[rzodkiew]

The whole tech looks kinda' cool, but this video...

I've noticed a trend where some of the dev tooling nowadays is sold almost as if it were consumer goods with the whole associated marketing behind it. This doesn't work for me, in reality actually has completely opposite effect. Give me boring well-written docs, that shows engineering that went into it, not the marketing show for teenagers.

[wagslane]

It has boring well written docs. in fact very boring, and very well written. the video is a banger though, I have no idea why you'd want less creativity in an otherwise boring space

[thierrydamiba]

It appears that at least one person working on this is connected to Prime-a tech streamer that has blown up recently.

So I think there are some people who don’t love the idea that tech is being driven by content creators.

But the reality is a well marketed product will always perform better than a well engineered product.

Given the fact that all these tools are interchangeable based on where you want to sacrifice, I actually think it’s pretty cool they are doing this kind of marketing.

You can’t win in that area on just product. And I think that really brothers a certain kind of HN poster.

[diggan]

> But the reality is a well marketed product will always perform better than a well engineered product.

Maybe not exactly a "product" in the normal sense (but neither is a Terraform-in-JS thingy so) but Linux beat every other competitor (in the server space) by just being "better", rather than "more marketed". I'm sure there are more examples out there proving "well marketed" doesn't always win.

[thierrydamiba]

You have to consider your audience, and of course there are exceptions-but I think you’re thinking of Linux the wrong way.

Those PR messages are a form of marketing in and of themselves. It doesn’t have to be a commercial on Fox during football on Sunday.

You have to be authentic and speak to your audience.

[joshmanders]

https://anoma.ly/

This is a YC company.

[thierrydamiba]

Interesting I was not aware of this. Wish them all the luck and hope they become the next unicorn. The people working on this seem extremely competent.

[solatic]

Like https://sst.dev/docs/ ?

I wouldn't begrudge professional tooling companies trying to use consumer marketing to reach early-stage projects, when most early-stage projects are built by hobbyists, side-project-ists, professionals-who-arent-software-professionals, etc.

[lionkor]

.. most? Im pretty sure you have a bias there. I see mostly software developers with degrees and jobs producing libraries and cool projects, very rarely is it the kid who never programmed before, or the 60 year old farmer who wants to try something new.

I think you're biased by the fact that the latter generates more attention briefly.

[solatic]

> I see

I may be biased, but I wouldn't be the only one :) There are so many great new projects getting started in South America, Middle East, Asia, Africa being built by people from non-traditional backgrounds who see software as a ladder to a middle-class or upper-middle-class livelihood. Just because their products sell to markets you're not familiar with, doesn't mean they don't exist.

[wiether]

If you want companies to adopt your tech product, who should be your main target?

- The junior dev with no say in decisions

- The seasoned contributors whose opinion is listened to but who know that there is no magic tool, only compromises

- The managers who almost always have the last word, who live with constant FOMO, and whose jobs are mostly based on impressions rather than actual results

[acomms]

What rubs you the wrong way about the video? Does it being this lighthearted make you question their engineering talent? Why are fun and skill mutually exclusive? I would like to know since I am working on a B2B project, and contemplating wacky marketing.

[thdxr]

when it comes to marketing the only thing that'll work is finding your true voice

i made this video because it reflects my sense of humor and is the kind of content i'd appreciate

anything outside business as usual will draw polarizing reactions

but in a noisy world that's the only thing that'll work

https://x.com/thdxr/status/1848794269848637510?s=46

[acomms]

I 100% agree. I love the video and it honestly makes me feel more connected to the brand. Keep up the good work, I think this can only help you stand out in an increasingly crowded space.

[syoussry]

100%, good to see you back, love the tone your sense or humor @thdxr

[Thorrez]

The video is a parody of marketing. If you want to criticize it for being irrelevant and that humor doesn't fit this situation, then sure. But saying it has similar marketing to consumer goods isn't really accurate.

[tomhallett]

Context for people who might not get the joke/parody: SST adding containers to their stack might be viewed as a "betryal" in a similar way to how some basketball fans felt when LeBron James switched teams, from Cleveland Cavaliers to Miami Heat. LeBron had a media event/interview called "The Decision" [1].

I love the clip of @dhh's keynote to engineer's "learned helplessness" to AWS and the cloud [2]. While SST + containers is very very different than DHH's Kamal [3], they both embrace containers without the paas service tax (heroku/vercel/etc) or the overhead of kubernetes.

1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Afpgnb_9bA4

2: https://youtu.be/-cEn_83zRFw?si=oAG3ZUKhXlUIKD88&t=1296

3: https://kamal-deploy.org/

[creatonez]

It's satire and it's hilarious. The fact that you thought it was a serious calculated marketing move honestly makes it even more hilarious.

[tolerance]

Some people are trapped in the mindset that the only way for them to be taken seriously is to go out of their way to not be taken seriously.

[aidenn0]

Over the years it has gotten simpler to have a certain level of production-value. This has a few effects:

- The reaction of many to something simple[1] becomes "oh it must be fly-by-night"

- It is more likely someone close to the project who can and will enjoy making something slick-looking

- B2B companies have had reasonably slick marketing for at least a decade, and there's always been a desire for many open projects to look like they can "play with the big boys"

1: https://motherfuckingwebsite.com/