Cleaning out my RSS feeds this morning I came across an article reviewing a web application called ShiftSpace. The application allows collaborative annotating and editing of any web page on the internet by using an overlay. So why am I writing about this? Well, Charles and I had been working on an in-house project that did the same exact thing. Every single feature we dreamed up was in there, it’s as if these guys read our notes! (they didn’t)

This isn’t the first time we’ve been working on a project only to find someone else has released an identical application midway through development, but it doesn’t make it any less frustrating. Developing for the web is a two-edge sword; you can develop an application and release it to the masses in a very short time, much faster than it takes to develop a physical product. The downside is, so can someone else.

To their credit, ShiftSpace did a decent job with it, I’m happy to see an idea executed well. They do have room for improvement however… Requiring the user to install Firefox, install an add-on and then install the script just to be able to use the application? Come on guys, bad form.

For us, we have a few other in-house projects that we are working on at the moment, and we have no shortage of new ideas. We even have an in-house project that we have been working on for almost a year now that is nearing completion, and should be released at the end of October. Score.