Posted by Steve Chazin on Fri, Feb 22, 2008 @ 02:36 PM
I've been trying to determine what category our product lives in. Is it web conferencing software? Is this more about virtual meeting rooms or web-based meetings? What do you think? The noun has changed a couple of times - look to the right of this page and you see a badge that says Dimdim: Web Conferencing. But look at other parts of our site and you'll see we refer to it as Dimdim: Web Meeting.
I just don't think any of those terms do justice. When you are having an IM chat with someone on AIM or using Skype to have an audio call do you think of the "place" you are both at as a meeting? When you share your screen to a classroom of students are you holding a conference? These are all forms of collaboration, but do you even think of the word "collaboration" while you are doing it? And since Dimdim can do all of the above (and a whole lot more) are we selling it short by not calling it something else. Is this a "Collaboration Suite" or a "Communication Toolbox" or something else?
What term should we use? I'm all ears.
Posted by Steve Chazin on Thu, Feb 14, 2008 @ 06:25 PM
I've been having a lot of fun hosting the Tuesday "Featured" meeting for the last few weeks. Today I guest-starred in Sundar's Thursday meeting with about 10 total participants. It's amazing to me how easily and fluidly people, from all across the world, can come together for 20 mins and actually feel like we're at the same place. At one point I was speaking through my iSight camera on my MacBook Pro here in Hollis, NH while Sundar was broadcasting his webcam and sharing his PowerPoint deck from Hyderbad, India using a PC. And our guests from Germany, France, Canada, Argentina and Australia where chatting and drawing - all in real-time. It really is amazing when you stop to think about it. (Sorry that just sounded like thinly veiled marketing for Dimdim...it's just that I'm really excited about it.)
You see, this is something that our parents could never have imagined. This is a new way to bring the world together, to communicate without borders, to meet freely. In the meantime, come meet me at next Tuesday's meeting simply by clicking on the date, entering your email address and hitting submit in the bottom left corner of dimdim.com. Hint, if you attend a meeting, you'll get an invitation to join the private beta and you too can start to experience the freedom of Dimdim web meetings. (<--ugh, more marketing...make me stop!)
Posted by Steve Chazin on Wed, Feb 06, 2008 @ 06:51 PM
So it occurred to me today that Dimdim's mantra truly is around the word "free."
Yeah, on one hand we're giving away free web collaboration and conferencing software that used to cost tens of thousands of dollars (I know - I spent nearly $90K on a similar Macromedia Breeze system at a previous job) and on the other hand we're freeing people from the complexity of installing and supporting this type of software on their own.
This hosted, or SaaS (Software as a Service) model of Dimdim's - or Google's for that matter - truly is the wave of the future. Instant updates, no installs, someone else deals with the hardware headaches; all anyone really needs is an Internet connection and a browser.
The cool thing about all this is there are now people using our hosted web meeting software that would never have been able to afford - or figure out how to use - that other software. I meet people every day who are doing amazing things thanks to Dimdim and other web products like it. And in a very short amount of time we will open our beta to many more people and the variety of uses should skyrocket.
I'm thinking about having a contest in a few months entitled "What Did You Do With Dimdim?" where the best, most innovative uses of Dimdim get voted on by the community for a cool prize. And all you private beta testers get first crack, so start thinking of your answers now. Do you think this is a good idea for a contest? (I love contests, BTW) Do you have any suggestions?
Posted by Steve Chazin on Fri, Feb 01, 2008 @ 01:27 PM
Hello. Let me introduce myself. My name is Steve Chazin and I just joined Dimdim as Chief Marketing Officer. I've been spending time getting to know all the folks at Dimdim in Boston, Canada and India and coming up to speed on the company and its people. I can tell you that this is one amazing company with great leadership, talented people and a bright future. But more on that in future blog posts.
I simply wanted to tell the readers of this blog that exciting things are on the horizon. First, you can count on a new blog update at least once a week, so please come back often or subscribe to our RSS feed. Second, we will soon be coming out of private beta and launching an open beta. Thank you to all the private beta testers for your help and suggestions. With your help, we dramatically enhanced our service and look to make Dimdim even better with our open beta program.
So stay tuned...and get ready to experience a new web freedom. And please feel free to email me personally at steve @ dimdim.com or use the comment feature of our blog.
I look forward to our meeting.
Sincerely,
Steve