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In what way did it work? http://www.quantcast.com/campfirenow.com http://www.quantcast.com/campfirenow.com In the world of chat, Campfire is pretty small. It'

by axod 18y ago

In what way did it work? http://www.quantcast.com/campfirenow.com http://www.quantcast.com/campfirenow.com In the world of chat, Campfire is pretty small. It's pretty funny for you to say they are in possession of the field - they've only done 10m chat messages since they started! Some random math: Been going almost 3 years - 1000 days odd 10m messages sent! (From website) That's an average of ONE message every 10 seconds.

tallanvor 18y ago
I've always sort of wondered who uses Campfire... Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's a bad product, but it's never struck me as something that was really missing from either my work life or my personal life.
- jbarciauskas 18y ago
  It only makes sense if you are in the 37Signals work universe already... If you have Basecamp, and you spend a lot of your time on your Basecamp page, using Campfire to chat with others who are in your Basecamp page makes a lot of sense - especially if you are behind various corporate firewalls that might block other chat/IM clients.
  - tptacek 18y ago
    Strong disagree; most of the Matasano people who use Campfire have little or no exposure to other 37signals products. It's just a very solid, inexpensive private web chat that we don't have to host ourselves. It works everywhere, unlike IRC, SILC, and AIM, which almost everyone filters. It is completely brilliant for conducting meetings. We're all smart people; could we have built a substitute? Sure, if we wanted to be in the chat business.
    - jbarciauskas 18y ago
      Fair enough, although it raises the question - is its obscurity its entire comparative advantage? I suppose additionally, since it is a paid product (with the free version having severe limitations) it is unlikely to be popular enough to draw the ire of the IT folks, and everyone has a client installed already (browser).
- run4yourlives 18y ago
  Business User: Hey, let's have a web chat instead, I don't want to call you guys. MSN User: Okay, I use msn, but I can't get to it at work. Non-Chat User: Um, I'm not sure how that works. Yahoo User: I use yahoo, I'm busty_hot_chick_16@yahoo.com Business User: Guys, just go to campfire.1234.com and sign in.
- ionfish 18y ago
  People who need an IRC server but don't have the time or expertise to set one up.
  - tptacek 18y ago
    IRC is an ancient, rickety piece of crap, and a disproportionate amount of IRC server functionality addresses problems most people do not have, like synchronizing multiple relay servers. I grew up on IRC, have spent a lot of time in the ircd source code, and I can't imagine why anyone would waste time using it in 2009. So, I think along with "time" and "expertise", you should also add "tolerance for needless pain". You know, last time I checked, the BSD devs were still using icb. Maybe Campfire is also for the people without the time or expertise to set up icb. =)
    - axod 18y ago
      WHAT??? Ok that analysis of IRC is just surreal. like cuil^cuil.
      - tptacek 18y ago
        Try adding some content to your reply, axod. Start by responding to these: * IRC runs its own custom protocol, which firewalls go out of their way to block. * IRC has archaic limits like 7-bit clean text and short lines. * IRC requires custom client software. * IRC can't natively include binary data, images, or rich content. * IRC can't provide transcripts without more archaic software to log in and watch channels. * IRC's authentication support is significantly worse than that of the web. * IRC's authorization features are limited to chankeys and +i.
        axod 18y ago
        Guess you don't click on peoples profiles much...
        tptacek 18y ago
coliveira 18y ago
You are right. Although the guys at 37s are good developers, their business is not writing software. It is to write as little as possible and to squeeze as much money as possible from the result through their promotional materials. Nothing wrong with that, but they cannot be compared to Google or MS as a software development company.
- tptacek 18y ago
  Presumably then in your universe, Microsoft's goal is not to squeeze as much value out of their software as possible. Also, apparently, the business of converting lines of code to money is not the business of writing software.
mechanical_fish 18y ago
It's pretty funny for you to say they are in possession of the field Ah, I should have gone ahead and written "the field of battle", which is what I meant. Which, in this case, was their own small piece of turf, not the entire world of online chat. Obviously they don't dominate the world. Nor do they seem to want to. They seem perfectly content to own their particular chat niche, and they probably would be happy even if that niche were little more than "users of other 37signals products talking to each other".

by axod 18y ago

tallanvor 18y ago

I've always sort of wondered who uses Campfire... Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's a bad product, but it's never struck me as something that was really missing from either my work life or my personal life.

jbarciauskas 18y ago
It only makes sense if you are in the 37Signals work universe already... If you have Basecamp, and you spend a lot of your time on your Basecamp page, using Campfire to chat with others who are in your Basecamp page makes a lot of sense - especially if you are behind various corporate firewalls that might block other chat/IM clients.
- tptacek 18y ago
  Strong disagree; most of the Matasano people who use Campfire have little or no exposure to other 37signals products. It's just a very solid, inexpensive private web chat that we don't have to host ourselves. It works everywhere, unlike IRC, SILC, and AIM, which almost everyone filters. It is completely brilliant for conducting meetings. We're all smart people; could we have built a substitute? Sure, if we wanted to be in the chat business.
  - jbarciauskas 18y ago
    Fair enough, although it raises the question - is its obscurity its entire comparative advantage? I suppose additionally, since it is a paid product (with the free version having severe limitations) it is unlikely to be popular enough to draw the ire of the IT folks, and everyone has a client installed already (browser).
run4yourlives 18y ago
Business User: Hey, let's have a web chat instead, I don't want to call you guys. MSN User: Okay, I use msn, but I can't get to it at work. Non-Chat User: Um, I'm not sure how that works. Yahoo User: I use yahoo, I'm busty_hot_chick_16@yahoo.com Business User: Guys, just go to campfire.1234.com and sign in.
ionfish 18y ago
People who need an IRC server but don't have the time or expertise to set one up.
- tptacek 18y ago
  IRC is an ancient, rickety piece of crap, and a disproportionate amount of IRC server functionality addresses problems most people do not have, like synchronizing multiple relay servers. I grew up on IRC, have spent a lot of time in the ircd source code, and I can't imagine why anyone would waste time using it in 2009. So, I think along with "time" and "expertise", you should also add "tolerance for needless pain". You know, last time I checked, the BSD devs were still using icb. Maybe Campfire is also for the people without the time or expertise to set up icb. =)
  - axod 18y ago
    WHAT??? Ok that analysis of IRC is just surreal. like cuil^cuil.
    - tptacek 18y ago
      Try adding some content to your reply, axod. Start by responding to these: * IRC runs its own custom protocol, which firewalls go out of their way to block. * IRC has archaic limits like 7-bit clean text and short lines. * IRC requires custom client software. * IRC can't natively include binary data, images, or rich content. * IRC can't provide transcripts without more archaic software to log in and watch channels. * IRC's authentication support is significantly worse than that of the web. * IRC's authorization features are limited to chankeys and +i.
      - axod 18y ago
        Guess you don't click on peoples profiles much...
        tptacek 18y ago

coliveira 18y ago

You are right. Although the guys at 37s are good developers, their business is not writing software. It is to write as little as possible and to squeeze as much money as possible from the result through their promotional materials. Nothing wrong with that, but they cannot be compared to Google or MS as a software development company.

tptacek 18y ago
Presumably then in your universe, Microsoft's goal is not to squeeze as much value out of their software as possible. Also, apparently, the business of converting lines of code to money is not the business of writing software.

mechanical_fish 18y ago

It's pretty funny for you to say they are in possession of the field Ah, I should have gone ahead and written "the field of battle", which is what I meant. Which, in this case, was their own small piece of turf, not the entire world of online chat. Obviously they don't dominate the world. Nor do they seem to want to. They seem perfectly content to own their particular chat niche, and they probably would be happy even if that niche were little more than "users of other 37signals products talking to each other".