TheKbase Web Reaches Open Beta

Confusionists Inc. today announced TheKBase Web's Open Beta release. CEO Daniel Rosenstark said of the new release, "You're definitely going to see the product listed on the general Web 2.0 and Web exchanges. But the real buzz on TheKBase is mouth-to-mouth. Once you try it, you'll wonder what you did without it."

At the same time, Confusionists, Inc.'s notes that, "this is a Beta release. We want users to start using the product fully at this time. Their data are completely safe with all the usual safeguards. But this does NOT mean that the product is done. As always, we rely on user suggestions to get the product to where it needs to go."
 

TheKBase is a multiple-hierarchical information manager, which has been referred to as "a hierarchical notepad on steroids."  

Users may use TheKBase Web for free at www.kbaseweb.com.

Invitations for TheKBase Web Alpha

"Thanks to an excellent technology stack and a standards-based design, we were able to achieve TheKBase Web Alpha in record time," said Daniel Rosenstark, CEO and Technology Evangelist for Confusionists, Inc. "TheKBase Web is up and running, and we're happy with the initial feedback. But we need more testers: we're building this system for millions of users, so for issues of scalability the 150,000+ users we have are not enough."
Invitations to TheKBase Web Alpha are available by sending an email to alpha-invitation at thekbase.com with the subject, "Sign me up!" The Alpha period is expected to last until mid-September.

TheKBase Desktop 2.12 Released

TheKBase Desktop reaches new levels of maturity and "feature-richness" with with release 2.1.2.
2.1.0 brought several interesting and new ideas, including saved searches. After you perform a search -- even months later, when the contents of your kbase have changed radically -- you can repeat a search by right clicking on the search node and selecting "repeat search."
2.1.2 brings 128-bit AES file encryption (password protection) and several other small changes (all detailed in the downloadable package).  
At the same time, a new TheKBase Mobile version is available (2.1.0), which includes support for password-protection and maintains full compatibility with the Desktop version.
See www.thekbase.com for more details.

Dojo and JSON Out, Flex In

In a surprising turn that some analysts are calling "market-setting," Confusionists, Inc. announced that it will be minimizing its use of Javascript and its chosen toolkits, Dojo (and Jayrock for JSON). Aside from a cryptic press release which said simply, "Dojo and JSON out, Flex and Web Services in. Alpha soon." Confusionists made no further public comments. Tony Villa, a market analyst at Microtrends, explains the move, "I think there's a lot of frustration at Confusionists over the original choice of Javascript-based technologies. The treasure-hunt like experience of using Dojo has been a big time-wasting exercise for many companies. Javascript is obviously a legacy accident. Flex is totally the opposite: it's probably the best UI toolkit out there, on or off the Web."

Confusionists, Inc. Announces Technical Partners

Confusionists, Inc. in preparation for the development of TheKBase Web, has formed strategic partnerships with two open source frameworks: Jayrock (http://jayrock.berlios.de) for JSON-.NET integration and Dojo (http://dojotoolkit.org/) for Browser UI. Confusionists CIO/CTO Daniel Rosenstark commented, "With this announcement we're reaffirming our belief that Javascript, in which anything can be anything, is more a way of thinking than a client-side language. Also, we're reiterating our belief that technical documentation is for the technically unfit. Both Jayrock and Dojo are excellent frameworks with insufficient documentation, which helps keep our developers on their toes."

TheKBase Desktop Gets Password Protection

TheKBase Desktop 2.1.2 is almost out. Amongst the most interesting features is the possibility to add password encryption using known-cryptographic algorithms and adhering strictly to the XML-ENC standards (http://www.w3.org/Encryption/2001/).  TheKBase Mobile will also have the encryption functionality.

TheKBase Multi-user Prototype

TheKBase Multi-user prototyping continues. Now we are hosting a stable version using the following technology stack (from back to front): MySql and Sql 2000 databases, ASP.NET (hosting administration console and Web Services server), and .NET 2.0 client.

The .NET 2.0 client is very non-Web 2.0, and the second half of 2006 will be dedicated to replacing it with some kind of Flash or AJAX front-end.

For the time being, work will continue on the back end: users will be able to create their own Kbases and users on the back end, and use TheKBase client to access them.