Popfly: Microsoft Gets an A++
Oh. My. God.
I can’t believe Microsoft did this. No, seriously – I knew they were doing this for a while, since they’re taking advantage of the bLaugh API. This is unreal. I’m so beyond impressed with Popfly, it’s not even funny – and I haven’t yet begun to explore everything it’s going to be able to do, and where I’ll be able to take it.
Don’t you DARE draw comparisons to Yahoo! Pipes – because the two of them simply aren’t in the same universe. Whereas Pipes was developed for developers, Popfly was clearly designed for developers AND USERS! Someone at Microsoft is listening! They’re putting the USERS in control, and making development ungodly simple.
In seconds, I can create a mashup with the included services – and I’m sure more will start streaming in. My first mashup was crossing a random number from the calculator into the bLaugh widget. Then, I made a spinning widget of random bLaugh comics – all without having to read an instruction manual.
Genius. Pure genius. Popfly is going to take the blogosphere by storm. If you wanna add me as a buddy, I’ve got my own Popfly page already. I can’t believe this tool is real – and no, they’re not paying me to say or write this.
Is it perfect? No, it’s alpha. Is it telling the world that Microsoft is getting back into “the game?” Hell yeah. This isn’t a Microsoft project, I swear – it can’t be. It simply can’t be. If this is the kind of experience that Silverlight enables, color me sold.
I stop short of giving Microsoft three pluses because they used a domain name that is likely going to get blocked by a lot of people who run any kind of popup blocker (or are wary of any site with “fly” in its title).
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26 Comments
Technically Speaking
May 19th, 2007
at 2:02pm
Popfly is going to be fun. It appears to be aworthwhile use of Silverlight. These are the types of releases that made Microsoft who they are today. Well for that matter, this would make any developer’s tool worthwhile. Whether it be Google, Yahoo, or even Joe’s Garage Software.
OpsanBlog
November 8th, 2009
at 2:18pm
Popfly: Microsoft Gets an A++” All About Microsoft: “Microsoft Popfly: Yahoo Pipes for the rest of us” eWeek: “Microsoft Tool Lets the Masses Create Apps, Web Pages” CNET: “Mashups without the code”[IMG]
Wordpress.com Theme Reviews « //engtech - internet duct tape
November 8th, 2009
at 2:18pm
more money than if every actor got enough small parts.” (vc, startup, acting, hollywood) [BLOG] When Is It Time To Leave A Free Blog? (blogherald.com, 4 saves) How do you know when it is time to try to make it on your own? (blog, blogging) [MASHUP] Popfly: Microsoft Gets an A++ (chris.pirillo.com, 4 saves) Microsoft Popfly – Yahoo Pipes for real people. (microsoft, rss, popfly, api, mashup) [MEDIA] Are Traditional Media Companies Like The Detroit Auto Industry? (publishing2.com, 4 saves)
Chris Pirillo
May 18th, 2007
at 7:24pm
Personal BlogPopfly: Microsoft Gets an A++26, 32, 37, 40, 42, 50? HDTV hike! Valuable Real Estate Information A day that will live in Infamy! Schedule Bot in IRC Twitter vs Jaiku The error code is 2739 Wanna Take a Pzizz? CompUSA vs Best Buy
ASCII Art
November 8th, 2009
at 2:18pm
Sooooo, the big thing that happened last week was the announcement of Microsoft Popfly – this has been under wraps for a while now and it’s amazing how well it turned out to be. People call it a whole bunch of things – a mashup creator, a tool for developers, a social networking website and so on. To me, Popfly is just fun. Pure, unadultered fun. Popfly is still an early release and there’s a scarcity of invites, which probably means that a lot of folks wouldn’t
The Furrygoat Experience
November 8th, 2009
at 2:18pm
Everybody is talking
Tech for the Non-Techie
November 8th, 2009
at 2:18pm
Latest Headlines A Lot of Link LoveLED Sign FunEasy Software DevelopmentDownload YouTubeCredit Score TipsFinancial Advisor AdvicePopfly: Microsoft Gets an A++26, 32, 37, 40, 42, 50… HDTV hike!Valuable Real Estate InformationA day that will live in Infamy!Schedule Bot in IRCTwitter vs JaikuThe error code is 2739Wanna Take a Pzizz?CompUSA vs Best BuyPR Pitches and Marketing Glitches
frankarr - an aussie microsoft blogger
November 8th, 2009
at 2:18pm
, since it’s now ‘out there’. [IMG Microsoft Popfly] All About Microsoft: “Microsoft Popfly: Yahoo Pipes for the rest of us” eWeek: “Microsoft Tool Lets the Masses Create Apps, Web Pages” Chris Pirillo: “Popfly: Microsoft Gets an A++” CNET: “Mashups without the code” All in all, it was a nice little chat and I look forward to seeing the story come out.
OffBeatMammal
November 8th, 2009
at 2:18pm
a lot of laborious programming and testing and delving through API documentation. Yahoo! Pipes was supposed to make it all better, and if fact from a programmers perspective it’s certainly made things easier. Where Popfly really shines though (and I totally agree with Chris Pirillo on this) is that it makes mashups a totally graphical, drag’n'drop no-code experience that even I can get my head around…. 15 mins after signing in I had my first mashup running (Virtual Earth showing the 5 latest Twitter
//engtech - internet duct tape
November 8th, 2009
at 2:18pm
more money than if every actor got enough small parts.” (vc, startup, acting, hollywood) [BLOG] When Is It Time To Leave A Free Blog? (blogherald.com, 4 saves) How do you know when it is time to try to make it on your own? (blog, blogging) [MASHUP] Popfly: Microsoft Gets an A++ (chris.pirillo.com, 4 saves) Microsoft Popfly – Yahoo Pipes for real people. (microsoft, rss, popfly, api, mashup) [MEDIA] Are Traditional Media Companies Like The Detroit Auto Industry? (publishing2.com, 4 saves)
WordPress.com
November 8th, 2009
at 2:18pm
Popfly: Microsoft Gets an A++
Under the Radar - Blog
November 8th, 2009
at 2:18pm
hearing some great things
Techmeme
May 18th, 2007
at 7:54pm
+ Discussion: Guardian Unlimited,Chris Pirillo, Somasegar’s WebLog, AppScout, Jeff Sandquist and Ministry of Tech
Krish
May 18th, 2007
at 11:48am
You got me pretty excited man. By any chance, you have an invite?
engtech
May 18th, 2007
at 12:14pm
Is it still in beta or open for use? I wasn’t able to log in with my Passport account.
Aaron Brethorst
May 18th, 2007
at 1:14pm
Hey Chris – Thanks for the glowing praise! :) We’re all really happy you love Popfly so much….but when are you going to share out some mashups?
Cheers,
Aaron
Microsoft Popfly (user: aaron)
AlexiaBlogs » Blog Archive » Popfly: Mashup Killer App?
May 18th, 2007
at 2:28pm
[...] Here’s some Popfly snippets: Chris Pirillo gives it an A++, Live And Beyond has a video demo and USA Today speculates on it’s success. [...]
kizmut
May 18th, 2007
at 2:33pm
As an alpha tester you must knw when this will reach betatesting. Amirite??
Popfly: Microsoft Gets an A++ | The GenetiBlog
May 18th, 2007
at 7:14pm
[...] read more | digg story [...]
BUMROSS
May 18th, 2007
at 8:04pm
I watched Chris’ demo of this in the stream and it looks amazing! I am literally going crazy waiting for this “request invite” that i know i will NEVER get! I don’t even know what to say about this, I’ve seen a tiny bit of it and I’m speechless! It just looks so damn simple to do miraculous things!
Chris, send me an invite, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!!!!! I haven’t even tried it and I’m hooked!
Iggy
May 19th, 2007
at 12:35am
“We have received your request for an invitation to Popfly. We will e-mail your invitation when we send out our next batch of invites.”
That is so not cool. I hate when I read something that hypes something yet I can’t gain access to make up my own mind because I’m not one of the chosen ones.
Noah
May 19th, 2007
at 6:47am
MS is making a huge mistake with how they’re rolling this out. Why are they bothering to promote Popfly so much without allowing even a preview beyond a poor-quality video? I can understand not allowing people to try it out but at least let everyone see the results of those who are allowed in. I can’t even view your page on Popfly without an invite? How does that make sense?
If no one can see it or try it, why should they promote it? Take MS’s word for it? Yeah, that’s trustworthy…
Some of the Popfly News So Far : Forecast-Blog
May 19th, 2007
at 8:16am
[...] Chris Pirillo [...]
Adam Nathan
May 24th, 2007
at 2:04am
Hi! Your comments mean a lot to us, and I really enjoyed your video in more ways than one! We did a refresh of the site today, and your video prompted me to include a few small fixes. For example:
- Mashing BLaugh to Carousel should now work (Carousel had a problem with GIFs)
- Mashing Calculator to BLaugh should now work (I changed Calculator’s default operation to getRandomWholeNumber instead of getRandomNumber)
- I removed two references to Project Springfield in the sidebar gadget support. Good catch!
Thanks again,
Adam Nathan (Microsoft Popfly)
Justin
May 25th, 2007
at 1:20pm
Wow man your great haha I really enjoyed you randomly freaking out during that video.. I totally share your excitement for this man.. even though i have to wait for an invite :( oh well…. definitely is worth the wait! I want it know ahhh…. Cheers Mate
Justin
Chris Jenkins
May 30th, 2007
at 7:53pm
I managed to get an invite myself but have been amazed by how poorly Microsoft has attempted to copy what has already been created on the web. Their user interface is too bulky and will scare off the ‘average Joe’s’ who they are apparently targeting the product at. Too lightweight for developers also as there is already competition far outdoing this feeble attempt.
Trust me, count yourself lucky to have not been invited, I’m sorry I wasted my time with it.