Archive for the ‘hosted solutions’ Category

Mozilla & Nimbletoad: Supporting Open Source – Providing Customization, Security, and Economic Benefits

Sunday, August 10th, 2008

John Lilly, CEO Mozilla“People now understand what we stand for — the participatory and open Web…” John Lilly, CEO of Mozilla, made this statement in Wired Magazine during an interview about his Firefox strategy and how he has made a successful business out of what started as an open source project.

“Instead of relying on individual brilliance, we rely on enabling a network around the world, like Wikipedia does,” Lilly continued.

This really struck home when I read this since this is the same idea that we stand for at Nimbletoad [not to mention, our favorite internet browser is Firefox]. Integration and customization are two of the most important reasons we support the open source community – they directly effect our clients. Because of open source products, we are able to provide custom-tailored solutions, while increasing turnaround time and cost effectiveness. We fulfill our clients’ specific website needs with seamless integrations which makes for better user experience. Customization for better user experience is also a reason that John Lilly said Mozilla supports open source.

There is great controversy over the use of open source though, mainly dealing with economics. Opposition to open source says that it is damaging to the market of commercial [proprietary] software. Standish Group reports have even shown a significant drop in the proprietary software industry, estimated at $60 billion per year lost; however, what they don’t show is the creation of several new market opportunities that are the result of the open source community.

Wikipedia lists a few:

  • Providing support and installation services; similar to IT Security groups, Linux Distributions, and Systems companies.
  • Using the software as a stepping stone to sell a higher-end product or service; e.g., OpenOffice.org vs. StarOffice.
  • Cost avoidance / cost sharing: many developers need a product, so it makes sense to share development costs (X Window System and the Apache web server)

Not only are these markets created, adding to the economic benefits of open source software, but there are also other important benefits that cannot be overlooked. Security and defects are greatly reduced by being able to see source code and having thousands of developers working towards a solution. Studies have shown that that open-source software does have a higher flaw discovery, quicker flaw discovery, and quicker turn around on patches.

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Posted in geek, hosted solutions, innovation, open source, web 2.0 | No Comments »

The True Secret to a Better Google Page Rank

Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

The bottom line is people have to like you and more importantly link to you. Check out Memo (Courtesy of 37 Signals, SVN Blog)
A couple of lines of code, 1 image, No SEO, No Meta Tags, and a Google Page Rank of 4. Here is the entire website:

<html>
<head>
<title>memo</title>
</head>
<body>
<center>
<br><a href="mailto:info@memo-ny.com"><img src="memo_12_07_1.jpg"
alt="memo a graphic design firm located at 156 Fifth Avenue, 10th Floor,
New York City, NY 10010 (212) 915-7135 info@memo-ny.com" height="1820" width="680" 
border="0"><br><img src="memo_12_07_2.jpg" alt="Memo Productions www.memo-ny.com" 
border="0" height="15348" width="680"></a><br>&nbsp;
</center>
</body>
</html>

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Posted in business best practices, creativity, design, hosted solutions, ruby on rails, web 2.0 | 1 Comment »

What is the price of “Free”?

Monday, April 28th, 2008

Free has a price. Make no mistake about it. The old saying, “You can’t get something for nothing” rings true especially in today’s Internet.

Google and Yahoo do not provide free search and email out of the goodness of their hearts. Myspace and Facebook do not exist simply because the founders were lonely. There is a seemingly endless list of sites offering you free access to their services. Mint will let you track your money for free. Sites like Cellar Tracker and Vin Cellar will let you track your wines. Yahoo’s Flickr will even let you store your photos without a charge. The question is “Why?”

Well, the March issue of Wired magazine declared Free as the Future of Business. At first glance it makes sense. Think back to the classic example of Gillette giving away the razor so it could sell the blades, or of Hewlett Packard virtually giving away printers so it could sell ink jet cartridges. Giving away something to ensure a future revenue stream seems logical. But, what about the long term? What if customers wake up one day and realize they have sold their souls for a shiny trinket?

Everyone must ask themselves “Is the free razor [or email, or storage site] worth it ?”

Is the privacy I’m giving up to sites such as Google and Myspace worth the utility I get? I used to think so. However, now I’m not so sure. I think I’ve discounted what my anonymous data is worth. On March 31, 2008 Google declared revenue of 5.19 billion for the previous quarter. It would appear Google’s product, namely our “anonymous” data is pretty valuable.

But, what about sites like Mint and Vin Cellar that do not sell advertising?

Instead of a direct answer, let’s take a look at 37 Signals. 37 Signals is not only the creator of Ruby on Rails, but of many web apps.

37 Signals does it right. They make no bones about it. They offer free functional versions of their web apps such a Basecamp and Campfire to lure you into the paid plans with greater functionality. 37 signals is in the business of creating and selling Web Apps. Their intentions are clear. Other sites’ intentions are a little more cloudy.

Two questions that everyone needs to ask before signing up for a “Free” web service:

  1. What are the ulterior motives behind offering this free service?
  2. Is the price of “Free” worth it?

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Posted in hosted solutions, innovation, web applications | No Comments »

A Web Application User’s Bill Of Rights

Thursday, April 17th, 2008

You have the right

  • To your stored data
  • To the database structure of your data

Don’t let your Web Application Company hold your data hostage. Before you invest time in implementing a ready made web solution for you wine cellar, recipe collection, or project management needs, make sure that you have access to the database integrity should you chose to leave.

At Nimbletoad, if you spend the time entering your 6,000 bottle collection into our cellar management program, you will be able to take the database with you should you no longer require our hosted solution.

Your time and effort spent building out a database should never be in jeopardy. This is your right.

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Posted in hosted solutions, web 2.0, web applications | No Comments »

Joining the Club – The Web Install Learning Curve

Wednesday, April 9th, 2008

Dramatic recreation of the Web App install learning curve.

1st attempt – WTF errors everywhere

Go to forums. Nothing

“WTF”

Try again.

Reread the install process.

Bang your head and wonder, “why is there not better documentation?”

Swear you’ll post a forum solution, if you can find the answers

Try again

Try again

And Try again

Briefly consider looking at the code

Quit, Start up again.

Suddenly, a Duh moment. The program installs like butter with zero errors.

How quickly we change

Instantly a new mindset – A monkey could do it.

Forums? “Screw it, if these lame asses can’t figure it out, they don’t deserve to run it.”

How quickly we forget.

I’ve been installing web apps for years. Bottom line is they are all quirky. Most installs are 98% frustration and 2% euphoria.

Our goal for Nimbletoad is to reverse this ratio.

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Posted in hosted solutions, python, ruby on rails, web 2.0, web applications | No Comments »

Basecamp and Salesforce.com – the new mob

Saturday, April 5th, 2008

Basecamp, the project management tool, from 37 signals is everything the new web should be

  1. It just plain works
  2. Functionality comes first
  3. Highly Intuitive. Users can jump on and start using the app with little or no training

However, there is a dark side as we found out when we tried to export our data. While 37 Signals proclaims that you can export your data every 24 hours, the XML file you receive has little or no use. You cannot export all the files, attachments, and versions that you uploaded. You cannot download your write boards, or chat logs. What you get is a fat XML file of all your projects in little usable order.

Users must realize that once they commit to a hosted product there is little chance that they will be able to switch. All the functionality gained in the forefront is lost by the insidious entrapment of data. Buying into a hosted application is a little like being part of the mob. Once your are in you can never get out.

This problem is endemic to many hosted applications. We have had the same problem with Salesforce.com. At Nimbletoad we advocate opensource apps hosted by the user. That way, no matter what happens in the future the user will have complete functional access to their data.

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Posted in hosted solutions, web applications | No Comments »