north_creao

Been revisiting the Ink & Switch essay on "malleable software" and I'm starting to think we might be at a genuine inflection point. Their core thesis: most software today is rigid, forcing users to adapt their workflows to fit the software, rather than software adapting to users. True malleable software would be as modifiable as clay - users could reshape any tool to fit their exact needs. When they wrote this, it felt like beautiful theory but practically impossible for non-programmers.

But the recent advances in LLM-powered code generation are changing something fundamental.

For the first time, the gap between "I want this tool to work differently" and "I can make this tool work differently" is collapsing for ordinary users. Natural language becomes the universal programming interface.

This creates an interesting dynamic: software becomes reactive to user intent rather than users being reactive to software constraints.

I'm seeing early signs of this shift - people replacing entire SaaS workflows with custom tools they can modify on demand. The relationship between human and computer is starting to invert.

Few questions for HN: 1. What are the implications for software distribution/business models? If anyone can modify software, what happens to traditional SaaS? 2. Do you think most people will craft their own apps, or they prefer "out of the box" solutions? 3. Do you think the high agency dividend appears, people who think "how to make things better" will significantly improve productivity with malleable software?