

Basecamp Next - wlll
http://37signals.com/basecampnext/

======
tzury
With Trello[1] and ASANA[2] out there for free, they have no chance but
announce upcoming facelift / upgrade -- so existing customers will stay
around, and perhaps, when releasing, attracting new users as well.

1\. <http://trello.com>

2\. <http://asana.com>

~~~
nate
I'm pretty sure their chances are just fine. :) They are still making hires
which I'm pretty sure they wouldn't do if they saw their company declining.
Also trello and asana attract very different markets of customers I'm sure
compared to 37signals core demographic. Take a look at the featured customer
videos at basecamphq.com. It's wedding planners, brand design, a self help
firm. Not software developers who seem to be the folks gravitating to trello
and asana.

~~~
wavephorm
If my business is threatened by several competitors one of the things I might
do is hire new people to work on new initiatives.

------
taylorbuley
37signals, when will you learn? You need to put up a LaunchRock lander, tell
us little to no information about what you're doing and make us think you hate
users enough to never let anybody in.

------
dan_orange
a todo-app, a revolutionary mobile chat, a breakthrough internet collaboration
device. a todo-app, a mobile chat, a internet collaboration device. are you
getting it?

------
bearwithclaws
Is it just me or the copywriting is incredibly similar to Apple's when they
introduced iPhone 4[1]: "This changes everything. Again"

1\. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1edQuxclUs>

~~~
Void_
Except 37signals didn't change nothing. The only thing about Basecamp is that
it's so easy to use.

What Apple does is innovation. 37signals just makes things foolproof.

~~~
raganwald
* only thing about Basecamp is that it's so easy to use.*

Goddamn, if I could say that about the apps I write, I could retire happy.
Being “easy to use” is an amazing accomplishment for anything, especially
project management.

~~~
Void_
Sure it is, but calling that "reinventing" is unfair to people who actually do
something innovative.

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tmcw
They're up to... building a new Basecamp. Less interesting than building a new
Segway or whatnot - that could be useful information for the title.

~~~
ggwicz
Basecamp could theoretically be less interesting than a Segway. But a Segway
won't help me run a freelance biz with a guy 4,500 miles away.

Utility is far more valuable in many ways than entertainment.

Can't wait for the new updates

------
sunfmin
In early 2012, 37signals will introduce Basecamp Next , And you'll see why
2012 won't be like "2012"

~~~
artursapek
Hardly it

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agentgt
You know what we use for project management... our bug tracking system. It
seems like some of the most influential people in our industry (Spolesky and
dhh) have to write software and make books on "their" philosophy of getting
shit done. How about changing the topic for once. You know like solving the
power crisis or something.

~~~
dasil003
They're in the pickaxe business so what else would they talk about except
mining? If you're looking for a different kind of luminary look elsewhere.

~~~
agentgt
So google should have stayed with just search? Come on... I would love to have
DHH's clout. He could start a whole bunch of new products/ideas and easily get
thousands of people to signup. Or is that a 37signals philosophy: "stick with
what you know and don't try anything new"?

~~~
rmgraham
That's not even apples to oranges, that's apples to orange groves.

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davcro
I am surprised, I thought 37s was against rewrites.

~~~
randomdata
It is not necessarily a rewrite. It may be a fork of the existing product. All
the page really hints at is some dramatic changes to the interface.

~~~
msmithstubbs
From what dhh posted on Twitter it sounds like a full rewrite:

> The tech and the design is all new, all fresh.

<https://twitter.com/#!/dhh/status/144061889201188865>

I agree that UI is really going to be the story. Customers don't need to care
about what's underneath.

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wazzupflow
My guess is it's going to be an HTML5, realtime, mobile-focused thingy. Also
probably backed by their mobile/html5/javascript framework "Cinco".

------
GBKS
So great to see this. I'm a fan of their products, but they have really
started to feel a bit outdated (mobile support, real-time, Dropbox
integration). I hope they keep the core of building great communication tools
without too much shenanigans, and reinterpret them for today's online
environment.

------
callmevlad
This partly explains the lack of updates to PrototypeJS (last version shipped
over a year ago). My hunch is that if they are building something from
scratch, they have abandoned Prototype entirely in favor of jQuery.

~~~
fredoliveira
Basecamp isn't what explains the lack of updates to PrototypeJS. jQuery itself
is, however.

It is (MUCH) faster, got traction quicker, has a larger community and is
definitely more flexible. Rails moved from Prototype for good with version 3,
which was released a little over a year ago - it would make no sense for
Basecamp to stick with prototype.

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DrJokepu
I'm sure it's just a coincidence but the image on that site closely resembles
the the temporary facade of the Covent Garden (London) Apple Store while it
was still under construction:
[http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_GTXylOUSEM0/TFNV8AbQfQI/AAAAAAAADM...](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_GTXylOUSEM0/TFNV8AbQfQI/AAAAAAAADM0/JzSpdOJ0nLQ/s1600/Apple-
store-covent-garden-london.jpg)

~~~
flyosity
Unveiling things by having a velvet curtain or cloth on top (and then lifting
it up!) has been done for decades, perhaps centuries. It's not unique to Apple
or to 37signals, it's a common occurrence that they were expressing digitally.

~~~
DrJokepu
I'm not arguing with any of that, however these two works share a lot more
than just the act of "unveiling", in particular they both reveal a small but
identifiable part of a logo.

In both cases there's no physical product to unveil (one is a retail store
that is too big to be unveiled and the other is a service with no real
physical manifestation) so the graphical representation of the product is
abstracted away to a logo which is being unveiled. Only showing a small (but
identifiable) part of the logo creates a sense of motion, it tells a story. It
communicates that there's something new and exciting going to happen very soon
in relation to this well known logo. In my opinion this is a creative idea
that indeed builds upon the old tradition of unveiling things but it also goes
way beyond it.

------
s04p
Their real 'competition' is iOS and native platforms. They never made it big
on these platforms, and they loose traction because of that. They must rethink
their approach for tablet and mobile, and please...not in HTML5.

------
michaeldhopkins
I really wish it was two-way Highrise contacts integration with Google Apps.

------
jorangreef
SVN has been quiet the past few months.

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OoTheNigerian
I suspect that the 'new basecamp' will be a seamless integration of Basecamp,
Campfire and Highrise with one simple API where people can extend it to
whatever level they wish. So Basecamp 2.0 will be a project management
platform. Maybe an SAP and Salesforce of Small Businesses?

Adding to the above, I also assume they would be the first major app that
would be fully acessible via the browser. Maybe 'kill' the need for the app
store?

I look forward to what it would be.

~~~
bergie
_SAP and Salesforce of Small Businesses_

We did something like that in mid-2000s as an Open Source project
(<http://openpsa2.org/>). Never really caught fire with us, though. Business
apps are a difficult area.

~~~
OoTheNigerian
_Business apps are a difficult area_

Open Source and Free do not work for serious businesses.

For open source, you want someone responsible. Except you have a strong re-
seller and support program, I doubt it will work.

Free is an entirely different issue. A business will not want to be
'Gowallad'. i.e, Sell suddenly and say have your data and thanks for your
time. We are shutting down next month. See thread discussing this
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3318458>

When you create a company i.e charge money, businesses know you are serious
and have someone to complain to. Then you have a higher chance of gaining
traction.

~~~
bergie
_Open Source and Free do not work for serious businesses._

That is probably a too extreme take on this as well. Open Source is a great
"insurance policy" for companies, but not enough on its own. You also want a
company dedicated to supporting and developing the software that your company
uses so that you can have a proper contractual relationship into it.

For example, MySQL AB was running quite a good business supporting the freely
licensed database for companies using it:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MySQL_AB>

------
chrislomax
It seriously makes me wonder how these guys have survived so long without
making any changes. It's the same today as when I had an account 6 years ago.
It's basic and functional.

Game changer my arse, it's about time they changed it!

~~~
chrislomax
And whoever down votes me I want a reason why you think 37 signals is so
fantastic when they have essentially changed nothing in 6 years.

~~~
edash
The fact that a product built six years ago is still relevant and effective is
testament to just how fantastic their original decisions were.

~~~
bergie
Also, the fact that BaseCamp has quite decent APIs has enabled a "cottage
industry" of third-party clients and add-ons to evolve. This has probably made
the product a lot more durable:

[http://basecamphq.com/extras?cohort=Landing%20Headlines%20/%...](http://basecamphq.com/extras?cohort=Landing%20Headlines%20/%20together,No%20CC%20Upfront4%20/%20No-
CC&utm_custom\[Landing_Headlines\]=together&utm_custom\[No_CC%20Upfront4\]=No-
CC)

------
desireco42
+1 for Trello, I am a big fan

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zzzeek
But will the rewrite be in node.js ?

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portentint
They're going to add secondary mailing addresses!!!!!!!!!!!!!

------
dextorious
They found out that Rails doesn't scale, and are redoing everything in hand-
coded, no framework PHP.

(Jokes aren't only for Reddit, ya know)

~~~
zzzeek
judging by your comment and mine it would appear downmods are _always_ for
jokes, around here...

------
carson_
Rebuttal: <http://i.imgur.com/pRUqr.png>

~~~
fredoliveira
I think you created a new account in the wrong site. Thanks for your great
contribution to this thread, but, no thanks.

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timecircuits
That's a rather rude signup form. Put in your email address -- if you're lucky
or you're important, you get a "chance" at a beta invite.

~~~
antidaily
Come on. Standard practice for beta invites these days.

------
manuzi
Strikingly similar logo concept to Uber...

[http://blog.uber.com/2011/12/05/take-ubers-new-logo-for-a-
sp...](http://blog.uber.com/2011/12/05/take-ubers-new-logo-for-a-spin/)

Maybe 37signals are back to client-design work... ;)

