We have used the ESP32 platform in a few projects recently. Personally I love the balance of functionality vs BOM cost.
The most recent use case has been with an internally developed boostrapped device that will focus on employee tracking and workflow management. We expect to launch this in Q1 of 2019 for our first real world implementations combined with a SaaS offering.
Another was for a B2C device that was developed for a private company to provide service and interactivity to their customers with a mobile App (controlling and monitoring the device) in a very niche space.
Happy to talk about specifics - feel free to reach out via email (in profile).
SEEKING WORK - REMOTE (Southern Ontario close to Greater Toronto Area)
We are a focused team that specialises in replacing legacy systems (end of life databases, misuses of Excel and Access, or manual paperwork) with robust information systems.
Experience in many industries from manufacturing, logistics, and systems at 100+ retail locations.
Technologies include Android, React/React Native, Java, Play Framework, Microsoft Stacks (C#, ASP.net). Prototyping custom designed data collection hardware (RFID, barcodes, etc).
More details available at http://www.opid.ca or email me ian at opid dot ca
We use freshbooks for all of our project billing (we're a small focused dev shop). You can set project budgets, track expenses against a specific project, have them invoiced to the client (if passing along costs) and time tracked. It doesn't sound ideal in your circumstance, but we treat it as our book of record for project finances and works quite well.
I used planscope.io for a year or so but never got past the hump of actually using it for ongoing client projects (That's not to discredit the app though, it's definitely a solid tool). One part of it that I did love was sending clients itemized proposals that they could pick and choose items and see the costs change.
Planscope is way more of a project management tool than Freshbooks (as it's primarily invoicing), so it would be worth giving planscope a try for a project.
I agree that some integrations are a gimmick, but having content relevant integrations has helped out our team immensely. We'll have channels specific to a project, so notifications that JIRA stories have been resolved, knowing if a build fails, exception logs from production, are all intertwined with us discussing the project throughout the day so they get exposure.
One thing that we've loved is being able to log information into other tools when it is top of mind. Discussing a recent bug that you noticed "/jirio create bug Username can contain spaces" and it's logged in JIRA to be dealt with accordingly.
The potential for custom integrations is incredible but obviously keeping the noise level down is key.
I've asked that question myself - particularly considering how expensive slack is. Some differences include:
1. Secure usernames integrated properly into the protocol, instead of relying on nickserv and configuring your client to send a dm when you connect which is far from a simple/intuitive system. This includes options for google/corporate single-sign-on and 2-factor auth.
2. Infinite searchable scrollback which keeps position properly across multiple devices. As an experienced IRC user I can achieve something similar using ssh+screen+irssi - but it's hard to use even for advanced users, and I can't imagine trying to use it from my phone.
3. Offline messaging that doesn't rely on the user knowing the right magic commands to activate the bot. Bob is offline - do I need to !tell bob whatever or !ask bob whatever? Can I DM it to the bot to avoid spamming the channel? What's the help command? Can I use that over DM? Is there even a bot in this channel?
4. Integrations are exceptionally easy to write. You can post to a channel with a single curl command. Obviously writing IRC bots is possible, but it's a lot more complicated.
For me personally, even these differences taken together don't seem worth the expense of slack. But I would understand if other people see it differently, especially if they're not that experienced with IRC.
1. SASL auth – some servers even support Oauth via SASL, or certificate login.
2. That’s what Quassel and IRCCloud provide as a one-click solution.
3. With everyone using Quassel or IRCCloud, this also becomes easy.
4. There are many services that provide webhook -> IRC services ;)
As someone who has been using Quassel, where everyone else uses Quassel, and who uses SASL auth, all the issues you mentioned stopped existing long ago.
Add the expense of Slack, and one seriously wonders if it’s just discoverability.
And packaging. Just picking on one of the ones you've suggested: Quassel is an app, so I can't easily try it out. I certainly can't invite everyone in my company to use it by clicking a single link in an e-mail. It doesn't have an iPhone app, I think those are quite popular. And so on.
Seriously, all these things are pretty easy, as evidenced by the fact they've been working since the 80's in the form of IRC.
The value appears to be in packaging them up as a modern web app (and having a lot of success in tech-industry PR which is where Slack has excelled beyond e.g. HipChat. But even that is partly down to the good packaging of the onboarding process).
Interestingly, that's exactly what I personally am working on: mobile clients for Quassel, easy deployment (single docket container for everything), quassel-as-a-service for people to just invite others, etc.
A web app also exists, but the discoveravility is an issue.
Packing the things up properly, marketing them well, etc is easier, as we also have the advantage of being open source, which helps in open source communities.
The most recent use case has been with an internally developed boostrapped device that will focus on employee tracking and workflow management. We expect to launch this in Q1 of 2019 for our first real world implementations combined with a SaaS offering.
Another was for a B2C device that was developed for a private company to provide service and interactivity to their customers with a mobile App (controlling and monitoring the device) in a very niche space.
Happy to talk about specifics - feel free to reach out via email (in profile).