> The Flex group uses technology to improve the range and fluidity of human expression. We invent new concepts and representations that amplify people’s ability to create, connect, and understand. We create tools that blur the line between using and creating, in order to provide a conversational medium for thinking and doing.
What they really do is make graphical programming tools. That's it.
That's not a company, that's a research group. Is that different? I think so. They're supposed to push the visionary envelope while a company is supposed to make money. Instant-noodle accessibility is critical to the latter.
(I love that you wrote "our very own YCombinator" though!)
I smiled at that because "we push the visionary envelope" is destined to be someone's vapid b2b marketing tagline but then realised its been done:
Americus F. Callahan of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States, received the first patent for a windowed envelope on 10 June 1902. Originally called the "outlook envelop", the patent initially anticipated using thin rice paper as the transparent material forming the window, though this material has since been replaced by clear plastics. The design has otherwise remained nearly unchanged.
To be fair, those tools (videos and descriptions) are directly below that paragraph. Which makes it many times clearer and more direct than the majority of the websites discussed in the article.
> The Flex group uses technology to improve the range and fluidity of human expression. We invent new concepts and representations that amplify people’s ability to create, connect, and understand. We create tools that blur the line between using and creating, in order to provide a conversational medium for thinking and doing.
What they really do is make graphical programming tools. That's it.
https://harc.ycr.org/flex/