dontscale

It's easier to share code nowadays given that momentum is part of a project's overall allure and that momentum is not easily recreatable.

From what I remember, you can change in and out of phone numbers like with Google voice - and there are a ton of them. I don't know if that matters for spammy calls - I don't know anything about that domain.

Twilio allows you to automate calls programmatically, and what a lot of the callers do is wait for you to say hello - they're robo dialers. I wonder how much Twilio has influenced that (unknowingly or deliberately)

Does anyone else wonder whether or not the explosion of solar panel telemarketing calls are a consequence of how easy Twilio makes it to set up call center operations and change in and out of numbers?

That was then. This is now.

In that case, you'd really enjoy Charlie Munger's parable about the Shoebutton Prince.

The story goes that one of Charlie's distant relatives had cornered some part of the 1920's shoebutton market. Back then, shoebuttons were smallish ornaments you put on your shoes.

The success entitled the prince to pontificate on any and all things in unlimited fashion--especially those outside the realm of shoebuttons.

Yep - that's the one. I remember it was slow and seemed to be built with either Java or Flash or something crazy.

I always suspected the cost was a function of the profits of the firms using them.

I think it is a smart move to force bundle the hardware and form the users' keystroke habits over a career. I imagine the switching costs are extreme.

I'm not a trader. I'm actually a programmer and just curious about a lot of things. One day, I contacted Thomson Reuters and asked to try their competing system, I think it was Elektron. It is a pure software system that I got bored with after a few days of exploring.

I think the debate about Colleges vs. Bootcamps is an apples to oranges comparison

Algorithms are commoditized into libraries. Web design has been commoditized with templates.

Open-ended programming is still more complicated, but putting apps on the web today is easier than static HTML just 5 years ago. Parts of programming will continue being commoditized.

So if it's easy to create something and put it out there, the great and all-important challenge that faces developers today is making it matter.