So, ever since I started working on my own database web app creator I've been eyeing DabbleDB as the ones I had to differentiate myself from, because their product was just so awesome. Sure Zoho has Creator, and it's pretty slick too, especially the marketplace they've got setup for it, and there are some other contenders out there as well. But DabbleDB was the big one, the guys doing it right, if I tried to take them on feature for feature, not to mention the excellent UI/UX they've built, well let's just say that I've been playing catch up.

So this comes as exciting and scary news for me, after all the "enemy" you know is better than the one you don't, but if it's a talent grab maybe DabbleDB will go the way of Etherpad. Either way, if you're looking for a replacement, check out AppRabbit, I'll have a (DabbleDB style) introduction video up by this weekend.

Good luck to the DabbleDB gang, I'm sure they'll be taken good care of at Twitter.

Given that (1) the acquisition was almost surely for the talent, and (2) you deeply care about the space, you might consider getting in touch to see if you could take over or maintain DabbleDB.

Wow, this seems to be the end of DabbleDB. It must have been a hard decision to put up such a message for a service they have poured heart and soul into for so long. I guess Trendly wound up the winner of their products though. I wonder if Avi Bryant will make a case for parts of Twitter running on Smalltalk. ;)

If interested, here is a post from Avi Bryant, one of the founders.

http://www.avibryant.com/

I found this out as I was going to their site to sign-up for an account - which now I can't do. Does anyone know of some alternatives they would recommend?

You should check out my up and coming startup, http://AppRabbit.com. It's still in beta, but it's coming along nicely and may provide the functionality that you're looking for. Shoot me a note if you have any questions or to chat about what you're needing to build; megamark16/gmail.

Reminds me a lot of Freebase Gridworks (http://vimeo.com/10081183), but I'm not too familiar with either product so that may be a misperception on my part.

Offhand, I can think of Zoho Creator: http://www.zoho.com/creator/

Yes, Zoho Creator is the best alternative. You can try out http://creator.zoho.com . New offers have been introduced for Dabble customers.

Infodome (fka MightyDB)

http://www.infodome.com/

Discussion and comments from a week back: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1420764

DabbleDB isn't an obviously fit with twitter. Was the acquisition primarily for the talent?

Dabble may not be the perfect fit, but Trendly was a much better one.

iirc, this was a talent acquisition meant to focus on analytics.

Indeed. From the Twitter blog, "They have joined our analytics team and will focus on integrating ideas from Trendly into our current tools and building innovative realtime products for our future commercial partners."