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37signals becomes Basecamp

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Re: 37signals becomes Basecamp

#91

Post by buttsex »

henryaj wrote: post #76

Basecamp may not have all the power features that some HN readers (and myself) would want, but in retrospect that's exactly the point - it makes their software simple and accessible. I love these guys. 37signals are an inspiration, and I've been using and loving Basecamp since I was 17 and running a company with my friends in school. To the next ten years.

We managed dozens of clients at a time and one of the biggest compliments we get is on how easy it is to use Basecamp. Really looking forward to the new ideas they have in store.

Re: 37signals becomes Basecamp

#92

Post by jlarocco »

sgdesign wrote: post #81
k-mcgrady wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is spreading yourself too thin in the first place, getting people to rely on your products, and then pulling them. I think it's much more acceptable for a small business like 37Signals to do this than a large one like Google. Google has the resources to keep products around, 37Signals doesn't.

Sure, it's inconvenient for the end user. But as someone who's started a few projects myself, I would hate to think that starting something means you vow to support it until the end of times no matter what happens.

I think the target market has a big influence here.

For end user software, it's not such a big deal to drop support.

But for a project like Basecamp, businesses are buying it and potentially investing a lot of time and money to integrate it into their processes. Companies buying that kind of software expect it to be around a while. It's a bit disingenuous to sell to them knowing it may not be supported after a short time.

Re: 37signals becomes Basecamp

#94

Post by timjahn »

theknown99 wrote: post #66
adrinavarro wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The talent and know-how? I thought we were already past the "why buy it if you can copy it".

"Talent and know how"? Seriously? Is writing a webchat client some black dark art? There's nothing much you need to know to write a webchat client. Campfire isn't high volume, so it doesn't need to be too efficient either. Last time I checked campfire processes a few messages a second. Heck you could rewrite it in PHP/MySQL if you were that way inclined. Campfire didn't succeed because it was a good product. It succe…

Your arm chair quarterbacking is adding oh so much to the conversation.

Are we really back to the childish argument of "this is so easy to build, would just take a few minutes"?

Re: 37signals becomes Basecamp

#95

Post by brianbreslin »

wlll wrote: post #44
alexcroox wrote: post #17

While I admire 37signals I do find myself increasingly comparing them to Google and their offering. They make incredible services, but it's hard to trust them to build your business workflow around their products. If there aren't stripping back critical business features such as time tracking for our billing in the new Basecamp, they are looking to shutdown or sell others a few years on. I hate corporate software as…

The only feature I can think of that we ever removed (I might be wrong) is OpenID, because almost no-one used it and it was really confusing. Time tracking is still there in Basecamp Classic, and that's not going away. If you rely on time tracking in Basecamp Classic you can continue to do so. See this from the announcement page FAQ: Q: What about Basecamp Classic? "We are fully committed to running Basecamp Classic…

I want to switch to new basecamp, been a basecamp classic customer since 2005 (do i get a gift basket?), but rely on time tracking for my business. I don't want to have to rely on an external time tracking tool.

Re: 37signals becomes Basecamp

#96

Post by billyhoffman »

keeptrying wrote: post #34

This smells like they are going to try to pull a Atlassian. And they will also go take VC money ... Going to be fun to watch :)

Do you even know anything about 37Signals?

With even a superficial study of the company, its public figures, or their publications you would know that "taking VC money" or massive growth would be anathema to 37Signals. On the level of "Doctors without Borders" going into the landmine business.

37Signals has an interesting and often counter intuitive approach to a modern software business. While I don't always agree with their methods or dogma, it is fascinating to watch what they try and, more specifically, how they actually execute on their ideals. It's like a science experiment that I don't have to pay for :-)

The worse thing for everyone, customers and voyeurs, would be to take VC money and become like Atlassian.

Re: 37signals becomes Basecamp

#98

Post by ryanSrich »

csmithuk wrote: post #23
alexcroox wrote: post #17

While I admire 37signals I do find myself increasingly comparing them to Google and their offering. They make incredible services, but it's hard to trust them to build your business workflow around their products. If there aren't stripping back critical business features such as time tracking for our billing in the new Basecamp, they are looking to shutdown or sell others a few years on. I hate corporate software as…

A million times this. We had a small division of our company using Basecamp for a bit but it got canned after some changes and they went crawling back to Salesforce. It stinks but it stinks consistently!

It's pretty well documented that Basecamp is for a certain type of business. There's no reason to bash it. It serves a purpose, just not the one your small division found useful.

I admire a company sticking to their values when they could easily throw them out the window and grow into a massive corporate machine.

Something as trivial as time tracking can easily be done with an external application[1] that plugs directly into Basecamp.

1.) https://www.toggl.com/

Re: 37signals becomes Basecamp

#99

Post by wj »

I had just signed up for Highrise but haven't started implementing it yet. Sounds like the product will live on but I wouldn't mind some recommendations for alternatives if anybody has some.

I've used both Salesforce and SugarCRM and they seem a bit overkill for my use.

Re: 37signals becomes Basecamp

#100

Post by mhp »

GnwbZHiU wrote: post #97

I still don't understand why basecamp is so popular. In my opinion it's just an average product, nothing special about it, but it has so many users.

You underestimate the power of marketing, design, and timing then. A good product is not a prerequisite to being popular by any means (although it certainly helps).
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