Show HN: Chat Simply – Group chat for everyone

[nchapman]

Today my friends and I are launching a project we've been hacking on for the past few years. It's friendly web based group chat (with apps for Mac, Windows, and iOS) that's not limited to a single business. It basically offers the power of XMPP with a simple UI.

chatsimply.com

Please check it out and let me know what you think!

[bryanbell]

I've been pestering Nick and the gang to launch this thing for years! I'm so happy it's finally out in the world. As a UI designer, I've found this thing is the best tool for sharing and discussing visual things. Now that it's live, I can now get all of my clients on this thing.

[trapper_jon]

@nchapman

Looks very great. Could you reach out to me @ [e-mail]? I have some feedback and may be able to get you some funding/business partnership.

[nchapman]

Thanks will do!

[_zen]

Any interest in Linux? This looks like a Skype replacement, but our developers all have Ubuntu machines.

[nchapman]

The good news is that it works great in the browser, so it should work really well in Ubuntu. We support desktop notifications in Chrome and Firefox. The desktop app is based on Chromium so it should be fairly trivial to get it working on Linux in the not too distant future.

[johnernaut]

Awesome job guys! This interface is super sleek. Can I ask what's powering the back-end?

[nchapman]

Thanks! It's Backbone.js on the front-end (with lots of help from the amazing strophe.js), Rails for the REST API, node.js for lots of supporting services, ejabberd for XMPP, and MySQL for storage. It's one of those problems that seemed like it was going to be simple to solve and then wasn't (as usual) so there are quite a few moving parts to bring the whole experience together.

[pwgustafson]

Been waiting for this launch for a long time! Very proud of the team for sticking with it!

[nchapman]

Thanks pwgustafson!

[DMcCraw]

Chat Simply allows me to stay in contact with both my friends and co-workers from both my phone and my computer. It's nice to be able to continue a conversation from my office to lunch and back.

[robogrowth]

clearly an employee.. make yourself known and just chat with us.. this kind of pretending to be a customer doesn't work well on HN.. just my .02

[DMcCraw]

Sorry if that came off wrong. I've only recently starting helping with development but have been a long time beta tester and really enjoy using it!

[robogrowth]

really nice site, clean looking interface, looks like a great app! I will check it out shortly.. Any plans for an android app?

[nchapman]

Thanks! Yep, Android app is in the works. Not sure on exact timeframe but should be soon!