[gchamonlive]

I think the only proprietary software companies with any shot at longevity are Japanese companies. First Japan leads by far the ranking of oldest companies in the world (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_companies). Then we have actual software like Zelda Breath of the Wild which is a technical marvel comparable to the original Rollercoaster Tycoon considering how well it runs on the severely limited architecture of the Switch.

I think this boils down to profit not being the only driving force for these companies, but prestige and a sense of duty and responsibility towards something larger and less immediate.

[Larrikin]

I think you know nothing about Japanese software.

You're assuming long lasting soy sauce companies have anything to do with software development. Japan produces great video games despite how terrible otherwise the developer environment and culture is there and nearly all of the other software shows it.

[gchamonlive]

Didn't say they are good quality, or the working environment is nice or anything, just that they have higher chances or living a long time. The reasons might not be any more or less commendable, but they are different than chasing the highest profit margin possible in the next quarter

[hoherd]

This podcast about the history of zaibatsu, hardware, and software comes to mind. https://www.disruptingjapan.com/the-forgotten-mistake-that-k...

> Software was not viewed so much as a product, but more like a service, similar to integration, training, and ongoing support and maintenance. It was usually sold on a time-and-materials basis, and sometimes it was just thrown in for free to sweeten the deal. The real money was in the hardware.

> Software development was considered rather low-skill work. It didn’t pay well and was viewed as a kind of clerical work. The job was simply to write software that was close enough to whatever sales had promised the client while they were out drinking last week.

[tdeck]

This sounds like the way software was viewed through at least the 1960s in the US.

[smcleod]

Japanese software and software technology culture is amongst the worst in the world. They're famous for failing to adopt modern ways of working, tools and as an industry is seriously struggling. There's fantastic video in this from Asianometry: https://youtu.be/ky1nGQhHTso

[Cyph0n]

There is nothing inherently special about Japan or Japanese people. You can pull similar examples from many other countries.

[Kirth]

I take it you've never been to Japan...

Wouldn't wanna live there permanently. Wouldn't want to have been born Japanese. But my god the products and services are head and shoulders above my baseline expectations; it's simply nicer.

[Cyph0n]

I have lived in Japan.

> Wouldn't wanna live there permanently. Wouldn't want to have been born Japanese.

So I take it you understand that there is no free lunch.

[tdeck]

The apps I need to use for Rakuten Mobile are certainly... special.

[gchamonlive]

I agree. I didn't say it's special, only different. Can you say adult adoption is something common in the US?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_adult_adoption

[Cyph0n]

I have always found the adoption loophole to maintaining a family business hilariously smart.

I also understand why it’s not something common outside of Japan. Selling your family name in exchange for (maybe) keeping your business alive is distasteful at best.

[gchamonlive]

It's weird and shows how heinous the working culture is, salarymen are almost property of the company they work for

[jamesnorden]

I thought I was reading a summary about the Yakuza.

[sophrosyne42]

Bro has never played the thousands of shitty visual novels. Hell even from software games, which are beautifully well designed, are technically embarrassing

[gchamonlive]

They are, but the central theme of the convo here isn't quality but longevity

[theshackleford]

> Breath of the Wild which is a technical marvel comparable to the original Rollercoaster Tycoon considering how well it runs on the severely limited architecture of the Switch.

What? It can’t even maintain a stable 30fps on its own target hardware. That’s not an example is point to for something running “well.”

[smith7018]

Yeah, it's genuinely my favorite game of all time but to compare it to Rollercoaster Tycoon as "a technical marvel" is doing a massive disservice to Chris Sawyer.

[nargek]

Software

Software Japan