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Why you can't buy Feed.Us
I really hate that Feed.Us isn't "live". It remains in a "private beta" almost six months after I hoped we'd launch.
(In case you haven't been following us, Feed.Us is a content management/syndication service that is 'hosted' and feeds content to your server. It works with/on any platform (php, asp.net, jsp, asp, ror, etc) and was built to be integrated with just copy/paste of some code, ie no installs. It can work with any site, within other platforms, within applications and for content syndication.)
The main functions (writing/adding content and 'feeding' to sites) have been working really well for over a year. Then we added other ways to import and export content. Then finally last summer we started in on a clean, nice interface (screenshots here) designed by the guy who did Writely.
So why aren't we live?
One issue has been .Net and adding some of the "ajaxy" stuff (note: I did not say 'ajaxy goodness'). .Net has been a bitch with the ajax. We went with .Net so that our core code would be really, really solid. But .Net has not been fun for John and Cliff to add a lot of the interface stuff that I've asked for.
But the main issue is that it's just not ready. There's a widely accepted theory that we're supposed to launch early and often. I don't really subscribe to the theory.
One of the rationale behind the theory is that you need users to help start and improve the service. And we have done this with all the sites I run, plus select customer sites (and a couple applications). And as of January, we even have paying customers (several even have died, but that's a sad story that I'll save for a different post).
But we can't offer it for sale yet. Why not?
- We've found a bunch of bugs that are being fixed.
- The help isn't complete. I'm personally making video help page for every function, and it takes a while.
- I haven't completely decided on our pricing. I really want to make it 'pay as you go' but that might not be possible at first, so we need to decide on a price before we start, and then shift, later to PAYG.
- Image/file uploading has to kick ass and it currently doesn't
- Import functions that need to be completed (embed video from youtube) and twitter importing via API
- Our 'export' functions (to Facebook & Twitter)
BUT the main reason is that it's just not perfect, yet. I don't want to disappoint people who try it. If it's going to be one of the best services you've ever used, then you can't be frustrated. And when I use something that isn't 100% ready, I get frustrated and I question why I paid for it. And I don't want our customers to suffer like that.
