Hey, it's certainly crossed our minds. But we continued with this project, years after the original idea came to mind, because no one else has done it. Imagine how stagnant the startup world would be if each and every entrepreneur shuddered in fear at the resources of the big players before engaging in any startup activity. The fact of the matter is that each one of these companies has enough cash and braintrust to dip into just about ANY internet software genre or sub-genre out there, but well-fed employees with Do Your Own Thing time will never be able compete with the speed and sexiness of a good startup. Flip a coin with me. What's going to be hot in 2006, YouTube, or Google Video? My money's on YouTube.
In any case, I appreciate your skeptical, if not massively caffeinated thoughts. Given a traditional approach, it's admittedly an uphill battle... But as I said in a previous post, the idea is migratory. Backwards-compatiiblity with existing instant messenger networks means a possible transition, rather than something which obnoxiously runs alongside existing software. For us, there's a lot of work to be done there.
I should also note that this is not "just" for 802.11 users. You can enter your address in anywhere, and you don't need a laptop to do it. Ultimately, our goal is to create neighborhood communities, less trendy coffee shop hookups. "IRC channels" for the people on your block, imagine it. That's the real idea I'm extolling.
Well, there are some key differences in what Meetro is doing. First and foremost: it's a radius-based software which finds people in the vicinity of your current location. So imagine a scenario in which you pop open your laptop in a coffee shop and immediately see 20-30 people within a mile. You can talk to any one of them immediately, look at their profiles, etc. That's the PRIMARY gist of what we're doing here.
On top of such functionality, however, is a multi-IM client with AIM, Yahoo, MSN and ICQ compatibility. So in that sense we see Meetro as a bridge product to a new type of realtime, location-based social net.
Something in between IM and the phone-based buddy finders? It's an experiment, but one whose validity we are firmly confident in. We'll see where it goes!
Slashdot Mirror
Alright, who modded this "insightful"? :)
Of course.
Mac client = September Linux client = January
Apologies for that. :-)
Mac OS X version - September
Linux version - January
Hey, it's certainly crossed our minds. But we continued with this project, years after the original idea came to mind, because no one else has done it. Imagine how stagnant the startup world would be if each and every entrepreneur shuddered in fear at the resources of the big players before engaging in any startup activity. The fact of the matter is that each one of these companies has enough cash and braintrust to dip into just about ANY internet software genre or sub-genre out there, but well-fed employees with Do Your Own Thing time will never be able compete with the speed and sexiness of a good startup. Flip a coin with me. What's going to be hot in 2006, YouTube, or Google Video? My money's on YouTube.
-Wendell
Well, we didn't submit it. :-)
In any case, I appreciate your skeptical, if not massively caffeinated thoughts. Given a traditional approach, it's admittedly an uphill battle... But as I said in a previous post, the idea is migratory. Backwards-compatiiblity with existing instant messenger networks means a possible transition, rather than something which obnoxiously runs alongside existing software. For us, there's a lot of work to be done there.
I should also note that this is not "just" for 802.11 users. You can enter your address in anywhere, and you don't need a laptop to do it. Ultimately, our goal is to create neighborhood communities, less trendy coffee shop hookups. "IRC channels" for the people on your block, imagine it. That's the real idea I'm extolling.
Well, there are some key differences in what Meetro is doing. First and foremost: it's a radius-based software which finds people in the vicinity of your current location. So imagine a scenario in which you pop open your laptop in a coffee shop and immediately see 20-30 people within a mile. You can talk to any one of them immediately, look at their profiles, etc. That's the PRIMARY gist of what we're doing here. On top of such functionality, however, is a multi-IM client with AIM, Yahoo, MSN and ICQ compatibility. So in that sense we see Meetro as a bridge product to a new type of realtime, location-based social net. Something in between IM and the phone-based buddy finders? It's an experiment, but one whose validity we are firmly confident in. We'll see where it goes!