It’s a great moment for all of us. We’ve survived for FIVE complete years despite the ups and downs and kept our promise to our clients. We’re really happy that we could come through for those who had a lot of faith in our young team, especially during the first two years when we came out of nowhere. Whether you believe it or not, at the start we had just one machine (a second hand P IV desktop computer), a phone line, one table, FIVE chairs and a dial-up connection to check our mail from. I know this is quite common for most startups, but being a startup from a developing nation it was a lot harder compared to a startup in US. Prabhath wrote a great post about the third world designer during this time.

We operated from a small room in Asantha’s house at Maharagama (a suburb situated 10KM away from the capital Colombo) and were battling really hard to get out of the chicken and egg scenario. To survive, we needed projects, and that meant new clients to work with. However, whenever we pitched to a potential client, always the first question was “Can I see some of the work you guys have done already?” We had a few samples ready to show how good we are at web design and graphics. But that was not enough in most cases as most people wanted to see real work. So, this cycle continued for a few months before we opened our account with the Institute of Human Rights, our very first client. A couple of weeks later, CD Labs hired us for their website revamp and things finally got going.

So what? Did you know that prior to incorporating the company as Vesess we operated under the name FIVE for a couple of months? Yes, that was our first name. The founding team had FIVE members (Prabhath, Thiva, Venu, Asa and myself) , and we thought that it was the best name to go with. However, we soon realised the importance of having a name with a .com domain, especially since we always wanted to target international clients. Not to mention, .lk domains were three to four times as expensive as .com domains at the time, and saving cash was obviously a top priority.

Our logo during the FIVE days.

So, FIVE years have passed, and many things have changed, including our strengths. Today we have a nice office in the heart of Colombo. We also have a presence in US, a great network of clients, and everyone is equipped with laptops, and broadband connections. We’re happy about the growth we have been blessed with, but always remember that it didn’t come easy.

Since 2004, we have had FIVE complete redesigns to our website, and each iteration has brought us new and exciting things. Will we be on version 10 by the time we celebrate our 10th birthday? Only time will tell. Whatever said and done, however, rest assured that we will be here, enjoying the living web as always.

You want the best working for you. People who aren’t just good at their job, but people who are also good at your
job. People you can trust to not just do something right but tell you
that the way you suggested doing it was wrong.
People you can rely on
to get things done if you just stay out of their way.
At least, that’s
the ideal. In practice, it’s hard to find people like that and even
when you do, they still need help.

Aaron Swartz shares some great
tips on how to manage startups. A Must read for all the challenge seekers.

Total Billed
Many of you requested this feature, mentioning how convenient it would be for you when making your balance sheets. We’ve added an extra column in the invoices section that shows the total amount billed.

Your Name on All Notifications
Did invoices sent through CurdBee confuse your clients and end up in their spam folder? From now on all invoice notifications will use your business name when sending email.

Format your Item Descriptions
Need your invoices to be more descriptive? Now you have the freedom to do basic formatting on item descriptions (using Textile syntax) such as adding line-breaks, emphasizing text and even adding links.

Custom Due Dates
Don’t you wish your clients would pay up on time so you can throw that massive New Year’s Eve party? With this newest update, you can now specify custom due-dates for your invoices. Click away, and party hard!

Better custom branding
Worried about your company colour not being in the colour pallete? With this update we introduce a new color picker which allows you to create custom tints and shades. Now it’s even easier to make sure those colours keep flying!

Please let us know if you experience any issues with these new additions. We love squashing bugs (but not bees, obviously) with large objects. As always, we’re also looking for more suggestions on how to make CurdBee better. Our support mail box and forum are always open, and we love hearing from you, so please write in! As for us, we’ll be here as usual, hacking away.

Stay tuned for more great releases from the CurdBee team!

After a few brainstorming sessions we selected the idea of building a social conference management application, which we would code name MyConf. We started the challenge at exactly 5.30 am local time on Saturday. Some quick mocks were drawn based on our ideas and we picked one to proceed with. So Amila and myself started coding the application, while Laknath managed the VPS setup at Linode. Of course, as is often the case with new projects, the task was not as easy as we anticipated. We had to face many new challenges as we dived deeper and deeper into the process. Also, bad weather, and problems with electricity and internet connections also interrupted work flow, especially since we’ve been operating from our homes since of late.Yet, we managed to hold our nerve till the end. Unfortunately, when the time came for pencils down, we weren’t quite ready with the full version and had to tag a half baked release of the app.

Screenshot of MyConf

Lessons Learned
It’s true that we couldn’t complete the app as we had planned, but that’s fine. We tested ourselves against a tough standard, and gained some great experience and exposure. To us, Rails Rumble was always much more than just winning the competition. Working under such a tight deadline, it required some quick decision making and getting things done right from the word go. Agile development practices, such as rapid prototyping, pair programming and continuous integration had to be used extensively. It was all about doing “git pull, commit and push” throughout.

Secondly, the scope of MyConf was bit a broad for this kind of a competition. We could have done better if we focused on producing a few selected features, as opposed to a full app. Though we started writing test cases at the beginning, we ignored it as the competition progressed. However, we realised that if we continued with test driven development, we would have saved the hours wasted in debugging unwanted issues. Something else we learned is that you should never experiment with new tricks or try to use new tools when working under such tight deadlines. No matter how productive and efficient they may eventually be, using them will most probably lead to lot of trouble. So always trust your old bag of tricks and tools.

On the bright side, we came to know the real strength and capability of our team. The whole team was able to keep their morale and stamina up, even under pressure, a characteristic which I think will help us as we engage in more challenging endeavours in the future.

What’s next?

We have the current version of MyConf running at http://www.myconfapp.com. If you feel like casting a vote for the work we have done so far, please do by visiting the RailsRumble site.

Like I said, we will continue to develop MyConf and have plans to offer it to you as a FOSS product. We would soon like to see you running your conferences on MyConf very soon!

Word started to spread and the overall response was pretty positive, with more feedback and requests coming in for support for more currencies such as the South African Rand and the Swedish Krona. Thanks for all the comments! As always, we’re on these feature requests, and are looking forward to implementing some of them soon.

While Lakshan analysed what people wanted the most, and decided which feature to hack up next, our friend Seanwrote to me saying he got the opportunity to meet a friend at LifeHacker and mention Vesess, and Curdbee.

Since we knew Lifehacker had a strong business related readership, consisting of many SME owners and online entrepreneurs, we were crossing our fingers for a post about Curdbee – we knew it would give us the right exposure, with the right people.

Then, it happened. There was Lakshan doing his nightly twitter round before bed, when suddenly the hits started rolling in. Two hundred new accounts in less than an hour. Bookmarks on del.icio.us leading to more viral traffic. More hits, more sign ups. You guys were all over us.

Boom. A little after midnight local time, our server died.

Of course, Lakshan was on it. Doubling the RAM, he rebooted, and we were up again in under an hour. Since then, everything has been pretty smooth, even with our sign ups going through the roof yesterday. Curdbee should be chugging happily along now, but if you have any complaints, comments or feedback, please feel free to drop us a line.

In conclusion, we’d just like to say – thanks Sean, thanks Lifehacker, and thank you everyone who signed up – you really made our day!

After launching CurdBee in June, the ability to bill in other currencies was one of the main feature requests we got. Pounds, Euros, Yen and Kroners were some of the currencies requested, and we roll out this update with support for all of them, and then some.

Apart from setting a default currency, you can also specify currencies on a client by client basis, making it possible to bill Europe, North America and Asia all at the same time (yes, support for the Sri Lankan Rupee and the Indian Rupee are included).

Listening, learning, evolving – that’s what Vesess has always been about, and we believe these values are reflected in this quick update to a service you have come to know and love. Keep those comments coming, and watch as we bring you more and more of the features you’d like to see.

Happy global billing!

During the early days at Vesess, we had just a hand full of clients and it was only I who really worried about sending invoices and collecting the money before our bank account dried up. Being a start-up, we couldn’t afford to spend much for a great accounting application such as QuickBooks, even though it was not that expensive in the big scheme of things. As far as I can remember, this was around the time 37Signals shifted gears and went from web design to web apps, with some cool yet simple ideas.

In any case, in the early days of Vesess, I had a spreadsheet along with a .doc file with our sweet logo on top, and it was this which I used to send invoices (and rather good looking ones, if I may say so myself) to our clients. The process was simple – copy and paste the client details from the spreadsheet, type in the amount, and use one of the free PDF converters to finish the job.

One of the actual invoices we sent in August 2004. Still looks nice and simple, doesn’t it?

Some of our clients thought we are using cool software and a couple of them actually inquired. Then again, a few discovered the truth when they noticed some stupid mistakes only a human can make, such as the total being different to the cumulative value of the items.

As we grew, the number of clients we handled started to increase, and more invoicing was required as some projects now involved monthly payments, others quarterly billing, and so on and so forth. This prompted us to consider developing a system to make life easy and save the unnecessary time we spent on manual billing.

So, one evening, I started to sketch a simple application which could allow us to send invoices directly via email. Thanks to Laknath who joined Vesess during that time as an intern, we solved the issue in couple of days with just a few lines of PHP.

The first iteration of our billing app. From adding a client to modifying an existing item, everything is handled on the same screen using AJAX.

Towards the latter part of 2007, we thought it’d be a good idea to work on a few products aimed at Small Businesses (SMEs) globally and perhaps let our developers start on some pet projects as well. With these ideas in mind we ran a survey to capture some of the problems faced by SMEs and find ways to overcome them using simple web apps. The number of respondents was quite satisfactory and to our surprise, we found that a good majority were interested in web apps which would help them in their accounting, billing and cash collection activities.

As our resident Ruby on Rails addict, Lakshan was well suited to re-engineer our simple in-house billing application using the new web application framework. Although we haven’t done anything particularly new or revolutionary with this application, we know that there are enough people out there, looking for a simple, hassle-free solution that will make their lives easier. CurdBee is for them.

The awesome invoices that The Bee creates. Start sending professional invoices today.

From the Boiler Room
So the application is released, you’ve signed up for an account, and are happily sending invoices to all and sundry. Knowing our readership, however, many of you are going to want to know more about how The Bee came to be. Yes, we do read your minds, dear readers. It is thus with great pleasure that we present a short interview with Lakshan, the CurdBee lead developer and hacker extraordinaire, who will tell you more about just how this baby came together. Go on, have a read – you know the inner geek in you will thank you for it.

Lakshan Perera was the lead behind CurdBee, and was responsible for putting the application together from scratch. A student at the University of Moratuwa, Lakshan has been with Vesess for a while now, and in essence embodies the spirit of Vesess – small teams, big ideas, and people with a passion for what they do, all merged together by rapid Vesessination. Here, Mahangu sits with him for a small chat about everything CurdBee.

Tell us a little bit about how you planned for this project, and why you chose RoR as your development platform
CurdBee was actually the brainchild of Lankitha. At first, it was designed to be a solid billing solution for Vesess, but later we realised this solution may have a general appeal as there are many small businesses and freelancers like us. We didn’t wasted time on writing specs and went ahead with rapid prototyping.

There was no better framework for rapid web development than RoR, so the choice was obvious. RoR’s has a rich plugin set which covered all the requirements of the CurdBee so that gave more confidence on the framework.

What challenges and obstacles did you face when designing an application for the web?
The main challenge was deciding on what features and capabilities the app should have. We wanted the app to be minimal yet effective. We always tried to look at it from the perspective of the end-user – how clear is the process to him, how could he perform the task at hand easily, and what information he’d want to see and which info he’d rather have in the background. This was not simple as it seems and it’s definitely a continuous process, and is not over just because the application goes public.

Different users has different needs and see things differently. Building an app which could cater to all levels of users is the main challenge, and that’s the goal I’m still striving for.

What is your coding setup like? What tools do you use, and what times of the day do you do most of your work?
I normally prefer lightweight tools over IDEs to get things done. Actually IDEs aren’t resoucre hungry and controls your coding process too much. I love the flexibility of just a text editor (gedit) and terminal. This style of development is greatly supported by RoR itself (actually they recommend it – following the pragmatic programmer’s concept). Apart from that I had Firefox opened throughout the development period for previewing the app, but that’s obvious.

For source code management we went with Git – it really proved how productive it could be. While I work with the backend, Amila was working on the front-end design. Both concentrated only on their local versions and and once we were happy with a revision we could push it to the repository. The rest was taken care of by Git, which simply merged the changes without any conflicts. Also, using Capistrano with the git repository made releasing these updates to the live site a breeze.

Regarding working hours, I tend to prefer short stints than late night hackerthons. Mostly, my work task oriented. I decide in the beginning at the day which tasks I’m going to complete today and try to finish them by the end. I concentrated on one task at a time, so it never exhausted me and allowed me to stay focused throughout.

When looking at the development process for CurdBee, where did the other Vesess team members come in?
Well, Vesess is a small team and each member leads a separate project. When one project is ready to come out of its cocoon, the whole team gathers around and ensures the safe delivery of it. Actually if not for Lankitha’s brainstorming, Amila’s sweet templates, and Mahangu’s enganging copy, CurdBee would not have been the app you see today.

Any parting advice for young coders looking to write their first web app?
A web app is not a Christmas tree, so don’t try and decorate it with all the little snippets and libraries you know. Try to keep things simple and always stay focused on what you’re building. Don’t try to overdo the app to show your coding supremacy.

Also, don’t reinvent the wheel. Reuse code wherever possible. If you can find a plugin to simplify a certain process, use it.

Look for design patterns and try to follow them, but don’t cargo cult – that means don’t just copy and paste other people’s code without understanding it. Code found on Dzone, Pastie or on developer blogs is not always correct. Always be aware what you are doing so you know where to look if something goes wrong. I actually made most of these mistakes, so I’m talking from experience.

A Happy Ending
Well, that’s the story of The Bee. Please visit our forums or drop us a line, and let us know what you think. A big thank you to every one who took part in the beta programme, and we hope you enjoy the app!

Sigiriya, the ancient royal fortress that our coders use as inspiration when designing our data security policies.

Boring? Not in the least. What’s different about talking shop with a geek in his or her spare time is that the issues and projects that surface will most often be personal ones. From quick hacks used for everyday productivity, to complex applications written for class, I learnt a lot about each of our interests on this trip. It didn’t have to be just tech either. From general business sense, to global warming, rising oil prices, and the recent food shortages, I listened a lot, and learnt a lot.

As a recent graduate, I’d call myself lucky to be at a place like Vesess. While most people my age are filling out twenty page forms, and sitting in on meetings that last for hours and never seem to go anywhere, I get to push my ideas, voice my opinions, and interact with some genuinely talented people. In $BIGFIRM, I would be a PR junkie, a drone who spewed out manufactured, corporate prose. Over here at Vesess, I get to set the textual style and tone for each project. I get to design the flow of information, and map out where it goes, and how it is consumed.

Then, I think of our hackers. In a large company, they would be junior programmers, churning out line after line of code according to a specification they don’t even get to see in its entirety. Here at Vesess, they conceputalise, design and put together entire applications.

Lies, you say? Nay.

In fact, one such application is currently in private beta. Something which Lakshan, our resident RoR guru, wrote from the ground up, CurdBee is a great example of a pet project going prime time. While all the initial planning and hacking took place in his head, the entire team eventually pitched in to make it ready for the world at large.

CurdBee, a result of rapid Vesessination.

This, in essence, is what we call Vesessination – a single idea brought to fruition by everyone, working together. At Vesess, that’s essentially what’s we’re about. Small teams, big ideas, and a lot of experimentation. Well, that’s all for now, folks. Tune in next week for some quality time with Lakshan’s new baby.

Therefore, to us, this announcement we’re making today is just another footfall in the right direction. For a while now, all Vesess production machines have been running GNU/Linux, and with the launch of Vesess v5, we are proud to say that it will be our platform of choice from now on.

We will not be upgrading to Vista.

We will use a Free operating system.

Why? Well, there are lots of reasons.

First and foremost, it’s the right thing to do. In an age where proprietary software and software patents are crippling creativity, we refuse to use a locked down OS to do what we do. At Vesess, we’re in the business of sharing information, not restricting it, and thus GNU/Linux was the obvious choice when it came to picking an OS.

Secondly, it’s good business sense. Yes, you heard that right. Morals and ethics aside, Free Software makes for good business. All the CMS software we use is Free, both as in speech, and as in beer. With a wide support community, and hundreds of plugins developed by people just like us, the WordPress, Drupal and MODx communities have all the support we could ever want. Why pay through your nose for overpriced (and often outsourced) tech support when you can get what you need straight from the horse’s mouth. Not to mention, there are often thousands of said horses.

Thirdly, it’s safer to run GNU/Linux. Everytime we take on a new client, we make a commitment to secure and protect more data. In today’s world, an organisation’s web presence is of utmost importance to them, and that’s why security is one of our biggest concerns here at Vesess. Our servers have always been powered by GNU/Linux, and always will be. No other OS out there can match the stability, flexibility and ease of use of a good server install of GNU/Linux, and no other OS has such a low turnaround time on security patches and fixes. We run GNU/Linux on our servers because we have no room for lapses in security, and after years of experimenting, have found that it’s the only way to ensure a secure web experience for all our clients.

So, in terms of ethics, business sense and security, Free Software makes a lot of sense, and we’re proud to announce today that we’ve officially made the move into the light.

Now on to the fun stuff. Here are our individual setups, and what we do with them.

Lakshan

Our resident RoR hacker, Lakshan currently runs Ubuntu 7.10, the most recent release of the Ubuntu Linux OS that has become so popular over the past few years. On a day to day basis, he uses Firefox and Gedit for research and development, along with Pidgin, Transmission and Amarok, for recreational purposes. In the console, he uses OpenSSH and git to keep the Vesess development servers running smoothly.

Amila

A veteran slicer and dicer, Amila uses Dreamweaver and Fireworks running under wine to handle all the design and coding he has to do. Having experimented with several other tools, he finds that he still works best with the Macromedia products. His favourite non-development tools include xchat and qBittorrent.

Laknath

Laknath, our PHP guru, frequently uses Gedit, Firefox 3, kTorrent, and Evince. Having got sick of Vista a while back, he now runs Ubuntu exclusively. While waiting for his favourite plugins to be released for Firefox 3, Laknath also looks forward to seeing Free, working drivers for nVidia video cards.

Mahangu

A Free Software zealot, Mahangu runs Debian Lenny, the current testing release of Debian GNU/Linux. Our resident writer, he makes use of vim and Ice Weasel on a daily basis. A console guy through and through, he uses fetchmail, Mutt and exim4 for email, and irssi via SSH for IRC. As far as moving pictures go however, it’s Deluge, and VLC all the way.

Well, there you have it – how the Vesess production team uses GNU/Linux for fun and profit. Got questions? Post them in this thread, and we’ll do our best to answer.

Suba Aluth Avuruddak Weva!

Apart from stepping in to a New Year however, something else happened last week, and something pretty awesome at that. Three of our very own were selected for Google Summer of Code 2007.

Over the next few months, Amila, Lakshan and Laknath are going to spend their time working for three FOSS projects.

Amila will be putting together a new core theme for the popular CMS Drupal, while Lakshan will be hacking some web mashup goodness for SilverStripe, a newer CMS. Finally, Laknath will be working with the people at Gnome to put together a new document editor for Project Mallard.

So, congratulations guys – we’re really excited for you. In fact, we haven’t been this excited since we first got broadband. Here’s to a summer of squashed bugs, completed milestones, and lots of good, solid, code.