Ask HN: What's the greatest piece of non-dogfooded software?

3 nathancspencer 6 7/7/2025, 9:37:58 AM

It seems like every "great" piece of software, e.g. the operating systems of Apple and Microsoft, the search engine of Google, AWS inside Amazon, Facebook etc was dogfooded.

What's the biggest exception to this rule?

Comments (6)

matt_s · 5h ago

Do companies like Oracle and SAP run their own business on their ERP platforms? That might be the biggest one.

aristofun · 3h ago

How is facebook dogfooded? Do they buy facebook ads?

And wasn’t windows originally created as a product for sale? I don’t remember microsoft starting as hardware company. Maybe that is why windows sucks :)

d--b · 6h ago

Well software for non-software people...

Like I doubt that people writing autoCAD are ones who needed it in the first place.

Maybe I am wrong.

JohnFen · 4h ago

I don't think you're wrong. Most of my career has been working on specialty software that no individual (including myself) could use, and therefore can't be dogfooded.

defrost · 11h ago

The US Strategic Automated Command and Control System (DDSACCS), which sends emergency action messages to nuclear forces.

Not entirely software .. but an example of a system not used in house .. or at all ... yet.

Greatest? Hmm. Hard to say.

abc000 · 12h ago

None.

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