (if countless people work towards it).
Love the idea. The ability to PR a dashboard would've helped us in multiple companies.
The two big areas that could use some docs/work:
- Auth (one company was healthtech, so we needed auth even on VPN. The other didn't have a VPN so we needed auth)
- Hosting: If it just needs to be run in a container and it doesn't need to be restarted that's fine. Though if there isn't a hosting document it's often a sign of a service that will need someone to keep it running all the time
I'm a few years behind you. I got started on my uncle's handed down vic 20 in the late 80s.
The culture change in tech has been the toughest part for me. I miss the combination of curiosity, optimism, creativity, and even the chaos that came with it. Nowadays it's much harder to find organizations like that.
Looks good to me! The status bar did something weird on my codebase in which 2% was really 100% so it looked like it was gonna take hours but only took a minute or so.
I'll try hooking it into my refactor/cleanup workflow with copilot and see how it works as grounding.
If the company is otherwise pretty good, it's good to be candid that you don't understand the context or goal and could use some background. Usually I find that there are other people equally confused but also not speaking up
That said, it also depends on screen size. Back when Swype first became popular, Android screen sizes ranged from 3-5". That was another factor driving it's popularity back in the day.
Definitely not for everyone or in every situation though