Recently we spoke to Paul Bailey, an independent software developer from Houston, United States. Paul is a developer of Neutron Drive, a cloud based Google Drive code editor. Also Paul is a winner of Google Apps Developer Challenge 2012. Here's the inspiring interview that sheds some light on his development, passion, and open-source love. Lets get inside!
 |
"Great job and I love to follow your stories on RSS!" - Paul Bailey
|
Hi Paul! First tell our readers something about yourself.
Paul: I’m a father of three, former aerospace engineer that learned how to code in my free time. Now I make a living as web developer writing web apps mainly in Python, Javascript, HTML, and CSS.
Tell us about Neutron IDE. Why did you choose the name “Neutron”?
Paul: Neutron was a cat I had at the time; he has since passed away. It started off as project I was doing so I could code on a Chromebook, so I figured I’d pick a name that I would like. Since then it has grown to be used by several others.
Does your platform pose any technical restrictions?
Paul: Right now Neutron IDE mainly works for web developers or developers doing command line applications. Since the server that runs your code is remote, it is not as useful for local development. However, the IDE is flexible enough that you could use it for PHP, Python, Perl, Java, C, etc. Just about anything popular out there.
What was the reason for choosing Phoenix over Pixlr?
Paul: I really liked Pixlr more but I’ve always had issues with it’s API being reliable. Since then Phoenix has shut down, so I’ll probably switch to Pixlr because it is one of the best online photo editors.
Recently you announced a new service for development organizations known as “Cat Ranch”. What was the reason behind its creation?
Paul: Right now Neutron IDE is free and open source and something you can install on your own server to make a cloud coding environment. However, some people don’t want to administer their own server. Also classrooms and businesses often need a consistent development environment. So Cat Ranch is a paid service that will give you a virtual server with Neutron IDE setup ready to go. You can start coding immediately in the cloud.
Recently you also announced “Neutron Drive” for developers. What it does exactly for its users?
Paul: Neutron Drive is a rewrite of Neutron IDE and instead of running on your own server, it is a hosted service that integrates with Google Drive. Right now its basic function is to allow you to edit code that is stored on your Google Drive.
Just few days ago Neutron Drive won Google Apps Developer Challenge 2012. Please share your experience about your overall journey towards success.
Paul: It was a great experience and I encourage all developers to enter a development contest or two. They are fun and if you’re lucky you may even win something. Even better you may meet someone or get exposure for something you're working on that may help propel your app to a sustainable business. Both were definitely the case for me. Lastly, if you horribly fail, that is good too because you’ll receive good feedback and might mean you need to focus on something else or rework your idea.
Neutron Drive is no longer available for free, right after winning Google Apps Developer Challenge 2012. Why didn't you make this change before this victory?
Paul: When I started the competition I didn’t know if Neutron Drive was going to become popular so I just put it out there and hoped for the best. After the first round of the competition I saw it was becoming popular and decided I wanted to charge something for the app. However, I still wanted to grow the user base fast before the final round and also I didn’t want the judges to have to pay for it. So it was something I was planning to do after the competition whether I won or not. It was actually kind of my back up plan for future success if I didn’t win. Even if I didn’t win the contest, the contest was a good marketing tool to get the app out there. Lastly, I also wanted to turn on the payments before the next big feature release because I’m trying to figure out what people will pay for.With all that said, I love free stuff too. So I tried to keep the price extremely low. Love it or hate, I love to hear what customers think about it.
Just recently you said that you are no longer going to share the Neutron Drive source code. What is the exact reason behind this step?
Paul: The main is reason I did this is because I legally had to. I’m working on a feature with a third party and I’m under a nondisclosure agreement. In the upcoming months I will be able to release this feature and any source code with it. But for now I can’t. I’m a big open source fan, so this disappoints me, but Neutron Drive is a hosted service so the source code was kind of just a nice to have to developers wanting to learn. Neutron IDE is more hackable and still open source.
Tell us about the features that differentiates Neutron Drive from your competitors?
Paul: There are a few code editors with Google Drive integration, but Neutron Drive is a lot faster in many instances for opening and saving files. Also Neutron Drive integrates with Google Drive’s revision control. So you can get really cool diffs of your previous changes. Look for more really cool stuff in the near future!
What we can expect from you and Neutron Drive in the future?
Paul: For the long term, I would like to merge Neutron IDE and Neutron Drive so you can both edit and run your code in the same cloud based environment. For the shorter term look for things like being able to preview file formats like Markdown and HTML. Also Google Drive has a commenting API now, I’ll probably integrate that for commenting on code. Lastly, there is the super secret feature I can’t talk about it right now.
And at last! What will you say about Chromigos.com?
Paul: I’ve been a fan of Chrome OS and Chromebooks since they launched and Chromigos.com has just about all the news on the subject. Great job and I love to follow your stories on RSS. Yes there are still some people out there who prefer RSS over Twitter and Facebook.
"All the best Paul! Keep up the good work!" - Chromigos.com Team :)
Interview taken by Tanmay Patange, Editor, Chromigos.com
Comments