Posted by admin on Apr 29, 2009 in
General,
News 
Mutineer
One of the first things that happen when we meet new people and show them our card, or introduce our business, is a raising of an eyebrow, a quick grin, then the question “MutinyWare??”
At which point, we launch into the why and how of the name MutinyWare. Here are the main reasons:
- We are in a mutiny against traditional business/corporate culture and business models
- We are in a mutiny against traditional software and their associated business models
What does this mean exactly? Are we against those giant, successful corporations? Yes and No.
Traditional business culture revolves around profit and shareholder stakes – essentially the bottom line becomes more important than anything else. We obviously are in business to make a profit, but seriously, there is a line to be drawn. Business should be as responsible and loyal to their customers and employees, as we expect them to be responsible and loyal to us. Somewhere along the line, this has been forgotten. We are building a company that will maintain these loyalties and responsibilities. They are critical to success in our opinion, and hell, it is just the right thing to do.
There are many aspects to traditional business culture and business models that we just don’t like:
- working in cubes
- being a slave to a time clock
- regimentation
- conformity
- lack of personal responsibility
- lack of personal innovation
- focus on sales vs. product/service
- desire to hire only the best and brightest, then not let them be the best or brightest
- ignoring the individual
- office politics
- being stuck in the old ways – closed minded
- the list goes on….
As far as the mutiny against traditional software is concerned, we want to create a model where:
- Niche and industry specific software is affordable to every business, regardless of size
- Software doesn’t require further investment, as in hardware or an IT team
- Software is accessible and user friendly
- Costs are transparent and predictable
So…how did we come to be Mutineers?
Having come from a very corporate background, we quickly and emphatically laid out our goals for how our company would work. We took into consideration all of the things that we didn’t like or agree with, what we wanted to accomplish, and keep these things always at the forefront of our mind.
We are not in business for the purpose of building it, then selling out. Nor are we interested or have a goal of going public. We want to keep control of MutinyWare so that it maintains the ethics and ideas that we started this company with and for.
As for the name? Well, after reading “Made to Stick” by Chip and Dan Heath, we knew we had to have a name that stood for what we stand for, and that was a bit on the controversial side. After many hours of brainstorming, and many potential names, MutinyWare just kinda popped up and stuck.
Tags: business, mutiny, startup
Posted by mbos on Apr 22, 2009 in
Design & Development,
News,
Products 
Coming Soon!!
Sometimes it can be a real challenge working for yourself, and starting up a new company. One of our biggest dilemmas comes in the form of having too many ideas. We are always thinking, and finding ideas for new products, add-ons, functionality, etc. It comes down to prioritization. We have to prioritize our ideas into what is most feasible, most desirable, and what we have the time to do. Sometimes, we can jump off track a little bit when a client comes to us for a specific product. In that case, we change course as there is an engaged customer.
We did however have an idea come to us recently that we simply couldn’t sit on. Since we have recently become very involved in the Twittersphere, we quite quickly were hit with a couple of thoughts on things that could be done to improve our Twittering experience. As it is a relatively small application, we decided to jump on it, and the timing is just right.
Keep an eye out soon for the launch of this new application 
Tags: app, development, twitter
Posted by mbos on Apr 17, 2009 in
CrowsNest,
News,
Products 
CrowsNest Survey & Assessment System
A quick update on the CrowsNest Survey & Assessment System.
Development is coming along nicely, and we are looking to launch for our first client towards the first week in May. The initial launch will be for them only, as the assessment features and functionality have been developed around their requirements. This initial version will include only the assessment portion of the system.
Soon after this private launch, we will be adding in the survey and poll portions, then doing a public launch. We are soooooo excited to get this up and running and available publicly!
We do have the website up for CrowsNest, at www.mw-crowsnest.com. The website indicates a mid-2009 launch, which is what we are targeting for. Please feel free to take a gander around the website, and let us know if you have any questions or comments.
Tags: CrowsNest, development, update
Posted by mbos on Apr 15, 2009 in
Design & Development,
General As I have been delving more into the world of Twitter, both for MutinyWare and personally, I have found a variety of very cool backgrounds, and was quickly faced with the necessity of creating my own custom backgrounds.
Trying to determine the best screen size, image size, and where to locate important information, quickly became important in creating my designs. Below I will detail what I have come up with, and also offer a Photoshop template to get you started to creating your own custom Twitter background.
Screen Resolution
Screen or Display Resolution is the size of screen that your visitors will be viewing your website/Twitter in. More accurately, is the actual pixel dimensions of their computer display.
From: http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_display.asp
The current trend is that most computers are using a screen size of 1024×768 pixels or more:
Date Higher 1024×768 800×600 640×480 Unknown
January 2009 57% 36% 4% 0% 3%
I typically design for the 1024×768 or 1280×1024 dimensions. Keep in mind that many people may have a widescreen display…such as I do. In this case, you need to make sure that your image isn’t square, but adjust the dimensions. Ex. 1280×800.
Twitter Specs
Note: The sizes below are approximate, but very very close to being accurate.
- The width of the Twitter space, including the side bar is 763 pixels.
- The space above the Twitter feed, where the Twitter logo and menu reside, is 71 pixels.
Photoshop design template preview
The Design
Below are some bullet points to keep in mind when creating the design.
- If you want to only use the left side for your primary image:
- keep in mind the resolutions
- you can make a smaller image, fading out the background to a solid background color to match your Twitter settings
- Remember that your design may be partially covered up if visitors have a lower resolution or resize their browser window
- The design is always anchored to the top left corner of the browser window
Here is a great site to get some inspiration, and see how others have done their backgrounds: http://twitterbackgroundsgallery.com/
When browsing the above samples, make sure to actually visit the Twitter site for those designs, and resize your browser window to see how the look is affected.
Here is a Photoshop template to help you get started! Happy designing!
Tags: design, template, twitter
Posted by mbos on Apr 13, 2009 in
General Here is a question to all of those people out there whose business is online, and who are involved online personally as well. How does one separate the two? How important is it? Ok, so there are two questions 
Business vs. Personal
My business life has been online for many years, and needless to say, so has some of my personal life. Although I do not tend to get involved as much as many, the presence is still there. As far as personal goes, I want to be able to be myself at some point….and as I am sure is common with everyone, being yourself, in your own skin, isn’t the persona that you use in your business. There are always two sides to people, and most often, the two should not mix. Or should they?
Does it impact a business or potential clients of that business to learn more about the personal side of the owners or employees? Obviously we’re not talking sociopath tendencies here, but rather personal opinions, politics, things we like to do, etc. How does it impact the client, or you?
For my own opinion, I love to see personal touches with the businesses I deal with. If the people are a little on the kooky side, all the better. But then, I am a little on the kooky side myself….takes one to know one
I would love to hear more opinions on this, from both sides of the fence. Has the internet made business more friendly? Has a line been crossed? Or is it okay, as long as the two are separated?
I look forward to any comments on this!
Tags: business, online, personal, personality
Posted by mbos on Apr 8, 2009 in
General Last night we attended our first networking event, or rather, a Tweet-up. It was a last minute get together at the Royal Oak Brewery, and seemed to be a good way for us to gain experience in social networking….in person. I am very glad that we went!
Royal Oak Brewery
Not only did we meet a lot of very interesting people, I discovered for myself that doing this isn’t quite as difficult as I had imagined. As I am a pretty anti-social individual with a tendancy to become a hermit, this was a pretty big step outside of my box. I know this is something I have to learn to do, and I am sincerely happy that I did this. Not only was it not as terrifying as I had imagined, it was actually enjoyable.
A great thanks to all of those who took the the time to speak with us, to share thoughts, ideas and advice, and for listening to us as well. Sincere appreciation goes out to all who complimented us on our business card and company name/theme. Validation is always welcome!
A couple of special thanks from myself personally: (hook up with them on Twitter)
@chrisbrogan (chrisbrogan.com) – a sincerely intelligent and down to earth individual, very kind and approachable, thanks for your kind words, encouragement and advice. A piratey “Arrggghhh” to you!
@gmblogs – I spoke quite a bit with 2 individuals from GM about General Motors and about social media in general. Christopher was great to speak with, and portrayed a real interest in how the general public feels about the auto industry and GM. Wendy was so personable and had some great advice to the novice social networker.
@coreyperlman – presented me with a copy of his book, “eBoot Camp”, which I look forward to reading and will post my thoughts here after I have done so.
@bethanylouise (rewarevintage.com) – for our cold but enlightening conversation outside, and for providing me with a venue for indulging in my OP obsession
To everyone else who attended, thanks so much for the conversation, advice, and welcome!
Tags: networking, social, twitter
Posted by mbos on Apr 7, 2009 in
General 
Back into hibernation mode
Spring break is supposed to be a time of getting outside, enjoying the weather and taking a relaxing, nature inspired break from tedious study and work.
Well, here in Michigan on this lovely spring break, it has been snowing for the last 2 days. After a wonderful thaw and the promise of warm temperatures trees had started to bud, the grass was green and winds were mild and tempting us to step foot outside and break our winter hibernation. Until it snowed….again….3 inches on the ground….for the last 2 days….and more on the way.
After camera-flash induced wakefulness - cat left in disgust after this shot
This just isn’t right, nor fair. So how are people dealing with this? Well, we are complaining…a lot!
And as for my 15 year old daughter and my cat, they have decided to sleep in, cuddle up and go back into hibernation mode. Here is how I found them coping at 12:30pm today.
Lesson learned…go with the flow and take comfort where you can
Tags: personal, photos
Posted by admin on Apr 7, 2009 in
General,
Recommendations We have started using Ring Central as our phone provider. Rather than have a dedicated, physical phone, we decided to get virtual phone numbers, which we can then manage and have forwarded to which ever number we choose, whether land line or cell.
Ring Central
After looking at numerous services that provide this functionality, we ended up settling on Ring Central. One of the main reasons is the ability to have extensions for your number. And, you can have multiple virtual numbers that can all be managed in the same way.
One cool offer that Ring Central had, was the ability to get a vanity toll-free number. Yes…vanity…we are vain However, the ability to get 877-U-MUTINY was just too much to resist.
Tags: Services We Use, software
Posted by admin on Apr 4, 2009 in
General,
Recommendations 
Code Spaces
We have just started using codespaces.com, and so far, I am highly impressed. Beyond the Subversion hosting, they offer the ability to create multiple projects, and each project has its own complete area. Features include forums, wiki, document storage and task management, in addition to the subversion functionality and hosting.
The only thing I would like to see added here, is a time tracking system, even though I know it isn’t technically a part of the system…but they have offered so many other features, that that would be the icing on the cake!
Tags: Services We Use, software
