I didn't launch, unless you count making it available on the internet a launch.
As several others have mentioned here, I was not focused on "launching the product". I was persistent about creating a solid and valuable product, and making it available for the entire world. I researched everything I could about building websites, particularly performance and SEO. The project was a learning project for me - it was technically "launched" since the moment I bought the domain. I continually iterated after learning new things about the web, and after coming up with new ideas. The growth came from a steadily increasing SEO presence and Social Network presence. I never once saw a code or feature iteration cause an immediate flood of attention, even when I gave them a little nudge on social networks. I will admit though, that I never attempted an all out launch of anything.
The project is mainly a fun site, but it has become one of the best tools for creating animated GIFs and memes on the internet. There have been a few big spikes from various press events, or Reddit frontpagers, but the true value has come from continually making the product better and slowly gaining the trust of the internet.
I'm certainly much newer to this than many people here, but my first big project now makes enough profit to support me fulltime, if I were to choose that (I work at another company as well). The site is imgflip.com if you're wondering.
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In this case you cannot really look at current practices and predict the future. For many of us in the "new programmer" category now, we will see an exponentially increasing lifespan as well as several other improved aspects of health and intelligence. In the limit, this may lead to age having almost no meaning.
Besides, English Majors?! I dare say that english shouldn't even be a major. A great academic in any field should be articulate in expressing ideas, in at least one language.
The quote is a metaphor. It is clearly not about going the other way on lined paper, but rather the basic principle that one should not blindly follow instructions because someone else says they are right. If what you are told to do is wrong, don't do it.
Data is great, it lets you make your own conclusions. There still remains an element of trust though, in the provider of the data. It's certainly a step above bloat-filled news articles though.
It's not a standard, but I can tell you that tech innovators do not stand around and wait for some committee to decide "Oh yea, uhh lets make HTML5 the standard now". No matter what the standards say, any respectable web browser should be making their best effort to "conform" to the latest technology.
It still disgusts me that Internet Explorer has users at all. Even IE9 is still unbearably bad, especially from the web developer point of view. I wish the rest of the world would have realized this and ousted Microsoft from a business it has no place in.
The moment a provider throttles my internet based on "piracy" is the moment I begin investing all of my free time into making a free and invincible p2p solution.
As several others have mentioned here, I was not focused on "launching the product". I was persistent about creating a solid and valuable product, and making it available for the entire world. I researched everything I could about building websites, particularly performance and SEO. The project was a learning project for me - it was technically "launched" since the moment I bought the domain. I continually iterated after learning new things about the web, and after coming up with new ideas. The growth came from a steadily increasing SEO presence and Social Network presence. I never once saw a code or feature iteration cause an immediate flood of attention, even when I gave them a little nudge on social networks. I will admit though, that I never attempted an all out launch of anything.
The project is mainly a fun site, but it has become one of the best tools for creating animated GIFs and memes on the internet. There have been a few big spikes from various press events, or Reddit frontpagers, but the true value has come from continually making the product better and slowly gaining the trust of the internet.
I'm certainly much newer to this than many people here, but my first big project now makes enough profit to support me fulltime, if I were to choose that (I work at another company as well). The site is imgflip.com if you're wondering.