An Interview with Matthew Lesley, Development Team Manager
It didn't take me long to find the company office as it is located in the centre of the city, just a few meters away from the underground. I made my way up to the 4th floor and was greeted personally by Mr. Lesley, the mastermind behind all the programmers of this young, though constantly growing company. - Good evening, Mat! First things first, please tell me why did you start working on and developing social network scripts and dating community software? Is it really so interesting?
- Hi, Gary! Yes, in fact it's just amazing! Can you imagine the Internet without chatrooms, message boards, forums, blogs and social networks? The Internet is a way of shortening the distance between people, a way of rapid and secure communication. Social networking is the quintessential of the whole concept.
- You sure do have a point there. Mat, how come you're only 24.
- .25, to be more precise.
- Yea, sorry. How come you're only 25 and already the development team manager?
- Well, our company is based on a trustworthy relationship among all the ABK staff members. I am the ABK development team manager because I'm more experienced in social network engineering and dating script development, having worked closely with them more than other members of ABK, with all due respect. I believe, and others too, that I am able to manage the project effectively. I do take part in the developing of the dating script system as all the other members of the ABK development team. Plus, age has nothing to do with job position, we're all young at ABK-Soft and someone's just got to do the job of the development team manager. (laughing)
- Thanks. Anyway, let's move on to the dating script itself - Chameleon. How would you describe it?
- Chameleon is a universal communication and dating environment. It may be used to power and run dating sites, and more importantly social networks, the new generation of Internet entertainment. It's an off the shelf product - buy it, upload it, install it, and hopefully start earning.
- I have recently heard that your priority feature for Chameleon is interactivity.
- Yes, absolutely. Moreover, we think, and many independent market analysts have come to a conclusion that Chameleon might just be the first ever fully interactive script. Interactivity was, is and will be our main priority. Our goal is to make users feel closer than they really are when communicating, make users break language and culture barriers. And we achieve this thanks to our Live Video and Audio Chat, Audio Messages, Multi-user Interactive Flash Games, and much more. There's really much more that needs to be done. We plan tons of other features, making our script powered web resources uncommon and interesting.
We strive to make it not 'just a site' but an interactive environment. It's our goal and we work to achieve it and improve.
We're really against the division of dating sites and community networks by type of environment. A good dating site should be able to provide near to limitless possibilities. A good dating site is not just a dating site but a social site, a place to spend free time and just enjoy being there. A good social network or community may also be a tool to meet and date someone. Thus this makes communities and social networks function like dating sites. It's important to let the user feel free to do anything when using an Chameleon powered web resource. Only then will each user find something useful - be it dating or gaming.
Any central park would be a great example of a great site. One may meet people, take a walk with the loved one, play, have a chat or discuss politics as far as I can see. And no one will even think of calling a park a dating place!
- Wow! Your goal sounds outstanding, and your philosophy is incomparable. Could you enlighten me upon the future features of Chameleon? Or is it a big secret?
- (laughing) Well, we don't really go on telling everyone what will be in the next version of Chameleon, but we will concentrate mainly upon integrating Flash and AJAX technologies making our script more interactive. Personally, I find the Internet to be an awful or useless place sometimes, but nothing can be compared to the Net's power of communication.
- I know that you use German programmers. Why?
- Well first of all German programmers are the best ones in the world. It is commonly known. Also it is a bit cheaper to hire German ones than here in US.
- Thanks for the interview, Matthew!
- You're always welcome! Drop in for another chat anytime if you've got more questions.
By Gary Coller
