[mr_coleman]

I think of a "CRUD application" as, hopefully, a thin wrapper around simple database transactions with a web front end. They're mind numbing to work on with most tasks boiling down to "add column to database and update the ui". They also tend to be in charge of more MRR than most well funded startups. There is a huge demand for them and if you're good at banging them out, your kids will never go hungry.

If anyone is looking for a good business model, write an application that makes it so that Person Type X can manage and access a database easily. There are plenty of examples. Salesforce is CRUD for Sales people. A lot of Oracle's software is CRUD for Industry Y.

[thorin]

Kind of, but if you've seen people trying to implement a chess game in Oracle Forms or similar you'll know that most people never stop at "a thin wrapper around simple database transactions"...

Like systems built in excel or locode alternatives, every CRUD application gets more and more convoluted over time and isn't "just CRUD" very soon after it's created.

[CRConrad]

> every CRUD application gets more and more convoluted over time and isn't "just CRUD" very soon after it's created.

I'm guessing tht's in large part because stuff just keeps getting added, with no refactoring / restructuring of the database. If you just keep adding columns (and tables) without refactoring your data model, stuff can easily get convoluted AF without actually needing to; the same funcionality could probably still be "just CRUD" if it were built on top of an appropriate data model. (I may be eaxggerating somewhat, but I think probably pretty much anything could.)

[gardenhedge]

HN IS CRUD for HNers (Minus the Delete operation)