But Bill ... everything's beta!
Several years ago, my friend Tom, then a student working in the Web Development office at a local university, was anxious for me to purchase some particular software for the shop. I resisted. I just didn't want the hassle of installing new software, dealing with users, whatever. Truth be told, I've forgotten the reasons I didn't want to purchase it. I do recall talking about it being "Microsoft" and "a beta version" and pointing out how I didn't buy anything that was version 1.0 from Microsoft, let alone beta.
Tom persisted as nineteen year olds are included to do. I repeated my "it's beta" argument to no avail. Finally - exasperated - Tom looked me square in the eye and exclaimed, "But, Bill, everything's beta."
It was (as my generation would have said when we were nineteen) ... a generational gap. But Tom was right. Much of what we see today is developed, sold, implemented and made obsolete - and never truly out of beta. Well, we don't take that entirely as our inspiration - we do fully intend for our Good Idea Cafe site to leave beta - but we are going to see what happens when we throw open the door to our clients, friends and collegues as we are developing the site.
Which brings us to the next part of our strategy - the client-created web site. As social networks have become more popular and influential over the last several years, we have toyed with the idea that our own site should be created by our community. It's something that we've long preached to our own clients - listen to what your customers say and design your site accordingly. We sincerely believe that our clients know more about what they want/need/crave in an Internet company than we do. So we ask your help in redesigning not only our website but our company as well.
Please take some time with this site and let us know what you think. Please visit frequently, we will change and grow. And please don't be shy. If you love it; hate it; wouldn't buy it if it was served on a bed of $100-bills and covered with chocolate. Please let us know. We sincerely thank you.