If it weren’t for computer game manufacturers ruthlessly pushing the boundaries of technology, – computers wouldn’t be where they are today. Just when you buy a new video card, it’s out of date… Every time a technological standard is set, someone moves the fence just a bit further out. It might be frustrating as a consumer, -but in actuality we all win because of it. If you want to play the latest and greatest game, you have to get the latest gear.

Video cards cost hundreds of dollars, -web browsers are free. But all too often there is no reason to upgrade because web app programmers spend countless hours making their web apps reverse compatible. As an industry, we need to start giving people more reasons to upgrade, -and less excuses to stick with leaky old browsers. We need to make our web apps a driving force to get people to upgrade their browsers, the same way games make people update their hardware.

The lost time, and energy supporting legacy systems is holding our industry back.

If you’ve worked on Macs your whole life, you may have had a bumpy ride. But you stuck with it, because the positives outweighed the negatives. After Steve’s return, things have gotten much better. We’ve seen advances that are really amazing when you look back on them. The problem is that we rarely look back…

Like with most incremental things, you get used to them in doses. Abusive relationships, successful businesses, An unclean desk. They all happen slowly, and we become immune with the passing of time. If you listen to MBW, or read a lot of blogs, it’s clear that a lot of Mac fans have forgot to look back on just how far we’ve come.

If I could go back a few years and tell you that we would have a portable Mac that fit in a phone, a laptop that fits in an envelope, an OS that is so stable it almost never needs restarted. I could tell you about simply hitting the space bar to instantly preview files, getting 20GB of storage on .mac, wirelessly buying music, a small Mac that is connected to the largest library of music, and movies online that you could instantly purchase and begin watching right on your TV. It would blow your mind. I mean you might even have to sit down for a minute…

That giddy feeling you got on Christmas when you were 8 years old would wash over you. You would be elated. Once I calmed you down, I would feel obligated to tell you not everything was perfect. There are a few syncing issues, sometimes the phone is a bit slow, the OS has a weird translucent menu bar, and Apple is still obscenely secretive. You wouldn’t care a bit though. You would be foaming by this point.

Apple has made us so immune to advancements that we’ve allowed ourselves to be spoiled by it. We’ve become the Veruca Salt of this story, and it’s too bad. I’m not saying that things are perfect. They’re not. But things are better now than they’ve ever been, and I’d rather acknowledge that than sit and think about how I wish they were even better.

We pushed out an update to Jumpchart yesterday. The first, and biggest thing to us, is the newly redesigned sales site. We’ve been using the exact same site since the launch of Jumpchart, and it feels good to finally mix things up a bit. The most important change to those of you who already use Jumpchart will be the long awaited ability to copy projects.

This feature allows you to use existing Jumpcharts as templates to begin new projects with. It’s especially handy for those of you who tend to repeat certain architectures, or modules.

We hope you like the new features.

“Sometimes the best way to know what your app should be is to know what it shouldn’t be. Figure out your app’s enemy and you’ll shine a light on where you need to go.

When we decided to create project management software, we knew Microsoft Project was the gorilla in the room. Instead of fearing the gorilla, we used it as a motivator. We decided Basecamp would be something completely different, the anti-Project.” 37Signals, Getting Real

These little paragraphs are really responsible in a lot of ways for Staction being around. They’re also responsible for it almost not happening at all. It’s totally true that there is nothing greater to motivate you than working in opposition of something you firmly believe is wrong. But it’s maybe not always the best thing to do… Keep Reading

We just put up a couple of tour videos for Staction. The beta is going quite well, and we’re starting to expand the number of invites to test load on the servers. Please let us know if you want to participate by signing up for the Staction email newsletter.

We’ve been inviting some people in to check out Staction over the past week. It’s been good to get some feedback finally. We’ve worked really hard on it, but with very little regard for how it would work for other people. not that we purposefully made decisions we knew other people would find misguided, – only that we pleased ourselves first.

We’re fortunate enough to not be pleasing investors, or board members with our projects. It’s nice to have the freedom to be experimental.

Staction is pretty darn experimental… It’s a different concept for managing workflow. People that have seen it so far are on opposite ends of the spectrum with very little grey area between. They either love it, or hate it… That’s a pretty satisfying thing to have happen. A luke warm meh is the toll of death for an app.

So far what we’re seeing is this: If you like Staction, -You love Staction. Perfect.

We’ll sleep pretty good this weekend…

Thanks to everyone that’s helped out with the beta so far. If you want to get on the list, visit http://staction.com and sign up for the email newsletter.

We’re starting to take beta signups for Staction today. Visit http://staction.com and signup for the newsletter for a chance to participate in the private beta. Thanks to everyone in advance.

It’s a very weird time to be a web developer these days… There was a time not too long ago when it sounded crazy that we had 2 or even god-forbid 3 browsers to code for. How far we’ve come…

We now have a string of browsers littered behind our industry like plane wreckage on a runway. It’s pretty gross. Most of us don’t even bother with browsers as fresh as 3 years old. There’s a thankful push to quit bothering with browsers even newer than that. It sounds pretty inviting to have less to worry about, -but browsers are far from the only concern.

What about the iPhone web app? The widget? The AIR app? How about Twitter integration, SMS, RSS, and countless others on the checklist? It’s daunting at best. Although development has gotten more agile and easy, -it’s kind of from necessity. When you finish your web app today, you’ve really only started…

As the trenches between these platforms get deeper, the web we used to know is receding. Interface design is tough enough when someone decides to accidentally double the padding on elements. Now we have to consider new scrolling methods, finger-based input, custom chrome, etc. etc. etc.

ok. So maybe we’re painting a grim picture, it’s not all-that-bad. We love the idea that there are more ways to reach an audience. More ways to access information on the go. We’re in a time now where people with very little technical know-how are creating some really exciting things online. Business people are able to scratch their own itch via web apps in a way that we’ve never seen. It would be nice to imagine that we’re moving more together, rather than more apart.

In the previous post a commenter, Kel, asked if Staction was a replacement for Backpack; it’s not. In fact, Staction isn’t even a replacement for Basecamp in a lot of respects. In our opinion Backpack, and Basecamp are perfect in their own ways. They’re simple, and easy. They’re sturdy, and do their job well. But if you work like us, Basecamp feels a bit tedious.

If you work with one window open to Campfire/IM, and one window open to your PM app, while emails from team members trickle into your inbox, -you have the problem we had. There was a bit of a crisis of communication. In a group, there are 3 basic types of communication:

• Interruptive, fast paced communication that stops other work from happening. Like Campfire, or IM.
• Discretionary communication that happens when you have time. email, or messages within an app.
• Historical documentation. Information that is recorded, but not looked at unless needed by an individual.

So as you’re working, you have to constantly ask: “Where should I put this information?” Should I email it? Is it urgent? Is it something I can just stick in the project messages? Would it be better somewhere else?

What would be nice is to naturally evolve conversations like they happen in real life. You yell over the cubicle for the file you need. Your coworker responds. It’s fast. It’s succinct. Better yet, it would be great if that information was contextually useful, and searchable.

Staction is a little bit project management, it’s a bit of IM, it’s a little bit of Twitter. It’s all of these things, and we’re thinking of it as a new class of app. People management, – not project management.