Campfire goes live

37signals new Campfire web chat app has gone live, and I'm testing it out.

Update: Chat closed down for now. What's been learned? Well, in all Campfire is smooth, easy, and an improvement on most browser-based chat apps I've tinkered with. The design is simple and straightforward, and thankfully nearly all textual. A lot of time could have been wasted with avatars and other graphical embellishments, but they're thankfully absent. You can upload a variety of files, and just like an IM client they appear as links in the message pane alongside an image preview (if available). There are numerous little quirks and UI improvements that could be made, but in all it's worth setting up a free trial for and checking out.

I'm now tinkering with the idea of using this for technical support on the SlideShowPro site. Chat could be turned on / off on a schedule of sorts, or I could fire it up whenever time is available.