What tools do we use?

‘The tools we use give us a competitive advantage’

Ruby on Rails

Rails is a full-stack framework for developing database-backed web applications according to the Model-View-Control pattern. From the Ajax in the view, to the request and response in the controller, to the domain model wrapping the database, Rails gives you a pure-Ruby development environment. To go live, all you need to add is a database and a web server.

To give you some idea why we use and love Ruby on Rails, here are a few quotes, from the Rails Ecosystem Fall 2009 Whitepaper.

“A few days after Labor Day in 2008 at a Denver hotel, an acclaimed instructor
running a course in computer software realized one of his pupils was a
venture capitalist. When asked why he was in a class to learn “Ruby on Rails”
beside a raft of Java programmers eager to reinvent themselves, the VC
answered simply—all the start-ups coming to him were using it, and he
wanted to ?nd out why it was such a big deal. "

“A few weeks earlier, a government employee approached a keynote speaker at a local Ruby User’s Conference outside Washington, DC, and related to him
that her agency was about to launch an ambitious plan to convert 40,000 Lotus Notes and ColdFusion databases to Ruby on Rails in a major move to
refresh their infrastructure by moving to Open Source and away from proprietary technologies. "

“A few months earlier, a physician entrepreneur besieged by institutional
investors to buy a stake in his hot and successful start-up turned the
questioning back on them. He quizzed them on the best technology with
which to build and expand his popular online site. What were their portfolio
companies using? The uniform answer—the Ruby programming language and
the Ruby on Rails Web application framework built on top of it. "

Ruby

A dynamic, open source programming language with a focus on simplicity and productivity. It has an elegant syntax that is natural to read and easy to write.

Ruby is the interpreted scripting language for quick and easy object-oriented programming. It has many features to process text files and to do system management tasks (as in Perl). It is simple, straight-forward, extensible, and portable.

Google

Essential web tools. Google’s suite of applications is compelling and cost effective, including:

• Mail
• Apps
• Maps
• Analytics
• Notepad
• Calendar
• Adwords

37 Signals

Execution is everything.

We believe most software is too complex. Too many features, too many buttons, too much confusion. We build easy to use web-based products with elegant interfaces and thoughtful features. We are focused on executing on the basics beautifully. Who uses our products?

While our products are mainly built for small businesses and individuals (we call this group the Fortune 5,000,000), companies of all sizes use them every day. From 1 person to teams of 3-5 people to companies of 5000. Everyone loves simple tools that help get the job done and then get out of your way. About our company

We’re a privately-held Chicago-based company committed to building the best web-based software products possible with the least number of features necessary. Our products do less than the competition — intentionally. We’ve been in business since 1999 and love what we do.

Firefox

Enjoy a Better Web Experience

• Firefox delivers helpful new features to make your online experience more productive.
• Stay Secure on the Web
• Firefox continues to lead the way in online security, and now includes active protection from online scams to keep you safer.
• Personalize Your Browser
• Choose from over a thousand useful add-ons that enhance Firefox. It’s easy to personalize Firefox to make it your own.

Apple

We switched a long time ago.

• iPhone
• iBook
• iMac
• iPad

Oh my, we love Apple!