[Iter-X] 60/100days

Day6️⃣0️⃣

Today I came across an interesting article called Home-Cooked Software and Barefoot Developers. I want to reflect on it a bit and share some of my own thoughts.

For a long time, mainstream software products have followed a general-purpose model—once built, they can be used by many people repeatedly. We’ve seen a shift from local applications to cloud-based ones, where data moves to the cloud and devices like phones and computers are just endpoints. Even brain-computer interfaces can be seen as another form of access. In the future, we might see a trend back toward local-first and non-generalized software, partly because of the rise of video coding and AI-assisted development. (Just today I open-sourced a service where over 95% of the work was done by AI—I only handled a few key parts and barely looked at the code.)

This means in the future, anyone can build a product, and it doesn’t have to be general-purpose. It could be something made just for a specific event—a trip, a wedding, a one-time activity. It’s disposable, like a single-use item. A generation growing up with such low-cost output tools will naturally adapt to this mindset. The article also mentions that many future products will serve local communities first, which makes perfect sense. The world is not as perfect as the internet makes it seem—there are still huge wealth gaps, underdeveloped regions, and people living below the poverty line. In some ways, AI could help address part of these issues.

At the moment, we’re in the industrial, high-modernism age of software, where these standardized, one-size-fits-all apps are made for us by people who don’t know much about us.

General-purpose or specialized? Large-scale or small-and-beautiful? Basic needs or long-tail demand? No commercial value = worthless? This article, with just a few slides and brief captions, is really worth a read. Like me, you might find yourself inspired or experience a shift in perspective.

It’s like this: for just $20 a month, you can now get a capable assistant who can handle the bulk of development for you. In a way, this is technological inclusion—even long-tail and non-commercial projects now have a chance to exist and matter in the world.

Current Progress Overview:

1. Prototype & UI/UX Design: 33%
2. Backend (Go) Development: 59%
3. Client (Flutter) Progress: 51%
4. Data: 12%

If you feel like you match the following, let’s connect:

1. You’re persistent
2. You have a dream
3. You’re interested