Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by bicx 3228 days ago
It's sobering to look at all these products and think about how developers poured thousands of hours into something that no longer exists.
3 comments

This is actually one of the reasons I do a lot of non-tech hobbies like woodworking and making wine. So much of what I do is ephemeral. It exists as bits stored in a computer, it not something I can physically touch. Literally everything I've ever written at work could, and probably will, cease to exist one day.

But the wine rack I made and the bottles in it aren't going anywhere. Well, okay the bottles will, but there will be more. :)

Funny, I've gone down the same path. I enjoy woodworking quite a bit. One of the strangest things in a craft like woodworking (compared to software) is that once it's finished, it's finished. I built a table for our startup office, and it's the one thing I've built at work that I never have to update or fix.

I've also mixed that in with some 3D printing and CNC builds that sort of blend the two worlds together.

I have never tried it but I increasingly find myself pulled by carpentry. I have no solid reasoning for this. It's just a connotation if I may say so. So feel of the wooden furniture. My thoughts about preserving them and how I like antique or older (and actually simpler but functional) study desks. How, whenever I think of buying one, I never find the exact study desk I want and it seems like a good idea to make my own. I think I should just get a kit and start with something simpler like a sitting stool, or a pen holder.
Do it! :) I do green wood carving myself, which is very satisfying, but when I have the space I'm definitely going to start making my own furniture. A desk is high up the list, as I don't think I've found a single one that works for me.
actually when it comes down to it, everything you do is ephemeral.
That usually comes down to something like everything is X or everything is not X, in some way or other. Isn't that so?
Makes you reflect on the ephemerality of life - entire civilizations that existed for thousands of years have come and gone. A computer program that's been around for 10 years has had a good run.
If they got a good exit payout, it's probably a lot easier to cope with.