ASYLUM

* snap!

So 37 signals have released Backpack, a sort of mini personal information manager as a web application.

This is the latest in a long chain of events that are filed in the category "people releasing applications I want(ed) to make, but they got there first, because they were actually working on them, while I was doing stupid monkeywork at the office."

It's really starting to grate.

I can't decide whether I like it better or worse when they do a good implementation or a bad one. If it's shoddy, I can feel like the battle is not over — on the other hand, if it's good, maybe I can make use of the product myself, which since many of these ideas are ones I come up with to solve my own needs, is a good thing.

So, how does Backpack square up? Actually, it's very good. It's clearly generating a lot of interest, and I think it's going to be huge. For me? I'm trying it out, but I don't know if it really addresses my needs. Some of the reasons, well, they'll probably get fixed up in time. Others are more fundamental. Part of the problem is that the things that make it ill-suited to my needs, are exactly the same ones that make it very suitable for other people. I wonder — am I so out-of-alignment with what most people want? Or is there still a large number of people whose need are still unfilled? I'll come back to the issues themselves in another post, I think.