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Re: Colaab Offers a Real-Time Alternative to Basecamp for Project Collaboration

Kev — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 03:23:58 -0000

I'm really annoyed by this app. It launched and billed itself as "for design review", but it runs on Silverlight, which you can't install on the Mac OS. I find that incredibly frustrating and a real oversight by the folks who launched the app.

Guys... designers use Macs. Build an app that works on Macs.

Re: Colaab Offers a Real-Time Alternative to Basecamp for Project Collaboration

PM Hut — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 17:52:09 -0000

Thanks for the explanation. Maybe if more people start building applications using silver light, then more people will start to use it. I, for instance, don't have it installed.

Re: Colaab Offers a Real-Time Alternative to Basecamp for Project Collaboration

Bob Thomson — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 04:25:13 -0000

@PM Hut - Microsoft Silverlight is the technology that colaab has been developed with. It's a plugin that's free and easy to install.

http://silverlight.net/

I took the decision to develop using Silverlight because I've got a strong background in using the Microsoft stack for development, wanted to get in on the ground floor with a new technology and follow it as it matures and because I wanted to (try!) to produce a richer user experience within the browser.

As I said, I understand that this is going to be a limiting factor in some regards, but I couldn't have built what I did in any other technology (that's not to say that someone else couldn't have, just for my particular circumstances). I'm hoping that the experience you have with colaab will be worth the small time it takes to download the plugin.

Bob

Re: Colaab Offers a Real-Time Alternative to Basecamp for Project Collaboration

PM Hut — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:43:59 -0000

I went to their website, clicked on Pricing and Signup, and I got this thing about installing MS SilverLight. Whatever happened to Flash or static HTML? I work in a small company right now < 50 people, and none of us have silver light installed. Most of the employees never heard of it before...

Re: Colaab Offers a Real-Time Alternative to Basecamp for Project Collaboration

Sahil Parikh — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 06:57:52 -0000

If you are looking for something more permission-based then check out DeskAway.com

Re: Colaab Offers a Real-Time Alternative to Basecamp for Project Collaboration

Daria — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 06:05:59 -0000

You're welcome, Bob. Good luck.

Re: Colaab Offers a Real-Time Alternative to Basecamp for Project Collaboration

Bob Thomson — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 05:58:41 -0000

@Daria - I appreciate what you're saying. For this first release of colaab we've focused on making the resource viewing experience as rich as possible.

We've got a number of features planned which are more focused on bringing people an overview of what's happening within there account, which we should be brining online over the coming months.

Thanks for your feedback, very useful.

Bob

Re: Colaab Offers a Real-Time Alternative to Basecamp for Project Collaboration

Daria — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 05:55:24 -0000

@Bob
Hi, and thanks for your comment. Here's another problem with different workplaces: it's hard to get a bigger picture. Does your tool allow people to view multiple projects on one page? To know where the whole business stands? Also can you have cross-project views? E.g. if you have several product development projects, can you view development tasks related to all of them at a time?

You're probably familiar with the GTD system. The main principle of GTD is to keep all your stuff in one place. This way, you increase your productivity and end up completing more tasks and projects.

Re: Colaab Offers a Real-Time Alternative to Basecamp for Project Collaboration

Daria — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 05:15:39 -0000

Don't you think that creating different workplaces is like creating numerous silos? It would be very difficult to track several projects and try to jump between these workspaces. Colaab's interface does look smooth, but I don't think it compensates for this fact. We use a different approach at Wrike. You can manage ALL of your projects in one workspace.

Re: Colaab Offers a Real-Time Alternative to Basecamp for Project Collaboration

Dean — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:13:24 -0000

Thanks for posting this. I am using basecamp for my start-up, Sprawl3 and am still dealing with the limits begrudgingly.

Great post.
Dean

Re: Colaab Offers a Real-Time Alternative to Basecamp for Project Collaboration

Brady J. Frey — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 12:55:50 -0000

Great answer Bob, I do wish you the best and hope this app is very successful for you! I know how hard it is to build something like this and watch it grow:)

Re: Colaab Offers a Real-Time Alternative to Basecamp for Project Collaboration

Bob Thomson — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 12:47:11 -0000

@Frederick - Thanks! We're working on a few killer features that should help to differentiate us within the space, particularly integrating Silverlight's DeepZoom functionality so that people can view and zoom into extremely large images without having to download all the data first. Should be ready next month.

@Brady - The choice of Silverlight was made for a number of reasons.

1. We wanted to produce something with a very rich user experience and as close to real time functionality as possible.
2. We develop all of our back-end systems using Microsoft technologies so it allowed us to stay with the same coding environment and language.
3. We can develop much faster using it than with anything else which allows us to spend more time on adding user value.
4. We wanted to be in at the ground floor with a technology so that we can follow it as it matures.

I appreciate that this choice is not going to be for everyone, and some users aren't going to get over the hurdle of installing the plugin (if they don't have it already), hopefully there is enough of a market with those people who will install it / use it for us to build up our subscriber numbers and make colaab a successfull product.

Thanks,

Bob

Re: Colaab Offers a Real-Time Alternative to Basecamp for Project Collaboration

Brady J. Frey — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 12:36:26 -0000

Ah, Silverlight - I should have check closer. I know it's biased, but that alone puts a black cloud on the system. Dive into Mark said it best:
http://diveintomark.org/arc...

I have no interests in applications that are built on a proprietary web system - most specifically from a company that has a history of holding the quality of the internet back.

Re: Colaab Offers a Real-Time Alternative to Basecamp for Project Collaboration

Jennifer Van Grove — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:37:48 -0000

Brady, thanks for your comment. I actually forgot to mention in the piece that Colaab is powered by Microsoft Silverlight, which does create a nicer, more animated, interface. As you point, however, that also works against entry level users.

Re: Colaab Offers a Real-Time Alternative to Basecamp for Project Collaboration

Timothy — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:29:48 -0000

I'll have to check this out

Re: Colaab Offers a Real-Time Alternative to Basecamp for Project Collaboration

Andrew Donnelly — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:17:13 -0000

Hi Jennifer,
Would you be interested in checking out a free desktop sharing tool used for real-time Web collaboration: Mikogo http://www.mikogo.com
Mikogo is a very smooth easy-to-use tool that allows you start meetings from your desktop and then share your screen with up to 10 participants. Great for teams to work together despite distance, as well as Web presentations, remote support and online meetings. All features are included for free, such as switch presenter, scheduler, whiteboard, remote control, recording, file transfer and more.
When you have a moment please drop by our website and try it out for yourself, or check out the tutorial videos. In the case of any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Regards,

Andrew Donnelly
The Mikogo Team
andrew@mikogo.com

Re: Colaab Offers a Real-Time Alternative to Basecamp for Project Collaboration

Frederick Townes — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:09:57 -0000

@movingforwards, that is a sharp interface you have there. One product in particular that has remarkably clean and agile interface is conceptshare (http://conceptshare.com). Itâ€™s geared for the collaboration around a number of media types although we use the web and adobe AIR interface for working with images mostly. Iâ€™m not convinced that what @Brady says is correct. Simple and clean interfaces whether desktop or web driven are being widely adopted and proliferating deeply into the corners of the web. With products like conceptshare the interface can be simplified/customized quite a bit.

Re: Colaab Offers a Real-Time Alternative to Basecamp for Project Collaboration

Kiran — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 02:42:24 -0000

Its got nice theme going. I really like the interface. Not sure if it would be sticky enough and serves enough requirements to be useful. I am going to give it a try. signed up for the trial.

Re: Colaab Offers a Real-Time Alternative to Basecamp for Project Collaboration

Brady J. Frey — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 02:18:45 -0000

Looks good, but I have to admit, that HUD style interface very much free floating does nothing but confuse my entry level users. Typical of an ASP design, the icons and the look are common Microsoft: glossy, big, and a few months behind. I will admit bias to ASP - I've yet to find a quality app that's on the standards band wagon, but that might be the groups I'm with (PHP, RoR, Python, etc.)

Re: Colaab Offers a Real-Time Alternative to Basecamp for Project Collaboration

snoe — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:08:29 -0000

I gotta say... that's one fine interface! Very well thought out.