Not trying to stir up much but genuinely a curious question:
When I got my air late last year, my opinions were very strong towards the lack of focus around software and I got absolutely flamed here. Many of my discussions went south quickly and I started feeling like maybe it was a me problem. Now a days that seems to be the general consensus. What changed so many opinions?
I think there are actually three factors to this.
1. What
@borski said. If you read posts from folks like
@Bobby and me carefully, we are always quick to point out the software is certainly not perfect. We just strongly disagree when folks claim it’s “awful” or “terrible.” The distinction matters.
2. When people generally compare software, they can be talking about three different things. There are features. There is design and experience. And then there are bugs.
Clearly, Lucid does not win any battles when it comes to feature set. They are way too young and are still catching up on technical debt due to poor early decisions. So when people say “I wish it had this or that feature” I often have nothing to add. It’s usually a fair point.
This is also why I hate statements like “Lucid is behind on software.” It’s vague and meaningless. Behind how? Behind on features? Sure. Behind on bugs? I’d say they are about average there. They used to be much worse. (See poor decisions above.)
But behind in experience and design? I’d argue they are doing better here than most. I know folks disagree with me, but I actuallly think Tesla is good on features, slightly ahead on bugs, and just not good at all on experience. Since experience matters to me far more than a laundry list of features, statements like “Lucid is behind in software” strike me as quite inaccurate.
3. And this is the only point I will direct towards you in particular. We know you a bit better now. You’ve been here long enough, driven the car enough, and made enough intelligent arguments to have “earned” your opinions. I still don’t always agree, but I’m going to cut you more space because you’ve proven you know what you are talking about and the sentiment is coming from the right place.
I’ve used the metaphor before, but if you walk into a random Philly sports bar for the first time and yell “The Eagles suck!” You’re going to go home with a few black eyes and cracked ribs. If, however, you frequent that bar for ten years, and you quietly say to the guy next to you “Man, we really blew too many opportunities and fell apart in the second half of the season” you’ll probably get at least a nod of agreement.
This is just how humans operate.
So no. We haven’t changed. Our opinions haven’t changed. Just our general disposition towards each other has evolved. For the better.