Maybe FF should market their product to clearly differenciate them from Twitter... giving more importance to private groups and small communities for example.
I'm just trying to help new freelancers who are as naive as I was in the beginning. What I'm basically saying is : if you want to be a freelancer, be a freelancer. Have several clients, be the one in control at all time. This is what professional freedom is all about... it's not just about making your own schedule.
Yeah, to me the fact that you can write stuff like "Hello, my name is Jerry and I'm 28 years old. I'd like to create a project. Could you do it for me Timmy?" is only useful to attract new users. Like you say in your conclusion, once they lose their fear of having to "learn commands", they become more comfortable and eventually they will try to use the product in the most efficient way possible (e.g. by using shortcuts).
There's some truth in what you are saying. We could put a link somewhere pointing to timmyontime dot com so people can have a better idea of what we are talking about.
By the way, are you angry or something? I don't understand why you are pissed off like that.
Releasing often has lead us to stop seeing the bigger picture. I think the danger when you release often is to rush the releases... and in the end transform what was a great idea into a half-baked product. I don't want to say that this statement is always wrong, because it certainly isn't, but I think people should approach it with care and stop applying it like it was a God commandement.
We know that idea is relevant because 1) WE find it relevant and 2) by the initial comments we are receiving from our users. Most are in love with the idea... but after that they feel let down. The problem is how the idea is executed, not the idea itself.
Ehm, no. Releasing early did fail for us. The idea was not mature enough, the "puzzle" wasn't completed but we started developement and released too early.
Like Dan, I think that releasing early and often is a bit overrated as a concept. It was started by 37signals and people have a tendency to read their stuff like it was their bible.
There is definitely a danger to release early and often : You have less time to think about your core idea. If you embark yourself in a quick release cycle without precautions, you have greater chances to forget about the product as a whole and its evolution. This is what happened to us. Now you could say that it happened to us just because we are stupid, but it would be more productive to start cogitating on the implications of bold statements like "Release early and often".
It's a cliche but I think sometimes you just have to fall flat on your face to learn something. At the time we did not have the experience to know Graham was right. We acted as if he was wrong and we know the rest of the story. The good news is that we learned from it and that we'll try to never do this mistake again. It's hard to keep the focus and to not change your mind because almost everyone are in agreement with sentences like : "Well... you have no choice to do consulting. you have to live!".
Not too long ago I was what you are so nicely calling a "young loser". I never asked anyone to sign a NDA contract but I had this paranoid attitude that hurt me more than it helped me.
Oh and btw you are really asking for trouble with that kind of title ;)