6 ms·

Desktop First

37 points by bretthellman 14y ago

robkwok 14y ago
Congrats! It's very sleek and awesome just like the the hall website.
- bretthellman 14y ago
  Thanks Rob - please let us know if you have any product feedback/requests! hello @ hall-inc.com
  - lbotos 14y ago
    Honest question from an aspiring entrepreneur: How do you plan to stay afloat/relevant when Apple has made it clear they are targeting platform integrated notifications in Mountain Lion?
    - gunz_rozez 14y ago
      @lbotos if your talking about Apple's Messages (I guess you could call it a platform), it would actually make applications like Hall.com even more powerful. Now if you are talking about Hall.com competing with iChat(or Messages or whatever apple chooses to call it), then I believe instant messaging is only one part of Hall.com's abilities. I believe platforms like Hall.com and its ilk will drive the next generation of collab tools taking what IM's, IRC's, Email clients etc has done very well and either complement them or disrupt them.
      - lbotos 14y ago
        Honest Feedback: I missed the majority of what Hall does. This blogpost was really tailored to people who wanted that feature implemented. I thought you only were a notifications app, not a full collaborative platform. Sorry for any confusion caused by my oversight!
cantastoria 14y ago
Does anyone know what they used for the GUI? Is it QT?
- ronadams 14y ago
  We're using Adobe Air/HTML5/Jquery/Backbone.js/CSS.
  - sohn 14y ago
    You're doomed
    - bretthellman 14y ago
      y? do tell
    - gunz_rozez 14y ago
      @sohn, care to elaborate?
    - digitalboss 14y ago
      Why don't you give them real feedback? This site thrives on collaboration not "one-liners" like what you provided.
    - subpixel 14y ago
      Politely: I won't install an Adobe Air app unless forced to by me employer. Maybe that's how this will work, but Air is always a drag in my personal experience.
      - ronadams 14y ago
        Again, it would be great to get feedback on exactly why it's a drag.
        halostatue 14y ago
        Because it's Yet Another Runtime that I Don't Want to Have to Install and Maintain. I have yet to see an AIR application that is truly cross-platform functional. They run, but that doesn't mean that I want to spend time in them. I hadn't heard of hall.com before this post, but while I appreciate that (a) you've done this out of response to your users (good) and (b) you've done this because it's faster than doing something else, (c) I don't install AIR. These days, I only want .apps that include everything I need inside of the app bundle and don't require external installations. (I say this as someone shipping a USB stick with an app that, to apply an update of the app on the stick from the Mac, you have to have a driver installed. I don't want that driver, but I have to. Can't stand it.)
ralphsaunders 14y ago
I've spent 5 minutes looking around trying to work out what your app does and I still don't really know.
- bretthellman 14y ago
  @ralphsaunders we really appreciate the honest feedback. Hall is collaboration for your company and team. Our current product is the War Room which enables team collaboration (chat, video, file sharing, rt notes) all in one place. We hope you'll give us another chance by creating a war room for your team and letting us know what you think. Thanks! brett @ hall-inc.com
  - wazoox 14y ago
    Apparently it's exactly like SGI InPerson, without the 3D model sharing and 15 years later :) Actually it looks pretty neat and it's great that we finally have all features from my Indy on modern systems :)
  - smacktoward 14y ago
    I'd recommend changing the hero text on your main site's home page to something like "Hall is collaboration for your company and team, all in one place" from the current "Working Together in War Rooms Doubles Teams' Productivity", then. "War rooms" as a concept already exist outside the context of your app; when I first saw the site, I didn't understand how the statement connected to your app. I thought it was just a generic statement about war rooms, which was confusing.
    - bretthellman 14y ago
      Really appreciate the feedback. We'll be iterating on the landing page soon to keep up with the actual product inside.
Androsynth 14y ago
OT: I hate company blogs that don't have links in the top left corner back to the company's actual site.
- bretthellman 14y ago
  Good call - we'll work on that today
  - Lockyy 14y ago
    I was also a bit confused as to why the "The Hall.com Blog" and "Home" both took you to blog.hall.com.
    - bretthellman 14y ago
      Know of any quality tumblr themes that handle the startup blog experience better? Or a tumblr alternative?
      - ckluis 14y ago
        Wordpress. Any theme. Couple Plugins. 10x better blog. Great Theme - http://www.studiopress.com/themes/streamline http://www.studiopress.com/themes/streamline
- drivebyacct2 14y ago
  Came here to voice this. It's not just that there ought to be a link there, it's the blog should be a "child" of your site. Instead, this makes it independent of the site and makes it feels disconnected. Further, I have absolutely no idea what hall.com is, and I'm even more confused after trying to figure out why they wanted mobile notifications over desktop notifications. The blog post doesn't even link to hall.com either.
- kolev 14y ago
  Probably 90% of companies' blogs don't link to the actual main site. If you encounter a startup via their blog, you have to manually go to the address bar and amputate parts from the URL.
rglover 14y ago
This is one of those things I don't understand. It seems as though a lot of companies look to the "mobile first" argument without first considering the context of their application. In this instance, why wouldn't I work on a desktop app first? That's where my users will most likely be using the app: on a desktop. Sure, there will certainly be times when they're mobile, but what about the majority of the time? It seems especially odd when users are requesting it ad nauseam and it's a logical next step. On a different note, I signed up for the app and it looks awesome. Can't wait to get some friends together to try it out.
- bretthellman 14y ago
  Well said. Thanks for joining Hall! Product feedback/requests appreciated (hello@hall-inc.com)
- gunz_rozez 14y ago
  @rglover, You'd think it'd be a no brainer right? Even though it may be logical and your user's have been asking for it, it is more I think cognitive dissonance, cuz you see "mobile/social apps" winning and everyone around you is doing cool consumer stuff and you get sucked into that vortex even though you know fully well you are an "enterprise app" but again there is that whole idea of making enterprise sexy and what else is more sexy right now than mobile/social....again cognitive dissonance. As Entrepreneurs it is ok to make decisions based on what your surroundings are telling you as long as you are fast enough to realize what aspects of your product work and which ones to cull and iterate onward.
  - rglover 14y ago
    What's the ROI of "sexy?" I'd ask myself that before I made any decision, especially those motivated by those around me and not my customers/users or team. You're right in that there's nothing wrong with making a decision based on your surroundings. Though, unless those surroundings are in tune with your product (i.e. other teams/companies working on enterprise products), they might as well be ambient noise. The only opinions/qualifiers that matter are those coming from your user base.
lancefisher 14y ago
This seems like it could be cool, but for it to replace Skype for me it needs to have screen sharing. Also, I don't really like being pestered to connect Facebook and LinkedIn at every turn. I'm wary of annoying my friends, and I especially don't want to send invites to everyone on Facebook and LinkedIn without trying out the app first. When I do send invites, it will only be to a few co-workers not all my contacts so uncheck everyone by default please.

Desktop First

37 points by bretthellman 14y ago

robkwok 14y ago

Congrats! It's very sleek and awesome just like the the hall website.

bretthellman 14y ago
Thanks Rob - please let us know if you have any product feedback/requests! hello @ hall-inc.com
- lbotos 14y ago
  Honest question from an aspiring entrepreneur: How do you plan to stay afloat/relevant when Apple has made it clear they are targeting platform integrated notifications in Mountain Lion?
  - gunz_rozez 14y ago
    @lbotos if your talking about Apple's Messages (I guess you could call it a platform), it would actually make applications like Hall.com even more powerful. Now if you are talking about Hall.com competing with iChat(or Messages or whatever apple chooses to call it), then I believe instant messaging is only one part of Hall.com's abilities. I believe platforms like Hall.com and its ilk will drive the next generation of collab tools taking what IM's, IRC's, Email clients etc has done very well and either complement them or disrupt them.
    - lbotos 14y ago
      Honest Feedback: I missed the majority of what Hall does. This blogpost was really tailored to people who wanted that feature implemented. I thought you only were a notifications app, not a full collaborative platform. Sorry for any confusion caused by my oversight!

cantastoria 14y ago

Does anyone know what they used for the GUI? Is it QT?

ronadams 14y ago
We're using Adobe Air/HTML5/Jquery/Backbone.js/CSS.
- sohn 14y ago
  You're doomed
  - bretthellman 14y ago
    y? do tell
  - gunz_rozez 14y ago
    @sohn, care to elaborate?
  - digitalboss 14y ago
    Why don't you give them real feedback? This site thrives on collaboration not "one-liners" like what you provided.
  - subpixel 14y ago
    Politely: I won't install an Adobe Air app unless forced to by me employer. Maybe that's how this will work, but Air is always a drag in my personal experience.
    - ronadams 14y ago
      Again, it would be great to get feedback on exactly why it's a drag.
      - halostatue 14y ago
        Because it's Yet Another Runtime that I Don't Want to Have to Install and Maintain. I have yet to see an AIR application that is truly cross-platform functional. They run, but that doesn't mean that I want to spend time in them. I hadn't heard of hall.com before this post, but while I appreciate that (a) you've done this out of response to your users (good) and (b) you've done this because it's faster than doing something else, (c) I don't install AIR. These days, I only want .apps that include everything I need inside of the app bundle and don't require external installations. (I say this as someone shipping a USB stick with an app that, to apply an update of the app on the stick from the Mac, you have to have a driver installed. I don't want that driver, but I have to. Can't stand it.)

ralphsaunders 14y ago

I've spent 5 minutes looking around trying to work out what your app does and I still don't really know.

bretthellman 14y ago
@ralphsaunders we really appreciate the honest feedback. Hall is collaboration for your company and team. Our current product is the War Room which enables team collaboration (chat, video, file sharing, rt notes) all in one place. We hope you'll give us another chance by creating a war room for your team and letting us know what you think. Thanks! brett @ hall-inc.com
- wazoox 14y ago
  Apparently it's exactly like SGI InPerson, without the 3D model sharing and 15 years later :) Actually it looks pretty neat and it's great that we finally have all features from my Indy on modern systems :)
- smacktoward 14y ago
  I'd recommend changing the hero text on your main site's home page to something like "Hall is collaboration for your company and team, all in one place" from the current "Working Together in War Rooms Doubles Teams' Productivity", then. "War rooms" as a concept already exist outside the context of your app; when I first saw the site, I didn't understand how the statement connected to your app. I thought it was just a generic statement about war rooms, which was confusing.
  - bretthellman 14y ago
    Really appreciate the feedback. We'll be iterating on the landing page soon to keep up with the actual product inside.

Androsynth 14y ago

OT: I hate company blogs that don't have links in the top left corner back to the company's actual site.

bretthellman 14y ago
Good call - we'll work on that today
- Lockyy 14y ago
  I was also a bit confused as to why the "The Hall.com Blog" and "Home" both took you to blog.hall.com.
  - bretthellman 14y ago
    Know of any quality tumblr themes that handle the startup blog experience better? Or a tumblr alternative?
    - ckluis 14y ago
      Wordpress. Any theme. Couple Plugins. 10x better blog. Great Theme - http://www.studiopress.com/themes/streamline http://www.studiopress.com/themes/streamline
drivebyacct2 14y ago
Came here to voice this. It's not just that there ought to be a link there, it's the blog should be a "child" of your site. Instead, this makes it independent of the site and makes it feels disconnected. Further, I have absolutely no idea what hall.com is, and I'm even more confused after trying to figure out why they wanted mobile notifications over desktop notifications. The blog post doesn't even link to hall.com either.
kolev 14y ago
Probably 90% of companies' blogs don't link to the actual main site. If you encounter a startup via their blog, you have to manually go to the address bar and amputate parts from the URL.

rglover 14y ago

This is one of those things I don't understand. It seems as though a lot of companies look to the "mobile first" argument without first considering the context of their application. In this instance, why wouldn't I work on a desktop app first? That's where my users will most likely be using the app: on a desktop. Sure, there will certainly be times when they're mobile, but what about the majority of the time? It seems especially odd when users are requesting it ad nauseam and it's a logical next step. On a different note, I signed up for the app and it looks awesome. Can't wait to get some friends together to try it out.

bretthellman 14y ago
Well said. Thanks for joining Hall! Product feedback/requests appreciated (hello@hall-inc.com)
gunz_rozez 14y ago
@rglover, You'd think it'd be a no brainer right? Even though it may be logical and your user's have been asking for it, it is more I think cognitive dissonance, cuz you see "mobile/social apps" winning and everyone around you is doing cool consumer stuff and you get sucked into that vortex even though you know fully well you are an "enterprise app" but again there is that whole idea of making enterprise sexy and what else is more sexy right now than mobile/social....again cognitive dissonance. As Entrepreneurs it is ok to make decisions based on what your surroundings are telling you as long as you are fast enough to realize what aspects of your product work and which ones to cull and iterate onward.
- rglover 14y ago
  What's the ROI of "sexy?" I'd ask myself that before I made any decision, especially those motivated by those around me and not my customers/users or team. You're right in that there's nothing wrong with making a decision based on your surroundings. Though, unless those surroundings are in tune with your product (i.e. other teams/companies working on enterprise products), they might as well be ambient noise. The only opinions/qualifiers that matter are those coming from your user base.

lancefisher 14y ago

This seems like it could be cool, but for it to replace Skype for me it needs to have screen sharing. Also, I don't really like being pestered to connect Facebook and LinkedIn at every turn. I'm wary of annoying my friends, and I especially don't want to send invites to everyone on Facebook and LinkedIn without trying out the app first. When I do send invites, it will only be to a few co-workers not all my contacts so uncheck everyone by default please.