13 ms·

Show HN: The missing filesystem for the web

8 points by convergate 8y ago

hazz99 8y ago
I like the idea, but does it track me? Can you guarantee that it doesn't?
- anotheryou 8y ago
  https://worldbrain.io/ https://worldbrain.io/ does something similar and promises to keep things local with the default settings (and it's open source)
  - marver 8y ago
    World brain is a nice concept, and we actually started with building a History Search client side app, spent the first 1,5 years on it. The Startup actually published the story here if you’re interested: https://medium.com/swlh/moments-before-success-or-failure-d0f50ff148ea https://medium.com/swlh/moments-before-success-or-failure-d0... I like what worldbrain is doing, but their extension is a prototype. As you’ll see on their site they’re planning to offer a cloud service; why? Not to spy on people but because of performance and size. They currently have plain-text search, something like ctrl-f. Which is completely understandable because a our full-text search engine is over 3,5 GB, it also requires maintenance. This is without the rest of the app or inxeded data. This is also why we failed with the client side approach, the filesize was huuuuge. We aren’t opensource but we do make all data available to our users for export, and plan to take the way we organize information across a decentralized data source; the web, to new heights. I would suggest to try out the differences and then make a descision that is best for you. Kind regards, Martijn
  - convergate 8y ago
    We actually started with a local storage approach too during the first 1,5 year we worked on History Search. The reason why this approach failed is due to the size of the application—it to large have for mainstream devices. If you're interested I've written about our journey more here: https://medium.com/@martijnverbove/moments-before-success-or-failure-d0f50ff148ea https://medium.com/@martijnverbove/moments-before-success-or... I like what Worldbrain is doing but their extension is a prototype. As you will notice they support plain-text search (similar to ctrl-f), and History Search is full-text search and won't impact your device's CPU load or memory. On their website they mention their next version will be cloud-based too. This is not to spy on people but because of the performance demands of a full-text search engine and the applications—this types of services also require maintenance. Just to give an impression; our search engine alone is over 3,5 GB, this doesn't include the app or databases. What I would recommend to try them both out and see which one is best for you.
    - anotheryou 8y ago
      Thanks for the reply! Sadly non-local storage is a no-go for me. I'd rather have a desktop app. But I also understand you'd have a hard time selling desktop apps.
convergate 8y ago
Hi! I'm Martijn, maker of History Search. So its simple; It does track you; thats the point. However, you control what History Search does and where it's active. Any data you capture using History Search can easily be deleted and is available for export to csv, for you to do with as you please. Besides that History Search can also easily be paused, or webpages can be blacklisted. We also have a very clear policy about privacy and security: it is yours, we also comply with GDPR regulations. If you're interested you can read more about these on historysearch.com/security or historysearch.com/privacy My goal is to turn History Search into a filesystem for the web. Anyone can use it for free and index/search 3000 pages, most recent. Pages out of the limit are archived until you upgrade or remove some pages. We believe the future of internet is trust, and reward: if people like our services they simply pay us—no ads no selling of personal data—if no one pays we will no longer be able to improve; this is in my opinion a healthy internet. What History Search does is revolutionary. Since it will be increasingly difficult to do all the things we do online without a backbone that makes it possible to retrieve webpages you've been, using any words you remember on it. This help you find back articles or gmails, open documents or quickly navigate web services. Can you imagine having to remember all the hidden files on your computer or the places in memory your files reside? Well this is what it's like working online (more or less, a bit less extreme though haha) How it works is, History Search uses browser extensions to index the text on webpages when you visit them. This way any word you remember will be enough to retrieve it for you. So its both technically and literally an index (you know those pages in the back of those dusty encyclopaedias). History Search is a product I'm very passionate about, and have spent the past 3,5 years working on. The vision is even bigger: an entirely new way of working with decentralised information sources — in a way they are still connected. The future of History Search is Convergate: Convergence Gateway. The names speaks for its self. We value trust, and utility over anything. Companies that need to be free aren't any good. Have you ever wondered so every successful service which is "free", is also a waste of time (companies like Wikipedia aren't in this categorie since they receive donations). Long story short, History Search is a cloud storage so yes your data is stored on our (well Amazon's) servers. But our system is solid, and we do everything we can to make sure our user's privacy is respected. I launched it this week on Product Hunt if you want to see some more info: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/history-search  https://www.producthunt.com/posts/history-search
fliesblackflags 8y ago
I like the idea, I could really make use of it. But have a concern on how prices are presented. There's big (font) monthly prices, and the text saying it's annual is low contrast, and partially obscured by the try it now button. This is a huge red flag to me. What other fine print can't I see? I don't have color perception issues, but the background/text combo gives it the appearance of that light-grey text that's impossible to read. Also, why not just give the annual price if that's how it's charged? (Admittedly, I don't know how it's charged. When I clicked the try now button hoping for an upfront number, I was prompted to sign up. I closed the tab.) I know these aren't huge issues. But, you are selling a service to track people. For me to trust a service like this, they can't come out the gate looking like they're hiding their price.
- fliesblackflags 8y ago
  Re-reading this, I sound fairly negative. I do hope this service does well. I'll likely end up taking another look at it down the road.
  - convergate 8y ago
    Hi! This is Martijn, maker of History Search. I’m glad you like What we’re doing. I’m going to review these confusing things. The reason why it says try now is because we offer 3000 pages free, most recent visited webpages, and offer a 30 day money back garuantee. We’re not hiding anything, the pricing does say when billed annually. Also our privacy policy is super clear, also I answered this answer in more depth below. On the free plan you can keep using it even when you cross the free search limit. Because Older records are archived and will become available once you remove more recent records, or upgrade. Not a lot of services do this. Keep in mind this price isn’t very steep if you take into account it isn’t just cloud storage, most cloud solutions charge this or more and don’t include the entire app, cross-browser extensions and service. Also don’t worry, we’re far from profitable and don’t drive ferraris in the valley. We work day and night, and pay server expenses out of our own pocket. We aren’t Google and don’t show advertising to further ensure user privacy. Taking this into consideration, we believe users who see the value in History Search won’t expect us to starve and pay the hosting expenses all on our own. Our mission is solving how hard it is to retrieve digital information online, but to keep doing so we need our users’ support, also financially. We have choosen annual billing as preferred and advertised pricing because its a low cost subscription, and it would be a waste to spend around 2,9%+$0.29 per month. Thats a lot a waste of funds, since its not going to solving the problem or providing you a valuable service but to a transaction fee. Hope this straightens things out, looking forward to seeing you aboard this movement. Kind regards, Martijn

8 points by convergate 8y ago

hazz99 8y ago

I like the idea, but does it track me? Can you guarantee that it doesn't?

anotheryou 8y ago
https://worldbrain.io/ https://worldbrain.io/ does something similar and promises to keep things local with the default settings (and it's open source)
- marver 8y ago
  World brain is a nice concept, and we actually started with building a History Search client side app, spent the first 1,5 years on it. The Startup actually published the story here if you’re interested: https://medium.com/swlh/moments-before-success-or-failure-d0f50ff148ea https://medium.com/swlh/moments-before-success-or-failure-d0... I like what worldbrain is doing, but their extension is a prototype. As you’ll see on their site they’re planning to offer a cloud service; why? Not to spy on people but because of performance and size. They currently have plain-text search, something like ctrl-f. Which is completely understandable because a our full-text search engine is over 3,5 GB, it also requires maintenance. This is without the rest of the app or inxeded data. This is also why we failed with the client side approach, the filesize was huuuuge. We aren’t opensource but we do make all data available to our users for export, and plan to take the way we organize information across a decentralized data source; the web, to new heights. I would suggest to try out the differences and then make a descision that is best for you. Kind regards, Martijn
- convergate 8y ago
  We actually started with a local storage approach too during the first 1,5 year we worked on History Search. The reason why this approach failed is due to the size of the application—it to large have for mainstream devices. If you're interested I've written about our journey more here: https://medium.com/@martijnverbove/moments-before-success-or-failure-d0f50ff148ea https://medium.com/@martijnverbove/moments-before-success-or... I like what Worldbrain is doing but their extension is a prototype. As you will notice they support plain-text search (similar to ctrl-f), and History Search is full-text search and won't impact your device's CPU load or memory. On their website they mention their next version will be cloud-based too. This is not to spy on people but because of the performance demands of a full-text search engine and the applications—this types of services also require maintenance. Just to give an impression; our search engine alone is over 3,5 GB, this doesn't include the app or databases. What I would recommend to try them both out and see which one is best for you.
  - anotheryou 8y ago
    Thanks for the reply! Sadly non-local storage is a no-go for me. I'd rather have a desktop app. But I also understand you'd have a hard time selling desktop apps.

convergate 8y ago

Hi! I'm Martijn, maker of History Search. So its simple; It does track you; thats the point. However, you control what History Search does and where it's active. Any data you capture using History Search can easily be deleted and is available for export to csv, for you to do with as you please. Besides that History Search can also easily be paused, or webpages can be blacklisted. We also have a very clear policy about privacy and security: it is yours, we also comply with GDPR regulations. If you're interested you can read more about these on historysearch.com/security or historysearch.com/privacy My goal is to turn History Search into a filesystem for the web. Anyone can use it for free and index/search 3000 pages, most recent. Pages out of the limit are archived until you upgrade or remove some pages. We believe the future of internet is trust, and reward: if people like our services they simply pay us—no ads no selling of personal data—if no one pays we will no longer be able to improve; this is in my opinion a healthy internet. What History Search does is revolutionary. Since it will be increasingly difficult to do all the things we do online without a backbone that makes it possible to retrieve webpages you've been, using any words you remember on it. This help you find back articles or gmails, open documents or quickly navigate web services. Can you imagine having to remember all the hidden files on your computer or the places in memory your files reside? Well this is what it's like working online (more or less, a bit less extreme though haha) How it works is, History Search uses browser extensions to index the text on webpages when you visit them. This way any word you remember will be enough to retrieve it for you. So its both technically and literally an index (you know those pages in the back of those dusty encyclopaedias). History Search is a product I'm very passionate about, and have spent the past 3,5 years working on. The vision is even bigger: an entirely new way of working with decentralised information sources — in a way they are still connected. The future of History Search is Convergate: Convergence Gateway. The names speaks for its self. We value trust, and utility over anything. Companies that need to be free aren't any good. Have you ever wondered so every successful service which is "free", is also a waste of time (companies like Wikipedia aren't in this categorie since they receive donations). Long story short, History Search is a cloud storage so yes your data is stored on our (well Amazon's) servers. But our system is solid, and we do everything we can to make sure our user's privacy is respected. I launched it this week on Product Hunt if you want to see some more info: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/history-search  https://www.producthunt.com/posts/history-search

fliesblackflags 8y ago

I like the idea, I could really make use of it. But have a concern on how prices are presented. There's big (font) monthly prices, and the text saying it's annual is low contrast, and partially obscured by the try it now button. This is a huge red flag to me. What other fine print can't I see? I don't have color perception issues, but the background/text combo gives it the appearance of that light-grey text that's impossible to read. Also, why not just give the annual price if that's how it's charged? (Admittedly, I don't know how it's charged. When I clicked the try now button hoping for an upfront number, I was prompted to sign up. I closed the tab.) I know these aren't huge issues. But, you are selling a service to track people. For me to trust a service like this, they can't come out the gate looking like they're hiding their price.

fliesblackflags 8y ago
Re-reading this, I sound fairly negative. I do hope this service does well. I'll likely end up taking another look at it down the road.
- convergate 8y ago
  Hi! This is Martijn, maker of History Search. I’m glad you like What we’re doing. I’m going to review these confusing things. The reason why it says try now is because we offer 3000 pages free, most recent visited webpages, and offer a 30 day money back garuantee. We’re not hiding anything, the pricing does say when billed annually. Also our privacy policy is super clear, also I answered this answer in more depth below. On the free plan you can keep using it even when you cross the free search limit. Because Older records are archived and will become available once you remove more recent records, or upgrade. Not a lot of services do this. Keep in mind this price isn’t very steep if you take into account it isn’t just cloud storage, most cloud solutions charge this or more and don’t include the entire app, cross-browser extensions and service. Also don’t worry, we’re far from profitable and don’t drive ferraris in the valley. We work day and night, and pay server expenses out of our own pocket. We aren’t Google and don’t show advertising to further ensure user privacy. Taking this into consideration, we believe users who see the value in History Search won’t expect us to starve and pay the hosting expenses all on our own. Our mission is solving how hard it is to retrieve digital information online, but to keep doing so we need our users’ support, also financially. We have choosen annual billing as preferred and advertised pricing because its a low cost subscription, and it would be a waste to spend around 2,9%+$0.29 per month. Thats a lot a waste of funds, since its not going to solving the problem or providing you a valuable service but to a transaction fee. Hope this straightens things out, looking forward to seeing you aboard this movement. Kind regards, Martijn