8 ms·

The all-new Basecamp is live

216 points by tbassetto 15y ago

tho 15y ago
as
jacobr 15y ago
If your company is completely dependent on Basecamp, how come you haven't tried the beta already, and given feedback?
- csallen 15y ago
  I'm fairly sure the beta was invite-only.
Hates_ 15y ago
Is there a way to migrate existing Basecamp accounts over? I can't seem to find anything on how to do it.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- stravid 15y ago
  I guess this is what you were looking for: http://basecamp.com/transition-steps http://basecamp.com/transition-steps
- jasonfried 15y ago
  We also have general FAQs for Classic customers: http://basecamp.com/transition http://basecamp.com/transition
- hugorodgerbrown 15y ago
  Easiest is to go to your Classic instance, look at the Account tab, where there is a huge call-to-action explaining the upgrade path.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
redguava 15y ago
Their new pricing page breaks many of the "rules" for getting conversions (eg. clear call to action). It will be interesting to see if they blog about the results of it. http://basecamp.com/pricing http://basecamp.com/pricing
- psylence519 15y ago
  "Get started today with a 45-day free trial" ?
  - demoo 15y ago
    No CSS buttons!
alpb 15y ago
Just finished reading Rework. in that book they usually tell that they rarely implement new features because most of them are redundant for most of the users and only a few would benefit out of this. Personally,I am not a Basecamp user and I really would like to learn what's new.
- jasonfried 15y ago
  Here's a list of some of the new features: http://basecamp.com/new http://basecamp.com/new
  - hawke 15y ago
    I can see the lack of time tracking being a bit of a talking point, otherwise looks like a huge improvement.
thehodge 15y ago
Looks like they have got rid of the free plan... (I'm not saying this as a negative thing, it's going to be really interesting to see the response to this, I know there was a blog post a while ago saying there hardly anyone on the free account upgraded) I'm using a free basecamp account but we only have one project and $20/$25 is just a little much for that a micro plan at $10 would be awesome :) )
- dclaysmith 15y ago
  I agree. $20/mo is definitely going to be too expensive for a ton of potential customers. I guess it's a luxury that 37Signals can not only afford, but will maximize their profit and I would assume they have some good historical data to back up the decision. I do think that there is a magic $5-9/mo range that individuals will pay without thinking too much. Above that amount, they start equating a subscription with a trip to the movies or a (cheap) night out and you've lost them.
  - flyosity 15y ago
    I totally disagree, $20/mo for a service like Basecamp is not expensive. I pay $20-50/mo per month for a whole host of services (hosting, backup storage, payment processing, etc.) and don't really think twice about them since they're business expenses. FYI: I'm an individual who has a full-time job but does projects/apps at night with a separate LLC.
    - dclaysmith 15y ago
      I agree--$20/mo is not expensive but like @thehodge says... it all adds up. I think that in this space tho, you have a huge market of people who are "pre-business" who just couldn't justify 5-10 $20 services a month when they are pre-profit or only making a few hundred a month off of their products. Basecamp could appeal to some of these folks with a sub $10 offering.
      - mgkimsal 15y ago
        Agreed. Someone else here already pointed out "hey, time tracking in basecamp is limited - we use harvest and integrate". OK, so now you've got 2 $20/month services (or whatever harvest costs). Then another $10-$20/month for another service. And another. And another. And that's usually $10-$20/month per user. A small company could easily be paying $500/month for a few services for a handful of users. Are they getting $500 or more of value from it? Possibly, but smaller orgs tend to be more gunshy about spending money, however small, without free tiers. Perhaps those are the companies that you don't really want as customers anyway?
netmute 15y ago
Great, they basically removed all the features we use in Basecamp Classic :)
- bergie 15y ago
  Yep. It would be nice to see a list of added/removed features vs. Classic. For example we use the time tracking functionality for our invoicing needs. Also, does the API (http://developer.37signals.com/basecamp/ http://developer.37signals.com/basecamp/) stay the same?
  - qrush 15y ago
    This post has a good list: http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3110-basecamp-next-the-goodbye-list-and-the-hello-list http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3110-basecamp-next-the-goodby... The API isn't ready yet, soon though!
    - bergie 15y ago
      Thanks! Seems indeed a lot of useful stuff was dropped. I wonder if that was based on usage analysis, or just an opinion on what the product should have. It is a shame that API appears to be only an afterthought. Otherwise third parties could possibly offer some of the missing features.
      - qrush 15y ago
        It's definitely not an afterthought. If you're interested in beta testing the API feel free to email me at nick@37signals.com, and I'll get you hooked up.
  - nmk 15y ago
    http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3110-basecamp-next-the-goodbye-list-and-the-hello-list http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3110-basecamp-next-the-goodby...
- alberth2 15y ago
  This is crazy, so 37signals doesn't even allow new users to sign up for the Basecamp Classic version. Seeing this new Basecamp product makes me even more so want to use the OLD Classic version ... yet I can't.
pgdev 15y ago
Looking forward to moving across from "Classic" ;)
jashkenas 15y ago
It's fun to poke around under the hood a little bit, and look at parts of the internal API: > Object.keys(bcx.models) ["PersonOrGroup", "Bucket", "BucketAccess", "Calendar", "CalendarEvent", "Project", "Person", "CalendarDisplay", "Todo"] > Object.keys(bcx.models.Todo.prototype) ["constructor", "isAllDay", "isTimed", "urlRoot", "getBucketPath", "showPath", "bucket", "doesOccurOn", "doesOccurOnOrAfter", "doesOccurBetween", "getDueDate", "summary"]
- MatthewPhillips 15y ago
  Nice to see them using camel case in their js, unlike some other ruby shops.
  - bilalhusain 15y ago
    Well, yup, but if I am not wrong, the point here is probably that they have embraced Backbone. And obviously the difference between other ruby shops and 37signals is that they are the reasons other ruby shops exist.
- bilalhusain 15y ago
  This isn't reddit, but I'll still take a chance! Hi Jeremy, My name is Jeff Morse. I'm a Recruiter at a super-charged start-up called Mixbook www.mixbook.com I came across your profile on hacker news and have a full-time Jr. Backbone developer opening working onsite in our Palo Alto, California office that is a great match for your background/experience. Would you be ready to make the move to Silicon Valley, the most innovative place for web start ups which offers superior growth opportunities for talented Backbone developers like yourself? Mixbook will pay for all relocation costs. Would you be open to taking a phone/Sykpe call from our CTO, Aryk Grosz (see attached LinkedIn profile) to discuss the position further? If interested, email me your Skype ID and I’ll coordinate the call with Aryk. Cheers, Jeff Morse Sr. Recruiter Mixbook 408.234.2400 jmorse@mixbook.com We're Hiring http://www.mixbook.com/careers#job-openings http://www.mixbook.com/careers#job-openings Our Product: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_dhKroiAo4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_dhKroiAo4 About Us: https://gist.github.com/1960387 https://gist.github.com/1960387
gr366 15y ago
I notice the new version is running on basecamp.com. The old version is at basecamphq.com and 37signals always made a point about the domain not mattering as much as the product name. I imagine there's a follow-up to that saying that if your product becomes successful there's nothing wrong with going and grabbing the pure domain (thinking Dropbox, Instagram and others. Or basically the opposite of Color.)
- vijaydev 15y ago
  "Your Basecamp Classic URL (which looks like yoursubdomain.basecamphq.com) stays the same. New Basecamp accounts are hosted on the basecamp.com domain. New Basecamp accounts don't have subdomains, so all accounts are at basecamp.com." From: http://basecamp.com/transition http://basecamp.com/transition
  - gr366 15y ago
    It looks like they're gradually simplifying. They originally launched with a range of domains you could choose from: projectpath.com, clientsection.com, grouphub.com, etc. with a subdomain. Then it went to subdomains on basecamphq.com, and now just basecamp.com with no subdomains.
    - pilsetnieks 15y ago
      I remember yourname.seework.com from a previous job. As a result, all of the project managers called it Seework, not Basecamp.
      - jasonfried 15y ago
        That's exactly what happened. It was actually confusing for people since different people on the same project were referring to Basecamp with different names. That's one of the reasons we migrated everyone to basecamphq.com and now, basecamp.com on the new accounts.
- benackles 15y ago
jtarud 15y ago
It appears they just bought basecamp.com as well. It's been basecamphq.com for a while.
- jasonfried 15y ago
  basecamphq.com remains for Basecamp Classic accounts. basecamp.com is for new Basecamp accounts.
shimonamit 15y ago
http://basecamp.com/transition http://basecamp.com/transition I want to migrate, but... > Basecamp Classic and the new Basecamp don't offer the same features, so some data in Classic won't make it into the new Basecamp. So maybe I'll stay. But wait... > Will you continue to improve Classic? The majority of our design and development efforts moving forward will be focused on the all new Basecamp, but we'll continue to support Classic as long as customers continue using it. We expect that to be for many many years. Maybe. Maybe not. The web moves very quickly you know. New browsers, standards, security risks etc. I can think of a million and one reasons Classic will get EOL'd sooner rather than later. This is certainly faithful to their backwards compatibility intolerance. The new product couldn't be bound by the "burden" of the old. Now I the customer am left with a very distasteful choice to make.
- robinjfisher 15y ago
  For a company that goes on about transparency and clear speaking etc., the answer to the second question you've quoted is appalling. It doesn't answer the question at all. It should be: Will you continue to improve Classic? No. We will fix any bugs or other problems that stop our customers using Basecamp Classic but we will not be developing new features. Our focus now is on improving Basecamp Next so that Classic customers are happy to transition. Their response is completely disingenuous.
  - jasonfried 15y ago
    What's appalling about it? It's not necessarily true that we won't add new features. This is day one right now. We don't know how things will pan out. It's disingenuous to say we won't do something that we might do. As stated, the majority of our resources will go towards the new Basecamp. That's honest and as clear we can be without misleading anyone.
    - robinjfisher 15y ago
      I just felt that the answer dodged the question. Your response to me answers the question i.e. you don't know if you will improve Classic. By saying the majority of design and development efforts will be focused on Next and then saying that you'll continue to support Classic implies by omission that no further improvements will be made. Edit: To be clear, I'm not criticising the position of you not knowing - it's a fair position given this is launch day. I'm criticising the fact that the answer to the question didn't say we don't know.
ry0ohki 15y ago
Wow lots of team members (32?) at 37Signals these days!
manuzi 15y ago
great new simple and neat design. and the copywriting seems even more direct and to-the-point. well done.
wwdevries 15y ago
Congratulations to the 37signals team on launching the all new Basecamp. Just migrated our projects from Basecamp Classic and it's working beautifully.
marcusbrown 15y ago
What about the API? Is it still going to be supported in the new Basecamp or will it remain just for the classic Basecamp? I really hope there will be some kind of continuity where the data structure make it possible. Beside this, it looks really clean and fast. I like it! :)
- jasonfried 15y ago
  We'll be introducing a new API. It's not ready yet.
  - spencerdkelly 15y ago
    Any ballpark figures on timescales to introduce the new API?Also is it your intention to add to the existing one or rebuild it from the ground up?
shearn89 15y ago
is it just me, or is the stylesheet 404'ing? http://basecamp.com/sprockets-c5fcdbcede3dff502006bc5d0d7beff84dfc4cef.css http://basecamp.com/sprockets-c5fcdbcede3dff502006bc5d0d7bef... EDIT: Told the team about it in a ticket, JIC.
hugorodgerbrown 15y ago
It's looking great - easy migration, super-fast. Congrats to all involved (no humans.txt?)
andycroll 15y ago
Interesting that they've taken an new approach to SEO for their feature pages... a long list of vaguely project management named pages.
- ckluis 15y ago
  Makes perfect sense to me. I'd also say its not vague - they probably spent a great deal of time naming the pages/titles from a usability & SEO standpoint. I like the redesign a lot.
  - jasonfried 15y ago
    Thanks. To be honest, we didn't think much about SEO here at all. We thought about customers. Well written pages that speak clearly and explain products thoroughly are automatically good for SEO. SEO gains are side effects of good writing.
tmgleb 15y ago
Where did timesheets go? Has anyone been able to find time tracking?
- tomstuart 15y ago
  They're gone: http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3110-basecamp-next-the-goodbye-list-and-the-hello-list http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3110-basecamp-next-the-goodby...
- jwarzech 15y ago
  Looks like there isn't any time tracking in the new Basecamp. When you upgrade it says that won't be moved over. I wonder if this is to be added later or not many customers use it. At my previous company this feature is the reason we upgraded to a higher plan.
samgranieri 15y ago
A job well done to @jasonfried, @dhh and the 37signals team!
revorad 15y ago
It's funny to think Trello is now competing with Basecamp by "underdoing the competition"!
mikemoka 15y ago
I am sure they A/B tested the new design, even though it appears somewhat less effective on a first look.
- joshuacc 15y ago
  I'm sure that they are currently testing the design, but I'm not really sure how they could have been testing it previously.
mweibel 15y ago
I didn't use basecamp before and I'm just testing a little bit. Seems to be quite fast. What I kinda don't like: If you click on e.g. a discussion, a modal-window-like layer pops up where the discussion is displayed. Now how can I go back? First I was quite unsure how to do this without clicking on the browser's-back button. Then I figured out that you can click out of the layer and the layer disappears. I think there's a need for a "close"-Button..
- qrush 15y ago
  Check out http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3122-the-new-basecamp-interface-details-and-power-user-goodness http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3122-the-new-basecamp-interfa..., there's a great video that explains some of the goodies baked in for navigation.
johnx123-up 15y ago
Is it still on Rails (or Node.js)?
- qrush 15y ago
  Rails.
mef 15y ago
I enjoyed the ad for wysihtml5 in the console on pages that use it. "Heya! This page is using wysihtml5 for rich text editing. Check out https://github.com/xing/wysihtml5 https://github.com/xing/wysihtml5 First time I've seen that, but makes sense for an OSS project to promote itself to people who would have the console open, i.e. devs.
- cmelbye 15y ago
  And it looks like a fantastic WYSIWYG editor, at that. I'm definitely going to replace my hacked together contenteditable editor with it.
zavulon 15y ago
No milestones? What are we supposed to use instead of it? Our workflow heavily depends on them ..
- alphadog 15y ago
  Same here. That's the only jolting aspect for us. I suspect we'll have to use to-dos or calendar events. But calendar events don't seem to appear on the overview page and can't be checked off as completed either. Anyway, clearly I need to keep investigating.
- jasonfried 15y ago
  They're called events now. You can add them to the calendar or on the Events section of a project page.
  - lunaru 15y ago
    Jason, I think the confusion is that your example Project is so nicely fleshed out, people use it to grok the entire range functionality within a project. Because there is no sample Event, people will miss the small "Add Event" link hidden at the top of the page.
    - jasonfried 15y ago
      That could be true. We made the call to get this sample project in at the last minute (literally a day or two before launch) so we couldn't get everything we wanted in there. We will likely include events in a future version of the sample project.
atourgates 15y ago
I'm a bit behind the curve here - but now that I'm caught up, I'm concerned. When I saw the title of this article, I immediately logged into my Basecamp. Hmm, it looked the same. So I went and found their upgrade instructions. Then I learned that it's not a straight 1:1 upgrade, it's a different product. And they've dropped support for some quite important features, like, time-tracking. My work runs on Basecamp. We chose it for two reasons, first because it did (nearly) everything we needed it to do, second, because it was being developed by a company we loved. Now, it's completely integrated into our days to day production. We depend on it. If I walked in to work today and Basecamp was down, I might as well turn around and head home. We've let 37Signals premiere product become essential to us. As of today, we're using their formerly premiere product. And if we wanted to upgrade to their premiere product, we'd lose completely essential feature. Yes, they can say that Basecamp Classic will be the same great product it's always been, but it won't. Part of that greatness was innovation, and I don't think anyone believes that 37Signals will continue to innovate with a product that has "Classic" in its name. The solution isn't hard. 37Signals just needs to be clear. Will critical features like Time Tracking be in a future version of Basecamp, or will that requirement make us, forever, second class users? Because, I'd rather be a 1st class user at one of Basecamp's competitors than a 2nd class user at the service I've been using for the past 4 years.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- dhh 15y ago
  We're launching with a great set of features we could do in a reasonable amount of time. If we had tried to reimplement every single Basecamp Classic feature in Basecamp Next before we launched, it would have taken a very long time. Basecamp Classic originally launched without even file uploads! We'll be busy bees making Basecamp Next fill in gaps all over the place in the coming months. Looking into how we can solve people's time tracking needs with a great workflow in Basecamp Next is high on that list!
  - palish 15y ago
    Why did you do a full rewrite?
tho 15y ago
Old Basecamp was not being improved actively anyway. It took them 5 years to add deadlines to to-do's, for example. The new product reminds me (even in the name) the failed NeXTSTEP operation systems. The incompatibility with existing solutions was part of it. Basecamp Next is not an upgrade, but a new product. It does not have the same set of features, in fact it has even less (time tracking, milestones, etc). Free accounts are also dropped out, as it seams. Old browsers like IE7 do not seam to be supported... A lot of things are going against what J was preaching all those years. I can see Basecamp fans buying it, but if I would be a new user and I would check their website for the first time (that is also designed with you already knowing about Basecamp in mind) I would ask myself "why would I pay $20-$150 a month for a product with so few features"). It's a nice to-do list, but the users got smarter and the market moved forward - users need more features, not just a one-page project page (Google Docs can do half of it out of the box and for free).
- jasonfried 15y ago
  The new Basecamp doesn't have less features than Basecamp Classic. It has different features. The new Basecamp has dozens and dozens of features that Classic doesn't have. All together, I can make a very strong case that the new Basecamp offers significantly more functionality than Classic. And it's simpler, too. Comparing side by side isn't the end goal. The goal is which product fits you best. If you love Classic, you can stay with Classic. If you prefer the feature/UI/ideas mix of the new Basecamp, come on over.
webwright 15y ago
The comments here remind me of Joel Spolsky's excellent 80/20 essay: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000020.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000020.html Excerpt: "...A lot of software developers are seduced by the old "80/20" rule. It seems to make a lot of sense: 80% of the people use 20% of the features. So you convince yourself that you only need to implement 20% of the features, and you can still sell 80% as many copies. Unfortunately, it's never the same 20%. Everybody uses a different set of features. In the last 10 years I have probably heard of dozens of companies who, determined not to learn from each other, tried to release "lite" word processors that only implement 20% of the features. This story is as old as the PC. Most of the time, what happens is that they give their program to a journalist to review, and the journalist reviews it by writing their review using the new word processor, and then the journalist tries to find the "word count" feature which they need because most journalists have precise word count requirements, and it's not there, because it's in the "80% that nobody uses," and the journalist ends up writing a story that attempts to claim simultaneously that lite programs are good, bloat is bad, and I can't use this damn thing 'cause it won't count my words."
- endersshadow 15y ago
  The reaction from some heavy users of it reminds me of Spolsky's Things You Should Never Do, Part I essay, as well: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000069.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000069.html
Maro 15y ago
It's really nice how the 37s pages use type for design. Other sites would use images much more to get the same level of design across. It's really neat.
Drbble 15y ago
Next time you gear up for a major upgrade, try less time blogging for HN, more time talking to your users about the features they care about.
- ceejayoz 15y ago
  Why ask when they've got the usage data? I'd presume canned features are the ones least used across all users.
stdbrouw 15y ago
I'm surprised to see people complain about the copy. Is "The majority of our design and development efforts moving forward will be focused on the all new Basecamp, but we'll continue to support Classic" really that hard to understand, let alone disingenuous? Is it, despite it being mentioned a zillion times in the FAQ, so tough to understand that they've cut some features and that therefore the upgrade won't make sense for everyone?
tchock23 15y ago
Am I the only one here who thinks they've actually done a good job with this transition? I've been a long-time (paying) user of Basecamp and the entire 37 Signals suite, and I think Basecamp needed to be revamped long ago. I actually like that they've created a brand new experience/product, and have given everyone ample time (90 days) to evaluate whether or not they like it. I also thought the FAQ was clear, and the transition process was well explained. As for the loss of time tracking that a few people have complained about... If you're really that serious about time tracking, you shouldn't be using the extremely limited time tracking capabilities of Basecamp Classic anyway. We use Harvest and integrate it with our Basecamp account, and it's a perfect setup for us. I always thought time tracking seemed like a "nice to have" feature of Classic.
- tchock23 15y ago
  Minor update/edit to this note about the transition if anyone from 37 Signals is listening... I just noticed that the Launchpad bar at the top of each page lists both Basecamp and Basecamp Classic when you're in the new Basecamp, but if you switch over to Classic you lose the quick link to the new Basecamp. It would be nice during the trial to have the ability to switch back and forth easily from the Launchpad page/bar. This is a minor thing, but it would help me easily show my team the differences between Classic and Next because I know it will take a bit of "selling" them on it before we can fully make the transition. Both links are also labeled "Basecamp Projects." I could see that causing some confusion with other people on my account.
- ry0ohki 15y ago
  It feels kind of weak to me. 37sigs used to be very vocal and strong about what they believed. "Here's our way, and you'll like it or not". This seems like they are really couching their bets... If no one likes the new one, they won't have lost their cash cow, if they do like the new one, they've made an easier transition for others. I'm afraid what actually will happen is 45-50% will be on the new Basecamp, and 50% on the old, and it will be confusing to clients who sometimes use the old, sometimes use the new, etc... Will be interesting to see how it plays out, as with everything 37sigs does, it's innovative and if it works I wouldn't be surprised to see more people taking a similar approach.
stdbrouw 15y ago
So, no API yet. The neat thing about client-side apps is that they force you to craft a great API from the get-go, because you'll be using it extensively in your own application. DHH was talking earlier [1] about how client-side MVC isn't a great developer experience and consequently why they avoided it for Basecamp Next, and I sympathize with that decision, but I wonder how great of a developer experience it is to have to develop a server-side app with various AJAX-related endpoints and then having to go back and develop a full-fledged API... instead of doing just the latter. [1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3603680 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3603680
stuartmemo 15y ago
Looking forward to their numerous blog posts talking about how good their new design is and how shit you are for not doing something the way they do it.
aymeric 15y ago
Wow, I love the attention they paid to details. If you click on the blank project boxes behind the Red Marker "Welcome" text, the Add Project bounces to attract your attention.
overshard 15y ago
No time tracking makes this completely useless for my company.
jasonfried 15y ago
Here's the official announcement, BTW: http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3129-launch-the-all-new-basecamp http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3129-launch-the-all-new-basec...
tlogan 15y ago
Does new Basecamp has an API? We use a Gmail contextual gadget to create Basecamp todo from emails so I wonder if that is going to work.
mdg 15y ago
cool, so does this mean the month-long campaign 37s has been running on HN can come to an end? I prefer to be marketed to by only YC-backed startups.
alberth2 15y ago
Free plans by using a test credit card # (e.g. 4111111111111111). It works. Good job 37signals. You instill so much confidence in your in attention to details in your product. Much like the recent known Rails security vulnerability that you never addressed and now Github was compromised as a result.
- joevandyk 15y ago
  I don't see a problem with accepting a test credit card. Once your free trial is over, then they'll email you a message saying your card can't be charged and you'll be expected to update it.
  - alberth2 15y ago
    No, this is a major bug because they are trying to authenticate the credit card before accepting the input in the form field. Meaning, if you type "1234567891234567" that won't work, yet a test credit card # does work.
    - m0nastic 15y ago
      This isn't a bug. The validation that they are doing when you enter the card is just Luhn validation.§ This is basically just to ensure that the numbers entered into the field "at least have the possibility of being a valid credit card". No processing of the card is being done at this stage. § - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luhn_algorithm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luhn_algorithm
    - joevandyk 15y ago
      They aren't authenticating the card. They are doing a checksum on the digits entered using the luhn algorithm.
  - functionform 15y ago
    Exactly, its not a bug, its a feature. Just like mass assignment.
alberth2 15y ago
Does anyone else find the marketing on basecamp.com shaddy? It says on the front page: 8,000,000+ projects managed with Basecamp 99.94% rock-solid uptime reliability record 97% of customers recommend Basecamp Yet all of those stats are for the legacy Basecamp Classic product and not for this brand new product they created, which has a completely different code base, which was just released TODAY.
- skinnymuch 15y ago
  You seem to really have something against 37signals... I'd like to see a successful product or company that hasn't done some sort of 'shaddy marketing'.
chadhietala 15y ago
Are they using pjax or something like it for the marketing site. I know you had mentioned that's how the application works. Just wondering if there are any plans of open sourcing that.
math0ne 15y ago
I'm a daily user since basically day one. I basically like the changes and nothing was dropped that I used, and they upgraded my favorite basecamp feature; Simplicity. I do however have some concerns about a couple things: * Information density is improved in a lot of places it needed to be, however the todo list where it was good in the old site is much worse in new basecamp, you get around half the amount of todo's on screen as before. * The WYSIWYG editor is not perfect and taking away textile leaves me without the tools I need to format messages with code, nested lists and many other essential things.
alberth2 15y ago
System Down! http://imgur.com/e0GMk http://imgur.com/e0GMk Not sure how 37signals can claim 99% uptime when on the first day of launch, it's not working.
- alberth2 15y ago
  Another bug found, I can't upload files! http://imgur.com/fy7Ie http://imgur.com/fy7Ie 37signals, this is why you don't rewrite software from scratch.
  - alberth2 15y ago
    Arg! Bug #3 found. Now the Daily Progress is not working for me. http://imgur.com/5ubmk http://imgur.com/5ubmk 37signals, seriously.
    - rsinger9 15y ago
      Hi there. Sorry to see you're having trouble. If you fill out the support form, we'll be glad to take a look and get to the bottom of the problem.
  - alberth2 15y ago
    BUG #4!!! This is a joke right!?!? http://imgur.com/tHXkR http://imgur.com/tHXkR Now the People ("Everyone") section won't work for me. I can't be alone with experiencing this pain - right? Good way to start off the launch guys. I won't be a customer anytime soon. Just say'n
- dhh 15y ago
  You're a real charmer, aren't you? We can't wait to have you as a customer!
philip1209 15y ago
No more free tier?
Rulero 15y ago
I'm not a big fan of it, I think I will stick to Basecamp classic or develop my own solution very shortly.
TimothyWayne 15y ago
37signals, have you had a SSAE 16 attestation (newer version of SAS70) performed yet on this new product yet? I ask because my corporation can't use Basecamp unless this new product has coverage.
cfontes 15y ago
Is it possible to export data from it ? because I just found out that there is no free plan, and I already added a bunch of stuff to the Next version... (felling really stupid).
livejamie 15y ago
Any recommendations for alternatives?

216 points by tbassetto 15y ago

tho 15y ago

jacobr 15y ago

If your company is completely dependent on Basecamp, how come you haven't tried the beta already, and given feedback?

csallen 15y ago
I'm fairly sure the beta was invite-only.

Hates_ 15y ago

Is there a way to migrate existing Basecamp accounts over? I can't seem to find anything on how to do it.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
stravid 15y ago
I guess this is what you were looking for: http://basecamp.com/transition-steps http://basecamp.com/transition-steps
jasonfried 15y ago
We also have general FAQs for Classic customers: http://basecamp.com/transition http://basecamp.com/transition
hugorodgerbrown 15y ago
Easiest is to go to your Classic instance, look at the Account tab, where there is a huge call-to-action explaining the upgrade path.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

redguava 15y ago

Their new pricing page breaks many of the "rules" for getting conversions (eg. clear call to action). It will be interesting to see if they blog about the results of it. http://basecamp.com/pricing http://basecamp.com/pricing

psylence519 15y ago
"Get started today with a 45-day free trial" ?
- demoo 15y ago
  No CSS buttons!

alpb 15y ago

Just finished reading Rework. in that book they usually tell that they rarely implement new features because most of them are redundant for most of the users and only a few would benefit out of this. Personally,I am not a Basecamp user and I really would like to learn what's new.

jasonfried 15y ago
Here's a list of some of the new features: http://basecamp.com/new http://basecamp.com/new
- hawke 15y ago
  I can see the lack of time tracking being a bit of a talking point, otherwise looks like a huge improvement.

thehodge 15y ago

Looks like they have got rid of the free plan... (I'm not saying this as a negative thing, it's going to be really interesting to see the response to this, I know there was a blog post a while ago saying there hardly anyone on the free account upgraded) I'm using a free basecamp account but we only have one project and $20/$25 is just a little much for that a micro plan at $10 would be awesome :) )

dclaysmith 15y ago
I agree. $20/mo is definitely going to be too expensive for a ton of potential customers. I guess it's a luxury that 37Signals can not only afford, but will maximize their profit and I would assume they have some good historical data to back up the decision. I do think that there is a magic $5-9/mo range that individuals will pay without thinking too much. Above that amount, they start equating a subscription with a trip to the movies or a (cheap) night out and you've lost them.
- flyosity 15y ago
  I totally disagree, $20/mo for a service like Basecamp is not expensive. I pay $20-50/mo per month for a whole host of services (hosting, backup storage, payment processing, etc.) and don't really think twice about them since they're business expenses. FYI: I'm an individual who has a full-time job but does projects/apps at night with a separate LLC.
  - dclaysmith 15y ago
    I agree--$20/mo is not expensive but like @thehodge says... it all adds up. I think that in this space tho, you have a huge market of people who are "pre-business" who just couldn't justify 5-10 $20 services a month when they are pre-profit or only making a few hundred a month off of their products. Basecamp could appeal to some of these folks with a sub $10 offering.
    - mgkimsal 15y ago
      Agreed. Someone else here already pointed out "hey, time tracking in basecamp is limited - we use harvest and integrate". OK, so now you've got 2 $20/month services (or whatever harvest costs). Then another $10-$20/month for another service. And another. And another. And that's usually $10-$20/month per user. A small company could easily be paying $500/month for a few services for a handful of users. Are they getting $500 or more of value from it? Possibly, but smaller orgs tend to be more gunshy about spending money, however small, without free tiers. Perhaps those are the companies that you don't really want as customers anyway?

netmute 15y ago

Great, they basically removed all the features we use in Basecamp Classic :)

bergie 15y ago
Yep. It would be nice to see a list of added/removed features vs. Classic. For example we use the time tracking functionality for our invoicing needs. Also, does the API (http://developer.37signals.com/basecamp/ http://developer.37signals.com/basecamp/) stay the same?
- qrush 15y ago
  This post has a good list: http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3110-basecamp-next-the-goodbye-list-and-the-hello-list http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3110-basecamp-next-the-goodby... The API isn't ready yet, soon though!
  - bergie 15y ago
    Thanks! Seems indeed a lot of useful stuff was dropped. I wonder if that was based on usage analysis, or just an opinion on what the product should have. It is a shame that API appears to be only an afterthought. Otherwise third parties could possibly offer some of the missing features.
    - qrush 15y ago
      It's definitely not an afterthought. If you're interested in beta testing the API feel free to email me at nick@37signals.com, and I'll get you hooked up.
- nmk 15y ago
  http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3110-basecamp-next-the-goodbye-list-and-the-hello-list http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3110-basecamp-next-the-goodby...
alberth2 15y ago
This is crazy, so 37signals doesn't even allow new users to sign up for the Basecamp Classic version. Seeing this new Basecamp product makes me even more so want to use the OLD Classic version ... yet I can't.

pgdev 15y ago

Looking forward to moving across from "Classic" ;)

jashkenas 15y ago

It's fun to poke around under the hood a little bit, and look at parts of the internal API: > Object.keys(bcx.models) ["PersonOrGroup", "Bucket", "BucketAccess", "Calendar", "CalendarEvent", "Project", "Person", "CalendarDisplay", "Todo"] > Object.keys(bcx.models.Todo.prototype) ["constructor", "isAllDay", "isTimed", "urlRoot", "getBucketPath", "showPath", "bucket", "doesOccurOn", "doesOccurOnOrAfter", "doesOccurBetween", "getDueDate", "summary"]

MatthewPhillips 15y ago
Nice to see them using camel case in their js, unlike some other ruby shops.
- bilalhusain 15y ago
  Well, yup, but if I am not wrong, the point here is probably that they have embraced Backbone. And obviously the difference between other ruby shops and 37signals is that they are the reasons other ruby shops exist.
bilalhusain 15y ago
This isn't reddit, but I'll still take a chance! Hi Jeremy, My name is Jeff Morse. I'm a Recruiter at a super-charged start-up called Mixbook www.mixbook.com I came across your profile on hacker news and have a full-time Jr. Backbone developer opening working onsite in our Palo Alto, California office that is a great match for your background/experience. Would you be ready to make the move to Silicon Valley, the most innovative place for web start ups which offers superior growth opportunities for talented Backbone developers like yourself? Mixbook will pay for all relocation costs. Would you be open to taking a phone/Sykpe call from our CTO, Aryk Grosz (see attached LinkedIn profile) to discuss the position further? If interested, email me your Skype ID and I’ll coordinate the call with Aryk. Cheers, Jeff Morse Sr. Recruiter Mixbook 408.234.2400 jmorse@mixbook.com We're Hiring http://www.mixbook.com/careers#job-openings http://www.mixbook.com/careers#job-openings Our Product: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_dhKroiAo4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_dhKroiAo4 About Us: https://gist.github.com/1960387 https://gist.github.com/1960387

gr366 15y ago

I notice the new version is running on basecamp.com. The old version is at basecamphq.com and 37signals always made a point about the domain not mattering as much as the product name. I imagine there's a follow-up to that saying that if your product becomes successful there's nothing wrong with going and grabbing the pure domain (thinking Dropbox, Instagram and others. Or basically the opposite of Color.)

vijaydev 15y ago
"Your Basecamp Classic URL (which looks like yoursubdomain.basecamphq.com) stays the same. New Basecamp accounts are hosted on the basecamp.com domain. New Basecamp accounts don't have subdomains, so all accounts are at basecamp.com." From: http://basecamp.com/transition http://basecamp.com/transition
- gr366 15y ago
  It looks like they're gradually simplifying. They originally launched with a range of domains you could choose from: projectpath.com, clientsection.com, grouphub.com, etc. with a subdomain. Then it went to subdomains on basecamphq.com, and now just basecamp.com with no subdomains.
  - pilsetnieks 15y ago
    I remember yourname.seework.com from a previous job. As a result, all of the project managers called it Seework, not Basecamp.
    - jasonfried 15y ago
      That's exactly what happened. It was actually confusing for people since different people on the same project were referring to Basecamp with different names. That's one of the reasons we migrated everyone to basecamphq.com and now, basecamp.com on the new accounts.
benackles 15y ago

jtarud 15y ago

It appears they just bought basecamp.com as well. It's been basecamphq.com for a while.

jasonfried 15y ago
basecamphq.com remains for Basecamp Classic accounts. basecamp.com is for new Basecamp accounts.

shimonamit 15y ago

http://basecamp.com/transition http://basecamp.com/transition I want to migrate, but... > Basecamp Classic and the new Basecamp don't offer the same features, so some data in Classic won't make it into the new Basecamp. So maybe I'll stay. But wait... > Will you continue to improve Classic? The majority of our design and development efforts moving forward will be focused on the all new Basecamp, but we'll continue to support Classic as long as customers continue using it. We expect that to be for many many years. Maybe. Maybe not. The web moves very quickly you know. New browsers, standards, security risks etc. I can think of a million and one reasons Classic will get EOL'd sooner rather than later. This is certainly faithful to their backwards compatibility intolerance. The new product couldn't be bound by the "burden" of the old. Now I the customer am left with a very distasteful choice to make.

robinjfisher 15y ago
For a company that goes on about transparency and clear speaking etc., the answer to the second question you've quoted is appalling. It doesn't answer the question at all. It should be: Will you continue to improve Classic? No. We will fix any bugs or other problems that stop our customers using Basecamp Classic but we will not be developing new features. Our focus now is on improving Basecamp Next so that Classic customers are happy to transition. Their response is completely disingenuous.
- jasonfried 15y ago
  What's appalling about it? It's not necessarily true that we won't add new features. This is day one right now. We don't know how things will pan out. It's disingenuous to say we won't do something that we might do. As stated, the majority of our resources will go towards the new Basecamp. That's honest and as clear we can be without misleading anyone.
  - robinjfisher 15y ago
    I just felt that the answer dodged the question. Your response to me answers the question i.e. you don't know if you will improve Classic. By saying the majority of design and development efforts will be focused on Next and then saying that you'll continue to support Classic implies by omission that no further improvements will be made. Edit: To be clear, I'm not criticising the position of you not knowing - it's a fair position given this is launch day. I'm criticising the fact that the answer to the question didn't say we don't know.

ry0ohki 15y ago

Wow lots of team members (32?) at 37Signals these days!

manuzi 15y ago

great new simple and neat design. and the copywriting seems even more direct and to-the-point. well done.

wwdevries 15y ago

Congratulations to the 37signals team on launching the all new Basecamp. Just migrated our projects from Basecamp Classic and it's working beautifully.

marcusbrown 15y ago

What about the API? Is it still going to be supported in the new Basecamp or will it remain just for the classic Basecamp? I really hope there will be some kind of continuity where the data structure make it possible. Beside this, it looks really clean and fast. I like it! :)

jasonfried 15y ago
We'll be introducing a new API. It's not ready yet.
- spencerdkelly 15y ago
  Any ballpark figures on timescales to introduce the new API?Also is it your intention to add to the existing one or rebuild it from the ground up?

shearn89 15y ago

is it just me, or is the stylesheet 404'ing? http://basecamp.com/sprockets-c5fcdbcede3dff502006bc5d0d7beff84dfc4cef.css http://basecamp.com/sprockets-c5fcdbcede3dff502006bc5d0d7bef... EDIT: Told the team about it in a ticket, JIC.

hugorodgerbrown 15y ago

It's looking great - easy migration, super-fast. Congrats to all involved (no humans.txt?)

andycroll 15y ago

Interesting that they've taken an new approach to SEO for their feature pages... a long list of vaguely project management named pages.

ckluis 15y ago
Makes perfect sense to me. I'd also say its not vague - they probably spent a great deal of time naming the pages/titles from a usability & SEO standpoint. I like the redesign a lot.
- jasonfried 15y ago
  Thanks. To be honest, we didn't think much about SEO here at all. We thought about customers. Well written pages that speak clearly and explain products thoroughly are automatically good for SEO. SEO gains are side effects of good writing.

tmgleb 15y ago

Where did timesheets go? Has anyone been able to find time tracking?

tomstuart 15y ago
They're gone: http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3110-basecamp-next-the-goodbye-list-and-the-hello-list http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3110-basecamp-next-the-goodby...
jwarzech 15y ago
Looks like there isn't any time tracking in the new Basecamp. When you upgrade it says that won't be moved over. I wonder if this is to be added later or not many customers use it. At my previous company this feature is the reason we upgraded to a higher plan.

samgranieri 15y ago

A job well done to @jasonfried, @dhh and the 37signals team!

revorad 15y ago

It's funny to think Trello is now competing with Basecamp by "underdoing the competition"!

mikemoka 15y ago

I am sure they A/B tested the new design, even though it appears somewhat less effective on a first look.

joshuacc 15y ago
I'm sure that they are currently testing the design, but I'm not really sure how they could have been testing it previously.

mweibel 15y ago

I didn't use basecamp before and I'm just testing a little bit. Seems to be quite fast. What I kinda don't like: If you click on e.g. a discussion, a modal-window-like layer pops up where the discussion is displayed. Now how can I go back? First I was quite unsure how to do this without clicking on the browser's-back button. Then I figured out that you can click out of the layer and the layer disappears. I think there's a need for a "close"-Button..

qrush 15y ago
Check out http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3122-the-new-basecamp-interface-details-and-power-user-goodness http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3122-the-new-basecamp-interfa..., there's a great video that explains some of the goodies baked in for navigation.

johnx123-up 15y ago

Is it still on Rails (or Node.js)?

qrush 15y ago
Rails.

mef 15y ago

I enjoyed the ad for wysihtml5 in the console on pages that use it. "Heya! This page is using wysihtml5 for rich text editing. Check out https://github.com/xing/wysihtml5 https://github.com/xing/wysihtml5 First time I've seen that, but makes sense for an OSS project to promote itself to people who would have the console open, i.e. devs.

cmelbye 15y ago
And it looks like a fantastic WYSIWYG editor, at that. I'm definitely going to replace my hacked together contenteditable editor with it.

zavulon 15y ago

No milestones? What are we supposed to use instead of it? Our workflow heavily depends on them ..

alphadog 15y ago
Same here. That's the only jolting aspect for us. I suspect we'll have to use to-dos or calendar events. But calendar events don't seem to appear on the overview page and can't be checked off as completed either. Anyway, clearly I need to keep investigating.
jasonfried 15y ago
They're called events now. You can add them to the calendar or on the Events section of a project page.
- lunaru 15y ago
  Jason, I think the confusion is that your example Project is so nicely fleshed out, people use it to grok the entire range functionality within a project. Because there is no sample Event, people will miss the small "Add Event" link hidden at the top of the page.
  - jasonfried 15y ago
    That could be true. We made the call to get this sample project in at the last minute (literally a day or two before launch) so we couldn't get everything we wanted in there. We will likely include events in a future version of the sample project.

atourgates 15y ago

I'm a bit behind the curve here - but now that I'm caught up, I'm concerned. When I saw the title of this article, I immediately logged into my Basecamp. Hmm, it looked the same. So I went and found their upgrade instructions. Then I learned that it's not a straight 1:1 upgrade, it's a different product. And they've dropped support for some quite important features, like, time-tracking. My work runs on Basecamp. We chose it for two reasons, first because it did (nearly) everything we needed it to do, second, because it was being developed by a company we loved. Now, it's completely integrated into our days to day production. We depend on it. If I walked in to work today and Basecamp was down, I might as well turn around and head home. We've let 37Signals premiere product become essential to us. As of today, we're using their formerly premiere product. And if we wanted to upgrade to their premiere product, we'd lose completely essential feature. Yes, they can say that Basecamp Classic will be the same great product it's always been, but it won't. Part of that greatness was innovation, and I don't think anyone believes that 37Signals will continue to innovate with a product that has "Classic" in its name. The solution isn't hard. 37Signals just needs to be clear. Will critical features like Time Tracking be in a future version of Basecamp, or will that requirement make us, forever, second class users? Because, I'd rather be a 1st class user at one of Basecamp's competitors than a 2nd class user at the service I've been using for the past 4 years.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
dhh 15y ago
We're launching with a great set of features we could do in a reasonable amount of time. If we had tried to reimplement every single Basecamp Classic feature in Basecamp Next before we launched, it would have taken a very long time. Basecamp Classic originally launched without even file uploads! We'll be busy bees making Basecamp Next fill in gaps all over the place in the coming months. Looking into how we can solve people's time tracking needs with a great workflow in Basecamp Next is high on that list!
- palish 15y ago
  Why did you do a full rewrite?

tho 15y ago

Old Basecamp was not being improved actively anyway. It took them 5 years to add deadlines to to-do's, for example. The new product reminds me (even in the name) the failed NeXTSTEP operation systems. The incompatibility with existing solutions was part of it. Basecamp Next is not an upgrade, but a new product. It does not have the same set of features, in fact it has even less (time tracking, milestones, etc). Free accounts are also dropped out, as it seams. Old browsers like IE7 do not seam to be supported... A lot of things are going against what J was preaching all those years. I can see Basecamp fans buying it, but if I would be a new user and I would check their website for the first time (that is also designed with you already knowing about Basecamp in mind) I would ask myself "why would I pay $20-$150 a month for a product with so few features"). It's a nice to-do list, but the users got smarter and the market moved forward - users need more features, not just a one-page project page (Google Docs can do half of it out of the box and for free).

jasonfried 15y ago
The new Basecamp doesn't have less features than Basecamp Classic. It has different features. The new Basecamp has dozens and dozens of features that Classic doesn't have. All together, I can make a very strong case that the new Basecamp offers significantly more functionality than Classic. And it's simpler, too. Comparing side by side isn't the end goal. The goal is which product fits you best. If you love Classic, you can stay with Classic. If you prefer the feature/UI/ideas mix of the new Basecamp, come on over.

webwright 15y ago

The comments here remind me of Joel Spolsky's excellent 80/20 essay: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000020.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000020.html Excerpt: "...A lot of software developers are seduced by the old "80/20" rule. It seems to make a lot of sense: 80% of the people use 20% of the features. So you convince yourself that you only need to implement 20% of the features, and you can still sell 80% as many copies. Unfortunately, it's never the same 20%. Everybody uses a different set of features. In the last 10 years I have probably heard of dozens of companies who, determined not to learn from each other, tried to release "lite" word processors that only implement 20% of the features. This story is as old as the PC. Most of the time, what happens is that they give their program to a journalist to review, and the journalist reviews it by writing their review using the new word processor, and then the journalist tries to find the "word count" feature which they need because most journalists have precise word count requirements, and it's not there, because it's in the "80% that nobody uses," and the journalist ends up writing a story that attempts to claim simultaneously that lite programs are good, bloat is bad, and I can't use this damn thing 'cause it won't count my words."

endersshadow 15y ago
The reaction from some heavy users of it reminds me of Spolsky's Things You Should Never Do, Part I essay, as well: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000069.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000069.html

Maro 15y ago

It's really nice how the 37s pages use type for design. Other sites would use images much more to get the same level of design across. It's really neat.

Drbble 15y ago

Next time you gear up for a major upgrade, try less time blogging for HN, more time talking to your users about the features they care about.

ceejayoz 15y ago
Why ask when they've got the usage data? I'd presume canned features are the ones least used across all users.

stdbrouw 15y ago

I'm surprised to see people complain about the copy. Is "The majority of our design and development efforts moving forward will be focused on the all new Basecamp, but we'll continue to support Classic" really that hard to understand, let alone disingenuous? Is it, despite it being mentioned a zillion times in the FAQ, so tough to understand that they've cut some features and that therefore the upgrade won't make sense for everyone?

tchock23 15y ago

Am I the only one here who thinks they've actually done a good job with this transition? I've been a long-time (paying) user of Basecamp and the entire 37 Signals suite, and I think Basecamp needed to be revamped long ago. I actually like that they've created a brand new experience/product, and have given everyone ample time (90 days) to evaluate whether or not they like it. I also thought the FAQ was clear, and the transition process was well explained. As for the loss of time tracking that a few people have complained about... If you're really that serious about time tracking, you shouldn't be using the extremely limited time tracking capabilities of Basecamp Classic anyway. We use Harvest and integrate it with our Basecamp account, and it's a perfect setup for us. I always thought time tracking seemed like a "nice to have" feature of Classic.

tchock23 15y ago
Minor update/edit to this note about the transition if anyone from 37 Signals is listening... I just noticed that the Launchpad bar at the top of each page lists both Basecamp and Basecamp Classic when you're in the new Basecamp, but if you switch over to Classic you lose the quick link to the new Basecamp. It would be nice during the trial to have the ability to switch back and forth easily from the Launchpad page/bar. This is a minor thing, but it would help me easily show my team the differences between Classic and Next because I know it will take a bit of "selling" them on it before we can fully make the transition. Both links are also labeled "Basecamp Projects." I could see that causing some confusion with other people on my account.
ry0ohki 15y ago
It feels kind of weak to me. 37sigs used to be very vocal and strong about what they believed. "Here's our way, and you'll like it or not". This seems like they are really couching their bets... If no one likes the new one, they won't have lost their cash cow, if they do like the new one, they've made an easier transition for others. I'm afraid what actually will happen is 45-50% will be on the new Basecamp, and 50% on the old, and it will be confusing to clients who sometimes use the old, sometimes use the new, etc... Will be interesting to see how it plays out, as with everything 37sigs does, it's innovative and if it works I wouldn't be surprised to see more people taking a similar approach.

stdbrouw 15y ago

So, no API yet. The neat thing about client-side apps is that they force you to craft a great API from the get-go, because you'll be using it extensively in your own application. DHH was talking earlier [1] about how client-side MVC isn't a great developer experience and consequently why they avoided it for Basecamp Next, and I sympathize with that decision, but I wonder how great of a developer experience it is to have to develop a server-side app with various AJAX-related endpoints and then having to go back and develop a full-fledged API... instead of doing just the latter. [1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3603680 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3603680

stuartmemo 15y ago

Looking forward to their numerous blog posts talking about how good their new design is and how shit you are for not doing something the way they do it.

aymeric 15y ago

Wow, I love the attention they paid to details. If you click on the blank project boxes behind the Red Marker "Welcome" text, the Add Project bounces to attract your attention.

overshard 15y ago

No time tracking makes this completely useless for my company.

jasonfried 15y ago

Here's the official announcement, BTW: http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3129-launch-the-all-new-basecamp http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3129-launch-the-all-new-basec...

tlogan 15y ago

Does new Basecamp has an API? We use a Gmail contextual gadget to create Basecamp todo from emails so I wonder if that is going to work.

mdg 15y ago

cool, so does this mean the month-long campaign 37s has been running on HN can come to an end? I prefer to be marketed to by only YC-backed startups.

alberth2 15y ago

Free plans by using a test credit card # (e.g. 4111111111111111). It works. Good job 37signals. You instill so much confidence in your in attention to details in your product. Much like the recent known Rails security vulnerability that you never addressed and now Github was compromised as a result.

joevandyk 15y ago
I don't see a problem with accepting a test credit card. Once your free trial is over, then they'll email you a message saying your card can't be charged and you'll be expected to update it.
- alberth2 15y ago
  No, this is a major bug because they are trying to authenticate the credit card before accepting the input in the form field. Meaning, if you type "1234567891234567" that won't work, yet a test credit card # does work.
  - m0nastic 15y ago
    This isn't a bug. The validation that they are doing when you enter the card is just Luhn validation.§ This is basically just to ensure that the numbers entered into the field "at least have the possibility of being a valid credit card". No processing of the card is being done at this stage. § - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luhn_algorithm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luhn_algorithm
  - joevandyk 15y ago
    They aren't authenticating the card. They are doing a checksum on the digits entered using the luhn algorithm.
- functionform 15y ago
  Exactly, its not a bug, its a feature. Just like mass assignment.

alberth2 15y ago

Does anyone else find the marketing on basecamp.com shaddy? It says on the front page: 8,000,000+ projects managed with Basecamp 99.94% rock-solid uptime reliability record 97% of customers recommend Basecamp Yet all of those stats are for the legacy Basecamp Classic product and not for this brand new product they created, which has a completely different code base, which was just released TODAY.

skinnymuch 15y ago
You seem to really have something against 37signals... I'd like to see a successful product or company that hasn't done some sort of 'shaddy marketing'.

chadhietala 15y ago

Are they using pjax or something like it for the marketing site. I know you had mentioned that's how the application works. Just wondering if there are any plans of open sourcing that.

math0ne 15y ago

I'm a daily user since basically day one. I basically like the changes and nothing was dropped that I used, and they upgraded my favorite basecamp feature; Simplicity. I do however have some concerns about a couple things: * Information density is improved in a lot of places it needed to be, however the todo list where it was good in the old site is much worse in new basecamp, you get around half the amount of todo's on screen as before. * The WYSIWYG editor is not perfect and taking away textile leaves me without the tools I need to format messages with code, nested lists and many other essential things.

alberth2 15y ago

System Down! http://imgur.com/e0GMk http://imgur.com/e0GMk Not sure how 37signals can claim 99% uptime when on the first day of launch, it's not working.

alberth2 15y ago
Another bug found, I can't upload files! http://imgur.com/fy7Ie http://imgur.com/fy7Ie 37signals, this is why you don't rewrite software from scratch.
- alberth2 15y ago
  Arg! Bug #3 found. Now the Daily Progress is not working for me. http://imgur.com/5ubmk http://imgur.com/5ubmk 37signals, seriously.
  - rsinger9 15y ago
    Hi there. Sorry to see you're having trouble. If you fill out the support form, we'll be glad to take a look and get to the bottom of the problem.
- alberth2 15y ago
  BUG #4!!! This is a joke right!?!? http://imgur.com/tHXkR http://imgur.com/tHXkR Now the People ("Everyone") section won't work for me. I can't be alone with experiencing this pain - right? Good way to start off the launch guys. I won't be a customer anytime soon. Just say'n
dhh 15y ago
You're a real charmer, aren't you? We can't wait to have you as a customer!

philip1209 15y ago

No more free tier?

Rulero 15y ago

I'm not a big fan of it, I think I will stick to Basecamp classic or develop my own solution very shortly.

TimothyWayne 15y ago

37signals, have you had a SSAE 16 attestation (newer version of SAS70) performed yet on this new product yet? I ask because my corporation can't use Basecamp unless this new product has coverage.

cfontes 15y ago

Is it possible to export data from it ? because I just found out that there is no free plan, and I already added a bunch of stuff to the Next version... (felling really stupid).

livejamie 15y ago

Any recommendations for alternatives?