Blog . Jiboneus

Campfire, the new product from 37signals just launched. I did mention about Campfire a while back. It is a robust Web base group chat. Unlike other chats Campfire chat is permanent, every chat room created gets a permanent URL. Campfire also offers file sharing capabilities, you can upload files during chats.

As with any other 37signals product. It’s dead simple. It has a very intuitive interface. Its very easy to pick up. The sign up only took about 10 seconds.

Campfire is a great business tool for freelancer or small developer houses to communicate. Sure you could use a more traditional method like E-mails (are E-mail is consider ‘traditional’ this days?). Sometimes a more real-time communication is much more productive.

Why is Campfire better then IM(Instant Messaging)? Campfire is Web base so you only need a Web browser to use it. I assume every body have one of those on their computer. Yeah you need an Internet connection too. No need for any software installation.

The chat are centralize. Your chat transcript are stored on Campfire server. If you get disconnected, go back to the room URL and everything is there. Chat transcript are store and organize chronologically I guess.

Files are also stored together with the transcript. Everything is permanent unless you delete it or cancel your account. Campfire is not free either, but I guess the prices are pretty reasonable.

Campfire is a month to month service and there is no contract, you can cancel any time you wish. Wonder what happens to you account when you cancel it? Will the transcript and files still be there? Probably need to read the FAQ or ask them about this.

For the sake of trying I sign up for the free trial. I’ve also create a room open for guest if you wan to try it out.

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