

AppJet (YC co) Makes Simple Web Apps A Breeze - terpua
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/12/12/appjet-makes-simple-web-apps-a-breeze/

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kyro
My impression is that this app is looking for such a small overlap in
demographics. It's looking for programmers who might not have the tools or the
knowledge of deploying their own apps, which I think is relatively unlikely to
find. I think programmers capable of writing their own apps would prefer to
use their own tools. OH, BUT THAT'S JUST MY TWO CENTS.

Congrats on launching.

~~~
dgreensp
I think there's a very wide spectrum of people who can appreciate AppJet. I
would argue that most programmers don't have the knowledge to deploy a web
app, especially if you define a "programmer" as someone who can hack together
an AppJet app, which is very easy to do. Even for a very capable programmer,
it's a lot of work to get an app hosted if you haven't done it before. Then
there's programmers who CAN get a web app online, and have, but don't want to
manage all the machines and software involved for every little project.

Before sites like Flickr, for example, it was possible to post photos online,
just harder. Maybe the difference in perception is that hackers aren't
expected to want such an "easy way out" when it comes to programming, their
very area of expertise. But as a hacker myself I can tell you that using
AppJet to whip up a quick app is a pleasure compared to going through all the
typical production work.

~~~
hhm
I agree, and I find this idea fascinating. You can write code, and show
testeable versions of it, together with their source to anyone who cares. And
you can do some small code apps for your websites... I think there are plenty
of applications for this tool.

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Tichy
One the one hand it is interesting, I guess mostly for mini-applications. On
the other hand there is the risk that you can't take your app and run it
elsewhere, you bind yourself to AppJet.

~~~
aaroniba
We don't want to get in the way of people hosting their own apps. We will at
least release binaries for doing your own app serving and local development.
You can already grab the source to the JS micro-framework. More details in our
interview with Ajaxian: [http://ajaxian.com/archives/appjet-develop-preview-
deploy-al...](http://ajaxian.com/archives/appjet-develop-preview-deploy-all-
on-the-web) \- see the "Aren't you tied to the platform" question.

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brianm
I love how close this is to what we (Ning) started with, down to the cloning
terminology! Really interested to see where it goes. The other "JS Everywhere"
folk-programming startup (name escapes me) went tits up recently :-( Not sure
why.

Good luck!

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nanijoe
not sure I get this appjet concept..If I have to do that much coding to build
an app using appjet, what makes it better than the 200 million ways that
already exist to do this?

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vegashacker
I had the same question, but my interpretation of the claims on their site
(<http://appjet.com/about/>) was that you'd save time if the app was simple
enough, because you wouldn't have to configure a server and do all that
nonsense. This is fair, I think, but the question becomes, how big is the set
of applications that are both interesting _and_ not so complicated that it'd
be more appropriate to use a more traditional environment/language where you
have more power/control.

~~~
bls
The key is the trivial deployment. If a user wants a little app, and he has no
server and no hosting provider, and he doesn't know how to install software or
configure a shared hosting account anyway, then he is likely to just give up
before he even gets started. This at least gives him a chance.

There are a lot of business people that have become programmers by building
increasingly sophisticated Excel spreadsheets or Access databases. This type
of "casual" programming is becoming increasingly common.

That said, I think that DabbleDB might have a more successful approach--data
first, instead of code first. That approach made MS Access very successful.
Casual programmers care a lot about their data, but code is just a nuisance
that is tolerated to get the data to "work." People want assurance that their
data is always there, even when the code is broken. In MS Access it is trivial
to back up your database and view/hand-edit your data.

~~~
edw519
"Casual programmers care a lot about their data, but code is just a nuisance
that is tolerated to get the data to "work.""

So do 99.9% of all users. And they're right.

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marketer
I think this is a great idea. There is a lot of overhead in build web
applications, and hosting is definatly one of them. Although I haven't checked
out appjet yet, something that simplifies the process might would be valuable.

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thomasfl
Niiice! It's a lot like heroku.com, but faster. With a rails like framework
for serverside javascript with templates and database support, appjet could be
the next big thing for small and medium sized sites.

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gills
There are a lot of cool (though maybe smallish) apps that could be built with
this.

Good job on lowering the barrier to entry even further!

I wonder if there are plans for an OpenSocial app builder?

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rnesh
Great job, this seriously looks awesome. I can't wait to see what it develops
into and the apps that will be coming out through its use.

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abossy
You are telling me that I have to learn to code in Javascript? Are you
serious? I've been avoiding Javascript for years. Abstractions such as
libraries make this possible. This seems like a step backward.

What I saw "Make Simple Web Apps A Breeze," I expected Infogami done
correctly. Drag and drop some buttons to make a website, publish it to an
account, and voila, I have a website.

Don't get me wrong, the premise is very cool. It gets my computer science
geekery excited. But this is a business here, and it seems like a tool built
for geeks by geeks. I don't know what the business model, but based on every
other venture YC has backed, it depends on the typical Web 2.0 paradigm: get
users --> get funding --> ultimately get ad-based revenue or other branch out
to other forms. If your only target is geeks, then good luck. Otherwise, I
suggest a little more ease-of-use.

From the few examples I quickly browsed, nothing is out of the ordinary; a
chat program, a wiki, a "notes" page, etc... All common Web paradigms that can
be abstracted.

Again, very cool, and I look forward to playing around with it once my
semester ends. But at the moment, I don't think anybody but the hardcore
techies will enjoy it.

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andyn
Interesting stuff there, I may have a poke around later.

Like the simple storage API too.

It seems against philosophy of this thing, but I'd like to see something
similar that allowed for more separation of code and html/js/css etc. (I think
I'm drifting into regular hosting territory though).

~~~
andyn
edit:

I knocked up <http://wiki.appjet.com/>

That was strangely fun to put together...

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joseakle
what about if you guys get together with the weebly guys and make an easy to
use code-if-you-want drag-and-drop-if-you-don't web application maker (or back
to viaweb but meta)?

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Tichy
Will there be a programming competition? That could be fun ;-)

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tx
This is the best proof of YC investing in people, not ideas.

People behind AppJet must be _very, very_ good.

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nreece
[People behind AppJet must be very, very good.]

Indeed. MIT grads, Ex-Googlers. (<http://appjet.com/about>)

Besides, I personally see more "honey for the bee'" in AppJet, than CogHead
for that matter (which I covered briefly in a blog post earlier this year -
[http://www.nilkanth.com/archives/2007/04/21/diy-online-
web-a...](http://www.nilkanth.com/archives/2007/04/21/diy-online-web-app-
builders/)).

~~~
tocomment
How do think appjet is better than CogHead, I'm curious?

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plusbryan
It _was_ cool, when you had the gear logo. ;-)

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dcurtis
So... YC funded this, but not that cool firefox pricing plugin?

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boucher
This may not be the greatest website since sliced bread, but that "cool
firefox pricing plugin" doesn't exactly have a lot of room for growth, whereas
clearly there is plenty of room here.

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dcurtis
Agreed. Although I wonder what the future plans are for this thing. It has
some potential for virtual serving of web apps, but right now it seems more
gimmicky than anything to me.

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kkim
[http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joystuff/apple1cake/smi...](http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joystuff/apple1cake/smithsonian.gif)

