I LOL'd, and unlike other commenters actually loved the article. A smart and fun to read way to promote your own product -- using an overhyped competitor is just a bonus. 37signals' fanboys should tone town a bit. [Bracing for the downvotes.]
Absolutely agree. Google docs is free but connecting to the other services is our premium upsell. Google docs was an afterthought - we connect to paid services and charge for that value.
This is a case of copy getting too campy. It's ok to mix in some humor here or there, especially if it fits your target market. But given that this is a product focused on a professional market (CRM), this is an example of taking it outside the realm of something that speaks to your customers.
Although, I think the market for wasting time online is bigger than the market for people who want to be productive. Look at all the people who pay money to Tencent and Zynga, compared to 37signals. People want to consume media, not produce :( They should compete against those companies.
I can attest that all of these facts are true. Tal and Paul are great guys - I've had the pleasure of getting to know them over the past 4 months as my cohort mates in GrowLab.
A lot of people will pay for fun, but other people will pay more for productivity crap that works for them, that gets them more wealth (time, money) to have fun.
This is the douchiest post I've read in a while. I hope they enjoy their 15 milliseconds of fame they get from it before going back to their inevitable obscurity.
