[itsmicks]

It's pretty clear that the innovation in Dustin's work wasn't the code -- it was the interface. Pointing out that Nate built Obtvse in a day from scratch is pretty meaningless and the fact that he bothered to recreate it makes it pretty clear that Dustin built something cool. As a designer... it just feels like this wasn't Nate's to open source and hopefully this will transition further from the original.

On the flipside, if the Samwer brothers launched a version of Svbtle next week in 15 markets, would the reaction be the same?

[jasonlotito]

> It's pretty clear that the innovation in Dustin's work wasn't the code -- it was the interface.

What part? While it looked pretty, I didn't see anything new or unique (outside of the liking mechanism he uses).

[itsmicks]

Perhaps I'm not familiar, but what CMS/blogging engine looks like his and is structured like his (esp in the admin)?

[jasonlotito]

The list of articles/ideas/drafts? The full screen editing mode? Which part?

I'll grant him the UI is new, but in essence, it's a skin over existing concepts. And, to be clear, when I say UI, I'm referring to the the colors and graphics. Sort of like someone coming up with a new theme for Firefox. You still have the form of a browser, just with different colors, padding, and images.

So again, I pose my question, where is the new, unique, non-obvious innovation here? You seem to have some interest in defending this idea, so maybe you can answer this.

I'm not a designer, so clearly, I might be missing something.

Edit: Just to be clear here, for one example, was when I saw his distraction free writing screen, it reminded me of the countless other implementations I've seen for other blogging platforms, not to mention what's built into Word and Pages (with Word's being far more elegant).