DemoCamp Dubai (Second Edition)
Yes, I have been there, and I really enjoy it.
What is all about? Presentations of web applications (a total of four on this edition) plus a session of question and answers at the end of each presentation.
This way I could learn about trends in web development, I could figure out which platforms are in use, and I have been carefully listening to the answers of “What is your business model?”. This is because I am myself involved in such a project called Dine In UAE (dineinuae.com), and I am looking for effective solutions to bring it back to life.
But to my surprise the most applauded project didn’t have any business model behind (http://www.wasfati.com). It was created with passion, evolving from a simple blog gathering Middle Eastern food recipes, to a food and nutrition portal, with plans to become a social website, whilst keeping its main purpose.
The other projects presented are:
- http://darrb.com - delivery by third party, users register and request for some items, and darrbers are delivering those items. Business model - a planned darrber fee.
- http://logta.com - presenting hot deals in UAE, a portal where you can find out where are best prices for selected items. Business model - classified - which provoked some protest whispers - reminding that we were in a “democamp”, not a “marketingcamp”.
- Swalifcast - an interesting concept, YouTube like, but focussing on educational screencasts (arabic only).
In the end, we had some food and could make friends. This is how I met the guys behind places.ae and spinbits.com. I like their way of thinking and hope we can become friends, especially because we are embracing now Ruby on Rails technology as our favourite development platform, and should be in contact via Ruby on Rails Dubai Groups: rails.ae and the Google Group.
May 28th, 2008 14:04
Hi Silviu,
It was nice meeting you at Democamp Dubai 2. Hope to see you again at the next event and maybe you will be presenting Dine In UAE!
Greetings!
May 28th, 2008 16:09
Hi Michael,
Thank you for your comment on my blog. It was a pleasure for me as well to meet you.
I had lots of things to learn from this meeting and I am happy that software development sector gets roots in UAE.
I will definitely submit my application for presenting Dine In UAE to Rida on the next Demo Camp. I met him first time about a year ago and I am impressed with the development of Spinbits.
Congratulation all for your efforts,
Silviu Bojica
May 28th, 2008 20:01
Silviu,
It was very nice to meet you on DCD2, i wish you all the best with http://www.dineinuae.com, it looks very nice. Please feel free to contact me anytime if you need anything on rails or so.
Take care,
Michael
May 28th, 2008 23:27
Good to see that we have more people embracing RoR in Dubai. I think we need to get more active in the Rails UAE group, and start meeting again. Cheers.
May 29th, 2008 06:52
Cloves,
I think too, that Rails UAE group meetings should start again. Although I didn’t participate on past events, I will do from now on, and I am sure will be of benefit for all of us. It should raise awareness about Ruby and Rails and on the other hand, knowing the issues we are facing we can find together solutions.
Silviu