Less features than what? You criticize their products, yet offer no viable alternative. A better question would be "why do you use X instead of Y", where X is a particular 37 signals product, and Y is an alternative that you like better.
Personally, I use Backpack after trying (and not liking) a whole bunch of other solutions for todo lists. I tried
- Outlook
- Pen and paper
- Simple text file
- Command line todo tool (Lifehacker)
- Remember the milk
- Google tasks
and I'm probably forgetting something, it's been a while.
I use Backpack because it's:
- Incredibly simple and intuitive to use
- Offers organization system that makes sense (pages, notes and lists - I use nothing else)
- It's easy and fast to find anything I want
- I can use it everywhere - on my phone, desktop, and the web. I use the web-based client at work and at home, also Mac desktop widget at home, and Satchel on my iPhone. The synching is seamless everywhere.
I'm not going to dignify the "RoR hype" with a response.
I did not offer an alternative because I expect that existing customers are already familiar with them and have made their decision to pay for their software logically. I also was talking about their set of products and how the philosophy ('getting real') of their company influences the characteristics of their web applications (less features, interface first, monthly charges, etc.).
Thanks for the reasons you use Basecamp, I found them quite useful and succinct.
If you were offended by the 'RoR hype' statement, I'm sorry. It just comes to my attention that with the origin of RoR being at 37 signals that they probably get a fair amount of traffic from those who are dedicated to the framework and I'm sure some of those visitors convert to customers...i'm just not sure how much :)
Personally, I use Backpack after trying (and not liking) a whole bunch of other solutions for todo lists. I tried
- Outlook
- Pen and paper
- Simple text file
- Command line todo tool (Lifehacker)
- Remember the milk
- Google tasks
and I'm probably forgetting something, it's been a while.
I use Backpack because it's:
- Incredibly simple and intuitive to use
- Offers organization system that makes sense (pages, notes and lists - I use nothing else)
- It's easy and fast to find anything I want
- I can use it everywhere - on my phone, desktop, and the web. I use the web-based client at work and at home, also Mac desktop widget at home, and Satchel on my iPhone. The synching is seamless everywhere.
I'm not going to dignify the "RoR hype" with a response.