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Hacker News about Dropbox (2007): "For a Linux user, you can already build such a system yourself quite trivially by getting an FTP account, mounting it locall

Hacker News about Dropbox (2007): "For a Linux user, you can already build such a system yourself quite trivially by getting an FTP account, mounting it locally with curlftpfs, and then using SVN or CVS on the mounted filesystem" Hacker News about Uber (2019): "It's really not much of a shift from a phone call either"

dewitt 8y ago
Hasn't Dropbox lost market value every quarter since they went public while growth has been flat and operating at a loss? I'm not saying the HN crowd didn't miss a $10B opportunity, but they also weren't exactly wrong.
- mruts 8y ago
  10 years is the definition of wrong.
- tyingq 8y ago
  Uber's S1 is available. They are, for sure, losing shit tons of money. And they have no reliable view into what happens to demand if you broadly raise prices. Maybe that works, maybe not. Nobody knows.
- kelnos 8y ago
  Dropbox's weakening position isn't necessarily an indictment of the idea, just that they're in a tough market when you consider both Google and Apple offer (comparatively cheap) cloud storage that is well-integrated into their smartphone platforms. Also consider that the success of Google's and Apple's offerings has proved out the value of the idea many times over. Also, Dropbox was an early mover. That worked well for them in their early days, but the consumer space is saturated by better options. Dropbox (and Box) are often better suited to enterprise use, where some of the more advanced features (that regular consumers mostly don't care about) are important.
- c0vfefe 8y ago
  Judging by your parent's comment, HN would've been wrong to assume that the reason for Dropbox's decline is a mass movement of users towards rolling their own linux hosting stack.
IanCal 8y ago
You have conveniently missed that there was already an app for ordering taxis before Uber for me. Also, yes, it's not much of a shift. I'm not arguing people rebuild it or have something together but the shift from: Call cab firm and say where you are to App calls cab firm and says where you are is not massively innovative. (edit - particularly when it has been done before) I know it's fun and cool to be snarky, but you have clearly missed what I've said and equated it to something wildly different. Please put a little more effort in to your comments to make them more useful. The Dropbox comment is amusing because that's a complex thing users would have to do and doesn't support what Dropbox supports. Switching from one app to another is really quite different.
- kelnos 8y ago
  To me, the innovation isn't using an app instead of a phone call, it's the accountability and reliability. Before Uber, I'd have to call a taxi company at least a half hour before I want to leave. If they even answer the call, the response is always "20 minutes", regardless of how long you have to wait. At least a quarter of the time, the taxi will never show up. As a result, I'd barely ever take taxis anywhere. Instead I'd drive my own car, which meant finding/paying for parking and ensuring continued sobriety, else planning to leave the car and likely get a parking ticket the next day. I guess one benefit of the old way is that I'd plan ahead a bit better, so if driving myself wasn't practical I'd leave extra time to take transit or walk. If I order an Uber/Lyft, I'm nearly guaranteed a ride within a reasonable amount of time once my request is accepted. Yes, occasionally the driver will cancel and the app will find a new driver, which adds to the time. Sure, the time estimate itself is usually off by 10% or so. It's not perfect, but this experience is orders of magnitude better than it used to be. For the most part I only drive my car when I'm leaving the city or need to carry a bunch of things with me.
  - IanCal 8y ago
    So the innovation for you is something that has existed elsewhere before? Why is that innovative?
    - 8y ago
ip26 8y ago
Wow, there's a lot to process here. E.g., suddenly I remember how much HN doesn't go into the nitty-gritty anymore.

dewitt 8y ago

Hasn't Dropbox lost market value every quarter since they went public while growth has been flat and operating at a loss? I'm not saying the HN crowd didn't miss a $10B opportunity, but they also weren't exactly wrong.

mruts 8y ago
10 years is the definition of wrong.
tyingq 8y ago
Uber's S1 is available. They are, for sure, losing shit tons of money. And they have no reliable view into what happens to demand if you broadly raise prices. Maybe that works, maybe not. Nobody knows.
kelnos 8y ago
Dropbox's weakening position isn't necessarily an indictment of the idea, just that they're in a tough market when you consider both Google and Apple offer (comparatively cheap) cloud storage that is well-integrated into their smartphone platforms. Also consider that the success of Google's and Apple's offerings has proved out the value of the idea many times over. Also, Dropbox was an early mover. That worked well for them in their early days, but the consumer space is saturated by better options. Dropbox (and Box) are often better suited to enterprise use, where some of the more advanced features (that regular consumers mostly don't care about) are important.
c0vfefe 8y ago
Judging by your parent's comment, HN would've been wrong to assume that the reason for Dropbox's decline is a mass movement of users towards rolling their own linux hosting stack.

IanCal 8y ago

You have conveniently missed that there was already an app for ordering taxis before Uber for me. Also, yes, it's not much of a shift. I'm not arguing people rebuild it or have something together but the shift from: Call cab firm and say where you are to App calls cab firm and says where you are is not massively innovative. (edit - particularly when it has been done before) I know it's fun and cool to be snarky, but you have clearly missed what I've said and equated it to something wildly different. Please put a little more effort in to your comments to make them more useful. The Dropbox comment is amusing because that's a complex thing users would have to do and doesn't support what Dropbox supports. Switching from one app to another is really quite different.

kelnos 8y ago
To me, the innovation isn't using an app instead of a phone call, it's the accountability and reliability. Before Uber, I'd have to call a taxi company at least a half hour before I want to leave. If they even answer the call, the response is always "20 minutes", regardless of how long you have to wait. At least a quarter of the time, the taxi will never show up. As a result, I'd barely ever take taxis anywhere. Instead I'd drive my own car, which meant finding/paying for parking and ensuring continued sobriety, else planning to leave the car and likely get a parking ticket the next day. I guess one benefit of the old way is that I'd plan ahead a bit better, so if driving myself wasn't practical I'd leave extra time to take transit or walk. If I order an Uber/Lyft, I'm nearly guaranteed a ride within a reasonable amount of time once my request is accepted. Yes, occasionally the driver will cancel and the app will find a new driver, which adds to the time. Sure, the time estimate itself is usually off by 10% or so. It's not perfect, but this experience is orders of magnitude better than it used to be. For the most part I only drive my car when I'm leaving the city or need to carry a bunch of things with me.
- IanCal 8y ago
  So the innovation for you is something that has existed elsewhere before? Why is that innovative?
  - 8y ago

ip26 8y ago

Wow, there's a lot to process here. E.g., suddenly I remember how much HN doesn't go into the nitty-gritty anymore.