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Ask HN: Which companies gained a competitive edge purely via engineering?

5 points - last Monday at 2:21 PM


For example: WhatsApp or Crash Bandicoot (1996)?

  • mrhottakes

    last Monday at 2:44 PM

    A long long time ago: Oracle

      • yepyoukno

        last Monday at 2:47 PM

        Uh, wut?

        Try “Sun Microsystems”!

          • mrhottakes

            last Monday at 2:57 PM

            That is another company that built an advantage with engineering, true.

    • last Monday at 3:21 PM

      • farseer

        last Tuesday at 12:10 PM

        Google search was way better than yahoo or altavista

        • aristofun

          last Wednesday at 1:42 PM

          Whatsapp, really?

            • Johanx64

              last Wednesday at 2:37 PM

              Before FB acquisition:

              Yes, really, it ran on potato feature phones you've never even heard of. That can only happen if you really bend backwards to make it happen.

              Massive userbase with very tiny team.

                • aristofun

                  last Wednesday at 5:11 PM

                  Okay. Cause it still feels like running on a potato phone on latest iphone :)

          • dennisjoseph

            last Tuesday at 5:14 PM

            Garmin

              • nimblist

                last Wednesday at 6:27 PM

                In theory they still do. I can't imagine giving up weeks of battery life for wondering whether it's going to last through the day but apple/galaxy watch buyers see differently by a massive margin

            • AnimalMuppet

              last Tuesday at 3:28 AM

              SGI.

              Hewlett Packard.

              DEC.

              • bitbasher

                last Monday at 9:17 PM

                Bell Labs

                  • hnthrow10282910

                    last Wednesday at 8:54 PM

                    Crazy company. Not sure any has existed like it with possibly the exception of early Google