Hacker News: hermitcrab

New comment by hermitcrab in "Quack: The DuckDB Client-Server Protocol"

hermitcrab — Wed, 13 May 2026 11:42:56 +0000

In my use case I have 2 or 3 users editing the same database concurrently and they all want to see other's updates in near real time (within a second or two). Would a CRDT support that? It would be great if it did and I could just keep using XML to persist everything with no server. But that sounds unlikely.

New comment by hermitcrab in "Quack: The DuckDB Client-Server Protocol"

hermitcrab — Wed, 13 May 2026 11:36:37 +0000

Good to know. Thanks.

New comment by hermitcrab in "Quack: The DuckDB Client-Server Protocol"

hermitcrab — Wed, 13 May 2026 08:30:21 +0000

Did some reading. Given my modest performance requirements, Firebird might be a good choice due to simpler install and admin. Thanks.

New comment by hermitcrab in "Quack: The DuckDB Client-Server Protocol"

hermitcrab — Wed, 13 May 2026 08:24:31 +0000

My understanding is that Local First means syncs across multiple devices, which is not the same thing as multi-user concurrent access.

New comment by hermitcrab in "Quack: The DuckDB Client-Server Protocol"

hermitcrab — Tue, 12 May 2026 22:50:58 +0000

IIRC SQLite is in-process and says in it's documentation that it is not a client-server database.

New comment by hermitcrab in "Quack: The DuckDB Client-Server Protocol"

hermitcrab — Tue, 12 May 2026 22:08:07 +0000

I have a C++ application. Everything is in memory during execution. Saved to disk between session as XML. Works great, except that that it is strictly single user and some of my customers would love me to generalize it for multiple concurrent users reading and writing. Performance requirements are quite low - a few thousand records being updated by 2 or 3 people at a time. Would DuckDb + Quack be a good choice for this? Or are there better choices? I looked at SQLite, but I understand it doesn't operate as client server.

New comment by hermitcrab in "Investigating ChatGPT for advertising my software"

hermitcrab — Tue, 12 May 2026 17:05:15 +0000

I expect that will drop further. But clearly they are not interested in small companies advertising with them at present.

Investigating ChatGPT for advertising my software

hermitcrab — Tue, 12 May 2026 16:48:10 +0000

Article URL: https://successfulsoftware.net/2026/05/12/investigating-chatgpt-for-advertising-my-software/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48110821

Points: 2

# Comments: 2

New comment by hermitcrab in "Screenshots of Old Desktop OSes"

hermitcrab — Tue, 12 May 2026 15:25:03 +0000

>Today’s OS are aesthetically pleasing

I don't know about. All the different apps and OS windows are so inconsistent with each other. There is not much sense of an overall aesthetic. Just a mishmash of vaguely similar styles.

New comment by hermitcrab in "Screenshots of Old Desktop OSes"

hermitcrab — Tue, 12 May 2026 15:22:44 +0000

I remember the shock of using a Mac SE after using DOS on a PC. Despite the tiny screen on the SE, it was an absolute revelation.

New comment by hermitcrab in "Toxicity on Social Media"

hermitcrab — Tue, 12 May 2026 12:38:07 +0000

>And many of them did cause major societal disruption.

Which ones?

New comment by hermitcrab in "Toxicity on Social Media"

hermitcrab — Tue, 12 May 2026 10:30:21 +0000

New social trends and technologies frequently cause some level of moral panic. Moral panics of the past have been caused by all sorts of things, that now seem rather quaint: novels, bicycles, comics, television, videos, heavy metal, dungeons and dragons etc. But social media feels very different. It really does seem to be causing major societal disruption.

New comment by hermitcrab in "Screenshots of Old Desktop OSes"

hermitcrab — Tue, 12 May 2026 10:23:12 +0000

25 is a very distant memory. ;0)

New comment by hermitcrab in "Screenshots of Old Desktop OSes"

hermitcrab — Tue, 12 May 2026 10:22:26 +0000

I'm on Windows and Mac. Not because I love them, but because that is where my customers are. Also I try to keep my computers fairly vanilla, so that they don't look too different to the user's computer when I do videos or screenshots of my software.

New comment by hermitcrab in "Screenshots of Old Desktop OSes"

hermitcrab — Tue, 12 May 2026 10:10:02 +0000

There is definitely an element of nostalgia. However, a lot of earlier desktop OS GUIs do seem to be more internally consistent and with more emphasis on usability than the current crop. I think part of the issue is that things that might make sense on a phone have bled into desktop OSes, where they make a lot less sense.

New comment by hermitcrab in "Screenshots of Old Desktop OSes"

hermitcrab — Tue, 12 May 2026 10:05:56 +0000

Yes Aqua was quite striking. Also much more consistent than the rag bag of different styling you see on Windows or Mac today.

New comment by hermitcrab in "Screenshots of Old Desktop OSes"

hermitcrab — Tue, 12 May 2026 10:01:42 +0000

Invisible scroll bars are a source of constant annoyance. And it sometimes takes me several attempts to move a window, because of all the various clickable things without visible boundaries. Frustrating.

New comment by hermitcrab in "Guy Goma's Accidental BBC Interview Lives on After 20 Years"

hermitcrab — Mon, 11 May 2026 08:48:29 +0000

That gave me a good laugh on a Monday morning. Thanks.

Jumping Spiders Shouldn't Be This Smart [video]

hermitcrab — Sun, 10 May 2026 20:58:25 +0000

Article URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRQMOF5c2Z8

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48087937

Points: 4

# Comments: 0

New comment by hermitcrab in "Distributing Mac software is increasing my cortisol levels"

hermitcrab — Sun, 10 May 2026 18:37:04 +0000

Sounds worth investigating.