

Show HN: Briquette, a Mac OS X client for 37signal's Campfire app - brettbender

Hey all,<p>We just pushed a new update to the Mac App Store for our Campfire client. Mainly bug fixes, performance enhancements, and support for foreign encoding. We're always looking for suggestions for further improvements and constructive feedback, so if you use Campfire, give it a shot and let us know what you think!<p>http://briquetteapp.com/<p>http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/briquette/id413619425?mt=12&#38;ls=1<p>It's $4.99 (USD) via the App Store, but if you see this early enough, here's a few promo codes:<p>MA7LMP9KNLRK<p>WWMNL7TTPE4X<p>AARE49946X4N<p>T97N7W9K7FWF<p>A34JFRJWK4TM<p>Thanks!
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tptacek
How does this compare to Propane? Propane has a Cocoa + embedded Webkit view,
like this app. It supports Growl. It supports multiple Campfire sites. It has
configurable message alerts. It supports drag-into-window image uploads. It
does not, from what I can tell, support "replying to users" (but then neither
does Campfire). It's more expensive ($20), but if you use Campfire regularly,
$20 is still below the noise threshold on cost, and if you don't use Campfire
regularly, $4.99 is a lot to spend for a niche chat client.

I'm assuming there's a direction you want to take this app that is different
from the direction Propane is already taking, and I'm curious about what that
might be.

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brettbender
Technically, both Propane and Briquette use a Webkit view, but behind the
scenes Briquette actually implements the Campfire API instead of scraping the
campfire site for its content. Briquette also supports Growl, multiple sites,
customizable message alerts, and drag-and-drop file uploads. Searching
transcripts is on the way for version 1.2.

We had been using Propane ourselves when we decided to begin developing
Briquette as an internal project. We felt frustrated with the user experience
it offered. Briquette is our attempt to provide a client which is more
streamlined and pleasant to use. We're focusing mainly on the user experience
for business use.

We decided to launch with significantly less features than Propane, but have
slowly been implementing more as we figure out the best way to focus on the
end-user experience.

~~~
tptacek
I'm a Propane user, but I'm not even a little bit attached to it. I _really
like_ Propane though. So, sell me on how you've improved the user experience
with Briquette.

I mean, if you want to talk to a model customer for your product. Otherwise,
good job, good luck, &c!

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dillera
Wondering: how can you be 'not even a little attached to it' yet 'REALLY LIKE'
it- which one is it?

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tptacek
Orthogonal. If Briquette is better, I'll happily switch to it.

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JonLim
I didn't get the nab one of the promo codes, but I figure I will check it out
a little later - our office uses Propane and we don't really have any gripes
with it.

Curious: what sort of frustrations did the Propane user experience really
offer?

~~~
ddagradi
I don't want to bash our competitor, but I can talk about our goals. We want
to craft a clean and simple Campfire experience for the desktop, and we think
we're well on our way to creating a unique and easy-to-use application. It
will fit each individual's workflow differently, however, and we'd love your
feedback :)

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dylanrw
Thanks for the chance to try your app. Right off, I love it's look and
simplicity. I will use it for the next several days and be thoughtful in the
review.

~~~
brettbender
Thanks, hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

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atrain34
Thanks! I got the last code (mentioned first) (MA7LMP9KNLRK).

Promise to provide a review on the Mac App Store for you.

~~~
brettbender
Thanks a lot! We appreciate your help.

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fabiandesimone
Clickable: <http://briquetteapp.com/>

