For those that didn’t dig into high-traffic or big web applications until now, let me tell you: when it comes to complex (or big) web applications, it can be extremely difficult to create, maintain, debug or scale them without proper tools or architecture.

My biggest challenge while the Chief Architect at Brainient was finding a technology / framework that would enable us to create fast, reliable and scalable web applications. We tried most of the web technologies, frameworks, CMS out there and after almost one year we decided to stick with just a few:

1. Our overall preferred combination is PHP & MySQL. It’s by far the fastest, lightest and most scalable web development language out there. Tied together with some AJAX, with proper planning and with an intelligent framework, it can be everything you’ll ever need.

Although PHP is a really neat and sweet language, if it isn’t structured well it can get clunky, buggy and slow. That’s why we decided to work with a few frameworks that provide us a base to start from. Here’s what we use:

2. Prado Framework - the best solution for small websites with short devlopment timelines. A 20 page website with full backend system, considering that the layouts and html’s are already done: 6 hours.

3. Dojo Toolkit - awesome if you want to build interactive web applications. They’re poor with the documentation, though.

4. Symfony Project - last but not least. It’s our favourite PHP framework. It has AJAX support, automatic backend generator, it’s stable, scalable, and the documentation is absolutely wonderful. Plus, it runs with the speed of light (well, not really… but it sure ain’t far)

5. Ruby on Rails - fast, easy, well documented, in the buzz. Can do some neat stuff, but so far PHP has proved way more stable.

That’s about it. I hope you’ll find this list helpful.

What I found out? Well, not much, ’cause of the non-disclosure agreement he signed, but enough to be able to draw some conclusions:

1. Hierarchy. I’m not saying that having a hierarchy in your company is a bad thing, but you just have to keep it simple (executive, management, operative - with key people on top of each department). How does Gates do it? Well… according to what my friend says, it takes two to three weeks to have a feature suggestion reach a decision-maker in the company. Whoa!

2. They lie. Nope, I’m not speaking about the fact that they’ve been launching the new Windows for the last couple of years ( ), but they lie to their employees also. And to themselves.

3. They don’t treasure their employees. Guess what. My friend, he’s an Apple fan. And he works on a Mac at home. Do I even need to say why?

4. They’re trying to build too much. And that keeps them out of focus. Heck, why is Google, Apple or 37signals so successful? ‘Cause it only has what users want.

5. They don’t listen. If they would, Windows would be the number one OS out there. Why? Because of the millions of users out there.

So, whatever you do… don’t try to build applications the Microsoft way. It’ll never work.

And for all the Microsoft fans out there… don’t mind me. Who am I to judge the most profitable software company on the planet, right?

10 years later… Apple came up with the first personal computer that actually had a GUI (graphical user interface, that is…)

30 years have passed and Apple is the most loved brand in the consumer electronics world. Steve Jobs has been successful in making Apple a Lovemark. But how? Well… if you study Apple’s history, it’s not that hard to understand. Here it goes:

Innovation
Since 1976 Apple has been one of the most innovative companies on the planet. From the Apple Lisa, Maintosh Portable, iMac … continuing with the iPod, Powerbook and Macbook, Apple has innovated in every market it had entered.
But how? Well, simple: by having a vision and keeping focus.

Simplicity
Have you ever seen an Apple box with more than the logo and a line of text on it? Or a piece of hardware with more than 10 buttons (excluding the computers, ok), or a piece of software that does more than what it needs to do? Nope. Steve Jobs understood one thing when he entered business 30 years ago: people need simple, fast and reliable products.

Design
Apple is well known for it’s state of the art innovative product design. And the best example of their vision regarding the design of their products is the iPod. Have you ever seen a more intuitive, cool, useful and good to look at product? You haven’t? Yeah, thought so.

I must mention that is only my opinion. But as a big Apple fan I must say that I gave a lot of thought on what made this brand so successful. And it all sums up to innovation, simplicity and design. Really.

You might say that I’m naive and that these three characteristics aren’t enough, but hey: if Apple did it this way, so can you. Of course, there’s a lot more to think about when you’re creating a product, but paying attention at it’s ease of use, innovation and design is a good start.

So how does looking at things (or problems) in different ways help you create a better product? Well, for starters it can show you that it isn’t needed (happened to me a gazzilion times). It can make you discover new and useful features you could add or better yet, it could give you a starting point.

Let’s take Wordpress for example. Can you see the blogosphere in its current shape without Wordpress? I couldn’t. Where would I be without the nifty templating system (and templates, of course), the extensions that make my life better or the dead simple publishing system?

So: when building a new product, make sure you look at it in different ways. Here’s a few questions that have helped me in the past:
- Why will people use it?
- How will they use it?
- Does it make their life easier, does it bring more knowledge or innovate in any area?
- Is it simple enough to use?
- What if I don’t build it…
- What happens if it doesn’t work
- Do I have an EXIT plan? (we’ll cover this soon)
- How am I better than the competition

And let your imagination fly away. Try scenarios. Think. Write. Sketch. Believe. Innovate. Create. Promote.

One more thing. The first reader to discover why “thinking in different ways” is so necessary gets a diet coke from me. Really.

So what made Flickr so successful? Let’s see… first of all, it’s simple! Simple to register, to create albums, to share, to find pictures, and so on.

Second of all, it’s fast. In my opinion, there are similar photo sharing services out there with better features or more space, but I still prefer Flickr. Why? because it’s fast. Because I don’t have to wait for images to load, because everything runs smoothly.

And last but not least… Flickr is light. It doesn’t have a ton of unuseful features. It only has what I need. Find, upload, share. And that’s that!

To sum it up: a successful product doesn’t have to be complex, heavy or feature-full. Actually, it’s better the other way around: simple, fast and light.

Let’s take the best two examples that show us that if we want to have a successful product, we need to create a community around it:

1. Youtube:
One of Youtube’s biggest strength is it’s “networking” component. Users can view, rate or comment other users’ videos. They can share it on their blogs or send the link to their friends. How would you feel if you couldn’t embed that sweet Paris Hilton video on your blog?
Of course, networking is not the only component that made Youtube so successful, but we’ll talk about that some other time.

2. Myspace:
Myspace is all about the networking. Share blogs, videos, images, even share your friends. Myspace is the 6th most visited website on the planet, and the only thing it does is help people “network” together and share their favorite stuff.

So… no matter how interesting, intelligent, creative or awesome your product is, don’t forget to create a loyal community around it. That helps you get honest feedback and make your product better.

Well, I have some good news for you. I doesn’t need to have a ton of features, it doesn’t have to be complex, it doesn’t even have to be unique. All it has to do is make the user fall in love with it. Let’s take three simple products that I’m sure you’ve heard of:

1. 37signals Basecamp. It’s a lite online project management and collaboration tool. They have around 500,000 users registered.
Why did Basecamp hit the market so bad? Well:
- It’s simple (it doesn’t have all those features you never use, as in Microsoft Projects)
- It’s intuitive (the buttons, the texts, the forms are exactly where you would expect them to be)
- It makes my life better (why? well, when you have to manage 20 projects at the same time, you kind of need a way to centralize and track each and one of them)

2. The iPod
I’m so in love with iPod that I have 4 of them on my desk. I just can’t get enough. It’s the best simple product ever invented. Why?
- once an iPoder, always an iPoder. It’s simplicity and ease of use makes you fall in love with it instantly.
- Feature-free. Do you think I’d want to have wi-fi, bluetooth and other complicated stuff on my iPod? NO. I love it just because it’s so simple.
- Smooth and clean. Users like things to look grool (great and cool), and Apple is the company that does this the best !

3. Last but not least … Google.
Why is Google the number one search engine in the world?
- Simple - I only have my search box, and I love it !
- Reliable - I know Google will never be down and I know that it will always give me good results
- Cool - Google is the coolest company in the world. Why? look at their products, employees, offices.

To sum it up, to have that intelligent application up and running as soon as possible, it has to be:
Simple, feature free, easy to use (intuitive), reliable and good lookin’. That’s it.

Good luck!