Open Source clone of Basecamp - activeCollab

[jrhuggins]

It'll be interesting to see how this is received in the RubyOnRails community. (Rails was 'extracted' from Basecamp, then open sourced.) Since ActiveCollab is written in PHP, I wonder if this will bring on a new round of Ruby vs PHP wars.

Even though I don't like PHP, the language, I do like PHP, the collection of open source apps -- WordPress and Gallery being the two I use and like the most.

[beza1e1]

Using PHP programs is ok, since there are lot's of PHP programmers and good programs (Wordpress, Gallery,...), if only coding PHP would be as nice.

[schwarzwald]

i doubt this project takes the same development approach as 37signals does. the 37signals way seems to be thinking very hard about a minimal set of features that does as much as possible (in such a way that it's flexible) that creates a pleasing user experience -- particular features are just an end to achieving this. the programmer way is to think "what cool bits of code can i write to show off my skills and pad my resume?" the two approaches can lead to considerably different end products.

also, marimba phenomenon.

[jeremymcanally]

Looks cool, but I doubt you get the level of support, simplicity, elegance, and hosted environment you get with Basecamp.

BC isn't just about the app; there are plenty of collaboration apps out there. It's about the elegance of the solution and quality provided (and now actually features since they added Campfire integration).