Rollbase: Create Business Apps without Programming
Check out my friend Matt’s screencast of his recently launched startup, Rollbase. This is a service that lets anyone create business applications without having to write one line of code. Developers and users can publish their application to the Rollbase directory so that other users can immediately install it and customize it for their own needs. Modifying the app looks very easy, just drag and drop components around a page, pick the fields you need, and click save. You can also integrate the application into your own publicly facing web site, either via RSS or directly into the design of your site. It looks extremely flexible and has support for some advanced features like workflows, which are actions that get executed when the user makes a change to a field or record.
One interesting thing I look forward seeing is if and how they will allow developers and app publishers to make money from the apps they publish to the directory. There might even be a bit of a side business in providing support for Rollbase apps.
Check out the screencast for yourself:
They are looking for an IT engineer. So, if you’re a smart IT Engineer looking for a cool startup to work for then head over to their employment page.
October 31st, 2007 at 1:59 am
This really does look a lot like force.com.
It is a little hard to call all these pseudo content management sites a “platform” with a straight face.
They are good services and salesforce.com has proven it is a viable solution for crm. I just find it hard to believe that companies are going to put their data in the hands of offsite servers in the near future. I do believe that some of them should, because their in house services are terrible. I am just not convinced they are ready to make this move yet.
FWIW,
Tony