The tools to make Gmail and Asana existed when Basecamp was launched. Specifically, the fallacies of distributed computing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallac

The tools to make Gmail and Asana existed when Basecamp was launched. Specifically, the fallacies of distributed computing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallacies_of_Distributed_Computing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallacies_of_Distributed_Comput...) and approaches to address them existed when Basecamp was launched. That they are now starting to be addressed more and more by applications like Gmail and Asana are not a function of revolutionary advances in our tools, but of an evolution in the collective understanding of our tools. It is not so much about keeping up with the pace of technology, as it is about understanding technology, and the advances already made.