[qwantim1]

Is Basecamp really the example to aspire to? Being the developer of Rails and ActiveRecord and fostering and milking that would be the software equivalent of Peter Frampton, and I mean that in the most positive way.

I think we know that we’re not all going platinum. This article was about just “working on the song(s)” for the enjoyment of it, whatever that may involve, or that’s the way I took it.

[square_usual]

I think BaseCamp is the best you can hope for with this mindset, so in an "aim high" kind of way, it's a good ideal.

[playpause]

> the software equivalent of Peter Frampton

Can you clarify this? Just curious. Heard of him, but no idea what you mean.

[x4j91]

I think the sentiment is that Basecamp is no Led Zeppelin. In that they perhaps haven't achieved the record breaking, Unicorn level growth that many startups strive for. But perhaps that's OK for them?

They've got some great tunes, a loyal following, and can still put on a fantastic show. They're superstars by any definition.

Peter Frampton had a standout, influential "live" album and an innovative style of playing that will forever be remembered.

Led Zeppelin had a series of standout albums and hit songs spanning close to a decade, spawning Unicorn level sales, crowds and generational fandom that held influence on rock and roll for 40+ years.

But the band members of Zeppelin eventually succumbed to the excesses of their success. They split up after some really dark days. The scope and size of their success wasn't long term manageable on a personal level. But their legacy remains.

Whereas Frampton is still playing small live venues today!!!!

He's still rocking out.

[ivanhoe]

> Being the developer of Rails and ActiveRecord and fostering and milking that

It's not entirely fair thing to say as DHH's rise to fame was really on both fronts in parallel, actually I remember that one of the selling points for ruby/RoR thing early on was that "the basecamp was built on it". Most of people (me included) never even heard of Ruby before they've made it popular, and they could do that partially thanks to having an already very popular product built on it and big following of fans to their approach to business and software. It was before "the lean" ideas got popular, so it was all very new and revolutionary.

[FearNotDaniel]

Now I really know I'm getting old, when I've gone past nostalgia for the 1980s 8-bit era and even Web 2.0 feels like a distant, but warm and fuzzy memory...