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Ask HN: Name an established product that is begging to be disrupted

13 points by dangero ↗ HN
I'm asking for a specific product that currently has marketshare, not an industry. Begging for disruption could be any number of reasons like outdated software, high cost, poor customer service, etc.

21 comments

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dangero
I'll go first on my own question: Microsoft Outlook. While products like Google Apps for your domain have somewhat penetrated, Microsoft Outlook still has a strong corporate foothold while having super clunky software. It's expensive, and it requires infrastructure to use in most cases. Also, a lot of clients still want a native solution which things like Google Apps for domain don't provide.
georgemcbay
Not to be too wet of a noodle (and I'd certainly like Outlook to go away), but replacing Outlook at places where it is currently entrenched will require an absolutely Herculean effort. Not so much because Outlook the mail client or mail server is so great, but because of everything it ties into: calendaring, sharepoint, lync, custom LOB apps programmed to the Outlook APIs, etc.

When trying to talk people away from Outlook that entire secondary ecosystem has always been a much bigger roadblock than the lack of a native client or even the idea of storing corporate data in "the cloud" in my experience.

dangero
"When trying to talk people away from Outlook that entire secondary ecosystem has always been a much bigger roadblock than the lack of a native client or even the idea of storing corporate data in "the cloud" in my experience."

Wow, that is surprising to me. I wonder if there's an opportunity to provide a replacement for people who are just getting to the point of needing something like Outlook, but aren't entrenched yet.

georgemcbay
To be perfectly clear, when I mention trying to talk people away from Outlook and them being resistant, I'm talking about IT people and management, not the common workers, who mostly all hate Outlook.
dgunn
Agreed. Those who would love a replacement really have very little say in the matter. That's what anyone selling enterprise-y software has to deal with. You're usually selling to the people who won't be using it. This changes the conversation quite a bit regarding the benefits you emphasize about your offering. For instance, you may have to show a higher-up that they can save time/money by using your software rather than telling them they're employees will enjoy using it more because that high-up won't rightfully care.
LarryMade2
the Print Shop/Print Master

With today's technology such programs an be almost entirely on the cloud. Printable output being received back in PDF.

dangero
Interesting. I haven't really used Print Shop in more than 10 years and I see it hasn't changed much. I wonder how big that market is now and how print capabilities on tablets will affect its market size. Thinking of my corporate office: somebody is definitely generating a large number of Print Shop type materials to stick on the cork board for birth announcements, etc.
LarryMade2
There are times when I want to whip out a quick set of labels, sign or business card... My options are in Linux to work it together with libreoffice or inkscape (a bit more time finding fonts and elements as well as layout/alignment.) or fire up the Mac and use Print Shop there - you know that program still lists for 50-80 bucks (at least the Mac versions)!?!

I figure a lot of the patents have/will soon expire for the technology Print Shop Deluxe which most of what's out there is still based on, came out in 1993.

tmzt
I had the recent experience of suggesting a Google Chromebook for a user, possibly as a laptop alternative to her current desktop computer. Her main concern was being able to use Print Shop. I looked for a cloud application with the same features but was unable to find one, so that leaves her with using a Windows computer or a Mac.
callmeed
I have two based on my own experience:

1. ROES

Roes is used/offered by many large photo and digital press printing companies. Almost every pro wedding and portrait photographer I know uses it to submit print orders. It is, believe it or not, a desktop Java app. It lets labs define their own products/prices and have orders queued into their printing systems. It's a gigantic PITA to use, has no sort of modern API and is part of the reason many of these print companies can't innovate with "Stripe for printing X" type features. http://www.softworkssystems.com/roes_pro/index.php

2. Plesk/cPanel

Pick either one. Combined, the 2 have probably 90% of the server/hosting control panel market. Yes, I know on-demand cloud computing is all the rage with us hackers but I don't see the need to manage traditional hosting and email going away anytime soon. Considering a) free google apps going away, b) Wordpress not slowing down, c) static sites/blogs like Jekyll gaining popularity, d) rising popularity of nginx and PostgreSQL, etc, I think there's several angles you could choose from as an initial wedge into this space. We use Pesk on our dedicated servers and its a nightmare. It infects a server, it's bloated, it's slow, and it has a horrible API/command line interface. If you doubt me, ask anyone who's ever worked for Rackspace support how much they love handling Plesk tickets.

If you built a simple rails/Sinatra based panel that did about 6 core features and didn't hijack a system, I'd write you a check right now. http://www.parallels.com/products/plesk/

dangero
cPanel is a good one. I cringe anytime I have to use it, but I understand why it's there... It has a ton of features that the hosting company can advertise. That's probably what would make it hard to disrupt because while a new interface could look cleaner, the hosting company could lose some marketing appeal.

I'd be interested to hear you elaboration on how you would create an initial wedge in that market.

rfnslyr
Honestly I have never had any problem with cPanel. Does exactly what I need it to do. What problems did you run into with cPanel?
dangero
For one, I think the cPanel interface is very out of date graphic design wise. Secondly, it's your typical last decade software that has a million features. I think it's also probably too technical for the average shared hosting user. Defeating cPanel probably is a lot like defeating craigslist. I think like callmeed is saying, you're not going to do it by creating a cPanel competitor, but rather making replacements for specific features of cPanel that can stand on their own.
callmeed
Well, cPanel and Plesk are mainly centered around Apache, so my first though is make one for nginx. Include a 1-click installer for Nginx + PHP-FPM + WordPress [1] and I think you'd already be onto something.

Next, look at some way to do simple, static site/blog hosting (again using nginx). Give them a choice of Jekyll or Middleman (I do Ruby so that's what I know) and let them update via (S)FTP, a rich-text editor, or email. I started something like this with http://www.utterson.me but also check out http://neocities.org that was posted on HN recently. Basically, slap a nice hosting account on either of those and go from there.

Think about all the freelance designers/developers out there. They build a site or a WP theme for a customer. That customer then needs to host it. So give them the ability to make money without all the bloat of Plesk/cPanel's reseller/sub-account BS. Stripe integration could come into play here.

[1] https://www.digitalocean.com/community/articles/how-to-insta...

stevekemp
Regarding Plesk/CPanel you might consider looking at the open-source project we released:

http://symbiosis.bytemark.co.uk/

As you can see it is thoroughly documented and allows you to create websites and mailboxes via SFTP. For example to create the hosting for the site "example.com", and some mailboxes you'd run:

   mkdir -p /srv/example.com/public/htdocs
   mkdir -p /srv/example.com/config
   echo "ftp-pass" > /srv/example.com/config/ftp-password

   mkdir /srv/example.com/mailboxes/bob
   echo "secret" > example.com/mailboxes/bob/password
Built around Debian Squeeze, iwth wheezy support in the future, it is a modular series of packages for IMAP, POP3, Webmail, Website hosting, with utilities for SSL, etc, too.

Adding a control panel would be trivial, but we tend to assume folk will login via ssh/sftp.

vajrapani666
Western Union

There is no excuse for this company to exist.

jmsbrwr
All joking aside, the term "disrupted" needs to be disrupted.
lsiebert
superseded, ousted, supplanted or usurped?
lsiebert
How about medication management for senior citizens/those with chronic diseases using call centers to remind them to take their medications?

How about disrupting corporate computer training for older office workers with short videos/tips on an advertising supported platform.

How about a furniture leasing agency targeting international workers in the US on a temp visa.

Or disrupt scheduling doctor's appointments. Please.

advertising supported forum with sub forums for different rare disease sufferers, and either automatically generated or curated postings about drug trails, research papers, etc.