Bret, the gang at FriendFeed do a good job as well. After consistently banging my head against Google's "Wall of Silence" the content here is incredibly refreshing. Thanks!! - Chris Myles

This is what I exactly want to do. But, usually the next release is a top secret for many of the companies and it's very stressful to write even the concepts you are working on. - Burcu Dogan

I think most people would prefer to work this way, but it is worth noting how difficult that can be at a large, well-known company: individuals, the press and Wall St are trying to read something into every little thing you say or do, there are SEC rules to worry about, and so forth. I feel lucky that I work mostly on open source stuff at Google, so this doesn't affect me most of the time. - Joel Webber

Joel, I do understand the bigger issues at Google, I'm referring more to the product and support side. I've been getting some VERY bad vibes from other users and developers in the forums for Blogger, GFC, Picasa, Maps etc and their APIs. I've actually had people tell me to stop asking questions about GFC because no one from Google responds. Here I get the exact opposite feeling, from both the FF team and the users. I think the FF environment makes it much easier for everyone to keep in touch with reactions/feedback, get the help we need, and allows the FF team respond more effectively. Everyone seems to be busting their butts to make FF a success, that alone is a real incentive to help. The energy here is infectious, in Google forums it feels more like a cancer! - Chris Myles

chrismyles: some of the issues are cultural and others are technical. google support discussions used to be mailing lists, and wading through so many messages is time consuming. since moving to their forum system, the level of responses have improved somewhat and it seems the staff is better able to pick out topics to reply. the friendfeed platform is even better, and allows topics the community thinks are important to receive a higher priority. - Mike Chelen from IM

Mike, I guess we'll have to see.. What I love about FF is it makes it easier for ME to keep track of all my discussions in a single spot. Google's new support discussions require me to visit each group independently; there is no central location where I can monitor all my questions. It might be easier for Google but it's harder for me.. If only they all used friendfeed!! - Chris Myles

So Bret, what do you think of the resulting app? Now you've got even more reasons to be interested!! - Chris Myles

Chris: indeed those are the sort of technical or design capabilities that can restrict or enhance the effectiveness for users of a platform. both google and friendfeed have dedicated and skilled staff, yet here they are more able to communicate efficiently with relatively greater numbers of people. - Mike Chelen