There has been more press lately about backpackit.com, the latest service from http://www.37signals.com/
Nate first showed me tadalist a long time ago. .
Basically just a simple todo list but I have enjoyed using it for those
todo items I only need to see when I am online. Its fast and very
intuitive.
One of the reasons why Nate was so interested in 37signals is because of their open source web development framework called "ruby on rails".
Basically a really easy to use inline scripting language (similar to
php but more advanced). Nate and Mark both proved that you could
produce a database driven application in short order.
More recently, 37signals have been implementing Ajax, the xml via javascript that gmail has made famous, in their ruby applications.
Backpackit is a interesting application. Its very easy to use, and has
a good feel. However, I feel that it is a little more restrictive than
most wiki applications. And their pricing model is a little off the
mark, basically paying per page.
Really 37signals primary bread and butter is basecamp,
their easy to use web based project management app. I have not yet
played with it, but it appears to get that the project management
problem is one about gathering all communication around a project
space, more than just gant management. I think I may be suggesting it
for my brother, an architect and general contractor who is faced with
managing projects with dispersed office and field employees.
As far as ASP hosted wiki's, I think the one with the most potential is jotspot.com. They take wiki to the level of small "lotus notes" like application development, and there are some big names behind it.
Some similar functionality to backpackit, in that when you sign up you
get a subdomain, and then each page has a randomly generated email
address that you can use as an alternate method to update the page.
The list of available applications is impressive. I would suggest checking out the advanced tour.
I think the overriding principle driving success with these
applications is that people really are drawn to the simple. Mobile
users, and those who are fed up with reinstalling operating systems
after viruses or other system failures, are growing soft to the concept
of completely web based applications. Now that developers are pushing
beyond the standards with things like ajax (standards being discussed
at w3c even now), there is proof that web application feel can be
improved without significant overhead.
Its a race for the best collaboration tool which can marry the "ease of
publishing and sharing" found in blogs, wiki's, and social networking
sites. Thus the emergence of new big name offerings like MSN MySpace,
Yahoo! 360, etc. Should be interesting.
