What's this about?
An argument for software built as a solid base plus custom code, rather than as either a rigid product or an endlessly configurable one.
What is "malleable software"?
The idea that end users should be able to reshape their tools rather than choosing between what the vendor built and building from scratch. It has a long history — HyperCard, spreadsheets, Emacs — and it keeps failing commercially because customisation is expensive to support. What makes it live again is that generating the custom part is now cheap: the vendor ships a dependable base, and the user's specific needs get met by code written on demand rather than by another configuration checkbox.
Why does this matter to you?
HN 96 points, 30 comments
- "Solid bases and custom code" is a cleaner formulation than the usual configuration-versus-code framing.
- It is the constructive version of this week's anxiety about generated code — generation is most defensible exactly where the code is small, local and yours.
- Spreadsheets remain the proof that this works at enormous scale when the base is good enough.