

Ask HN: Cloned side project - imwhimsical

I&#x27;ve been working on something, as a side project. But I ran into somebody else who recently released a similar product.<p>Should I continue to work on mine? Or ditch it because it is redundant anyways?
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ElongatedTowel
I have a similar problem. I'm working on a static site generator. It improves
on some ideas other people had, but it isn't exactly unique. With several
hundred similar projects out there thats almost impossible anyway. It serves
my needs, but it isn't exactly mature.

I'm always seeking for a new one that solved the annoyances other projects had
so I can just use that one instead. But there is always something off. I could
improve the code or give the author a suggestion. Problem is, I'm in dire need
of a portfolio. A whole project is far more impressive than one or two patches
or a mere suggestion in someones issue tracker.

In the end I would be releasing code I don't really intend to use as soon as
something else has all I need. One that probably no one would be using.
Perfectionism and pride suddenly come into play.

~~~
stevekemp
If you're aware that it will be unlikely to take the world by storm, then
complete it regardless.

You'll probably learn interesting things, and have something you can use
either for real, or as you say for a portfolio-project.

FWIW I wrote [http://github.com/skx/templer](http://github.com/skx/templer)
for similar reasons, in my case annoyance at how poorly other static site-
generators handle symlinks.

I use it these days on several sites such as
[http://lumail.org/](http://lumail.org/) &
[http://tweaked.io/](http://tweaked.io/) both of which other people have
contributed to, which makes me think the barrier to entry wasn't too high.

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jrmiii
The thing is, competition can signal that there is a real market for what
you're doing.

It's generally not a good thing to be the only game in town over the long run.

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frankydp
If you would use the competitor and be completely happy with it then drop it.
If you are confident in your ability to provide a better value add then the
competitor then charge ahead. Your only loss is a little time.

~~~
imwhimsical
Thank you for the answer!

The issue here is that my product is definitely better designed, and can match
(perhaps even slightly bypass) the technical capabilities of the rival
product!

But It'd be safe to say the following — The "rival" has established a (4-5k
people) community around the product, and my better designed version aims to
build a larger community of users. I'm not going to be charging, and neither
is he.

~~~
christopherslee
Similar to the above poster, I think you have to determine what your goals are
for your own side project. Is it mostly a learning exercise for yourself? Was
it your lottery ticket? Were you just simply trying to build a product that
solved your own problem that you didn't think existed at the time?

If you both aren't going to be charging for it, is the other one open source?
Is there some kind of arrangement you two can make to work together?

~~~
imwhimsical
The project was mostly to give back to the community (not to learn or
anything, while it has taught me a lot)

Both mine as well as the other one is open source, but I don't know how to go
about a merger.

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centdev
Continue to work on it if your approach differs. There are not unique ideas
but it depends on who executes it better.

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jitendrac
Just keep working on your product/project. Competition may add features to
your project !!!

