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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
by 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 agoIt 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 agoStrong 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 agoFair 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 agoBusiness 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 agoPeople who need an IRC server but don't have the time or expertise to set one up.
- tptacek 18y agoIRC 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 agoWHAT??? Ok that analysis of IRC is just surreal. like cuil^cuil.
- tptacek 18y agoTry 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.