Mibbit (axod's startup) video featured on Google Code Blog

http://google-code-updates.blogspot.com/2009/02/now-playing-developer-created-videos.html

by abstractbill • 17 years ago

76 36 17 years ago

google-code-updates.blogspot.com

markessien• 17 years ago

I like axod. I don't follow his story in any way, but what I like about his product is that it offers actual value, there's no barrage of marketing, there's no incessant self profiling, there are no blog posts where he praises himself by describing how he did things right.

He's the underdog guy that one roots for, the real deal, the one that focuses on his product, and not on his selling.

Axods ability to give this impression in just a few articles about him and his product should be a model for startups who want to stay genuine.

natch• 17 years ago

His startup may be great, but unfortunately, to me, he tainted himself as a credible well-meaning business person when in my opinion he used YC as a platform to promote his bigoted anti-Gay views on California's Proposition 8. I'm guilty too of talking about non-tech stuff on YC, but that's only part of the issue; the disturbing thing is to see someone using their position in this community in a way that promotes denying certain people their rights. I'll be downmodded for being off topic, no doubt, but somebody has to speak up about this.

swombat3• 17 years ago

I don't recall him using YC as a platform to promote his views. Everyone's entitled to make comments on a story without it being considered "abusing a platform".

I probably spend more time than most having heated arguments with axod on IRC, and I enjoy these. It's a mark of civilisation to be able to discuss viewpoints other than yours.

As they say, diplomacy is about talking (constructively) to your enemies, not your friends. Arguments are about discussing topics (constructively) with people who disagree with you, not with people who agree with you.

Edit: For the record I strenuously disagree with axod on that topic as on many others. In fact, I'm giving him a bollocking for it on #startups right now.

smanek2• 17 years ago

I don't get what's with all the down modding. There's nothing wrong with refusing to do business with someone because of their personal views (even if their personal views don't affect my interaction with them).

It's effectively just a boycott.

Personally, I would rather have a civilized discussion on most issues - but if you really want to boycott that is your right.

abstractbill• 17 years ago

People are more complex than you give them credit for. Axod is an ace coder, a smart business guy, a talented musician, a great dad... and yes, dead wrong about prop-8.

I wouldn't be so quick to write-off someone for a single flaw. We all have them.

lbrandy• 17 years ago

axod's too shy to post his own good news, but even bigger (in my opinion) news: mibbit will become the default irc:// handler in Firefox. I have to admit that irc:// links are pretty rare, now, mostly due to how unreliably they work. Big usability win for Firefox.

See http://informationisart.com/stas/mibbit-as-an-irc-protocol-h...

Good work mibbit, axod.

axod6• 17 years ago

Hehe thanks guys, it was quite fun to do, not so much seeing myself say "erm" quite so much (This is after I edited out several 'erm's).

FYI The video was put together with screenflow and iMovie.

If you use some of the Google APIs I'd definitely recommend putting something together and submitting it, especially ideas of what APIs they should do, improvements they could make. They really listen to the users.

boulderdash8• 17 years ago

how does mibbit make money?

truebosko• 17 years ago

I recall axod saying he made revenue from the contextual text ads above irc rooms. They change depending on what the room is about/talking about so they are actually pretty relevant.

boulderdash8• 17 years ago

I am in the advertising biz, and I have a really hard time believing this.

swombat3• 17 years ago

Advertising!

We keep telling him advertising doesn't work, but apparently he's breaking even already, so the evidence seems to be against us.

jawngee• 17 years ago

Congrats axod!

toisanji• 17 years ago

Wow, congrats, that is a lot of extra advertising dollars that will be coming in.

cpg• 17 years ago

congrats axod!

getting into firefox is huge.

we (http://www.amahi.org) use it to help our user community better and we saw a bump in the number of people using our channel for support, questions or just plain cheering us up, when we started using mibbit.

while i am here, a suggestion: we do very consistently see that sending PMs to users (most of them are fairly new to irc) that use mibbit is nearly impossible for them to see in the default skin. not enough visual variation or attention to catch their eye. liven it up a little :)

kudos otherwise!

Jem• 17 years ago

Congratulations axod! Mibbit is easy to use, and I rely on it when I'm out and about with no irc client. It's a credit to you - keep up the great work :)

Mibbit (axod's startup) video featured on Google Code Blog

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