Hacker News: bcantrill

New comment by bcantrill in "Pokémon Go Scans Trained the Navigation Tech for Military Drones"

bcantrill — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 22:18:39 +0000

We have taken funding from In-Q-Tel, yes. The idea that taking funding from IQT amounts to "CIA roots" is preposterous: aside from the fact that IQT writes very small checks (<$1M), an IQT investment does not necessarily even denote that the federal government is a customer. IQT develops a work program with its government affiliates (the identities of which are opaque to portfolio companies), and the sale of any product to any government entity happens outside of IQT; the presence of IQT is merely to help startups fund (and deliver) features that are of special interest to the government affiliates.

And as long as I'm elaborating on IQT, let me add that they have been a terrific partner for us -- and we have found the individuals we have worked with there to be of exceptionally high character.

New comment by bcantrill in "A disappearing Service Processor (2025)"

bcantrill — Sun, 31 May 2026 03:01:09 +0000

I have died.

New comment by bcantrill in "The worst job interview I ever had"

bcantrill — Thu, 28 May 2026 22:26:51 +0000

I'm not sure what else you're looking for; we are already explicit about the fact that we (like YC!) don't give detailed feedback. If you would like to DM me, I will look at the reviews of your materials and tell you what I can tell you -- but I think it's pretty clear that you and Oxide aren't really a fit for one another?

New comment by bcantrill in "The worst job interview I ever had"

bcantrill — Wed, 27 May 2026 21:36:19 +0000

Sorry to hear that you viewed it as a "litany of crap", but if it's of any solace, if you had slopped it, the result would not have been immediately different -- but you would be marked in our system in such a way that subsequent applications would also be disqualified.

It sounds like we're not a fit for you either, though, so maybe just as well!

New comment by bcantrill in "A portentous reunion"

bcantrill — Tue, 26 May 2026 19:49:08 +0000

I know I have already written a (long!) piece on this, so I don't want to expand too much here -- but this really was a very odd experience, to be talking with (understandably!) anxious parents of young adults about the peril of dehumanization while at the same time having this intensely human experience very much enabled by an LLM. More than anything, it reinforced something that I think many of us believe: the future is especially uncertain right now, and will contain many surprises!

New comment by bcantrill in "Setting up a Sun Ray server on OpenIndiana Hipster 2025.10"

bcantrill — Wed, 06 May 2026 20:39:20 +0000

This is so great to see. I (like many!) have fond memories of Sun Ray. For me (and I suspect for others) Sun Ray will always represent the best of Sun -- and (of course!) some of the company's unrealized potential.

As an aside on Sun Ray, it played a very important (if incidental) role in the development of DTrace in that one of the first truly production systems we used DTrace on was a Sun Ray server inside of Sun that was in a huge amount of pain. (I described this in the DTrace USENIX paper[0], and also in my "Dtrace (sic) Review" talk at Google ca. 2007.[1])

[0] https://www.usenix.org/legacy/publications/library/proceedin...

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgmA48fILq8

New comment by bcantrill in "The peril of laziness lost"

bcantrill — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 18:47:16 +0000

That feels a tad unfair?

New comment by bcantrill in "The peril of laziness lost"

bcantrill — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 00:06:17 +0000

On the one hand, I admire (at some level) you sticking to your guns here, willing to take on all comers. On the other, though, I don't entirely understand the inference that you're drawing from the piece; what, exactly, is getting commoditized?

New comment by bcantrill in "EFF is leaving X"

bcantrill — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 02:14:21 +0000

You're taking me slightly out of context there, but my intent was: it's not about free speech. That is, I strongly support free speech (they have the right to be as racist as they want!), but that isn't what this is about: this is about consequences of deplorable (but non-criminal!) behavior -- and just as people have the right to be hateful, we have the freedom to not want to be associated with the racist biker bar that is what Twitter has become.

New comment by bcantrill in "EFF is leaving X"

bcantrill — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 18:38:16 +0000

I was recently asked about our (Oxide's) disposition to Twitter on the Peterman Pod[0], and the rationale for why we're no longer active there is pretty simple: the platform has become a cesspool of hate -- and it's antithetical to promoting a business (or any message, really). Aside from the morality of it (which is significant!), the hate itself is repugnant; it's not something that normal people want to be a part of in the long term.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhSL-5GtmQM#t=1h9m57s

New comment by bcantrill in "Oracle slashes 30k jobs"

bcantrill — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 20:34:27 +0000

I was 22! (I was only slightly older than my oldest kid is now!) So... yeah. May your mistakes at 22 not follow you around at age 52!

New comment by bcantrill in "Oracle slashes 30k jobs"

bcantrill — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 21:43:47 +0000

For whatever it's worth (perhaps not much?), I was actually asked about this three-decade-old post (!) recently on the Peterman Pod[0], which allowed for a slightly more nuanced discussion.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhSL-5GtmQM&t=3757s

New comment by bcantrill in "Oracle slashes 30k jobs"

bcantrill — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 15:43:33 +0000

I do take a perverse kind of pride that this can now be said without any explicit reference -- and everyone knows you're talking about the lawnmower.

New comment by bcantrill in "Tracy Kidder has died"

bcantrill — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 21:34:56 +0000

I would second the black bar for Kidder -- The Soul of a New Machine constitutes the literary foundation of our craft: it is our Odyssey. Speaking personally, I have spoken and written about Soul many times ([0][1][2]) -- and I know that its impact from me is far from unique.

RIP Tracy Kidder -- and thank you for giving us all permission to feel passion for the machine.

[0] https://speakerdeck.com/bcantrill/oral-tradition-in-software...

[1] https://bcantrill.dtrace.org/2019/02/10/reflecting-on-the-so...

[2] https://bcantrill.dtrace.org/2019/12/02/the-soul-of-a-new-co...

New comment by bcantrill in "Deep Blue"

bcantrill — Sun, 15 Feb 2026 21:46:16 +0000

Yes, that's the joke?

Oxide plans new rack attack

bcantrill — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 03:31:23 +0000

Article URL: https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/13/whats_next_for_oxide_computer/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47011254

Points: 6

# Comments: 0

New comment by bcantrill in "Oxide raises $200M Series C"

bcantrill — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 08:23:41 +0000

There's a lot of confusion here about the way VC operates (or companies, for that matter), but just to clarify one point: an IPO is not an "exit" -- it is a public offering. That is, an Oxide IPO, were we to be so lucky, would be a milestone towards being the generational company that we aspire to be.

New comment by bcantrill in "Oxide raises $200M Series C"

bcantrill — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 08:19:56 +0000

I LOL'd -- or certainly snorted. Underrated post, anyway.

New comment by bcantrill in "Oxide raises $200M Series C"

bcantrill — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 17:37:38 +0000

Is this only based on On the Metal? (If so, those are all from six years ago -- even the ones that were released a mere five years ago.) Please do check out Oxide and Friends[0] -- and feedback always welcome!

[0] https://oxide-and-friends.transistor.fm/

New comment by bcantrill in "Oxide raises $200M Series C"

bcantrill — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 16:56:38 +0000

Well, a couple of things. First, the Jonathan Blow episode[0] was over six years ago. Second, it was nearly a three hour conversation -- I don't think I can be accused of not letting him talk? Third, I definitely remember that I felt I had to interrupt him to move the conversation along. Fourth, I had to pee really badly, I was absolutely freezing, and I was quite concerned about missing my flight to New Zealand that evening with my family for Christmas (which I damned near did) -- and I have no doubt that I was not at my best!

I do try to get better at this stuff, and I re-listen to our episodes to improve as an interviewer. If it's been "a few years", maybe you haven't listen too much to Oxide and Friends? I think we've had some wonderful guests and great conversations over the span of the podcast -- though I also have no doubt that it's imperfect, for which you have my profound apologies!

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkdpLSXUXHY