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Famously, Steve Jobs once called Dropbox “a feature, not a product.”
by toxik 7y ago
Famously, Steve Jobs once called Dropbox “a feature, not a product.”
- damnyou 7y agoMaybe "products" are actually bad when they lock you into an ecosystem like the company Steve Jobs headed does.
- eropple 7y agoYou get that Dropbox has been desperately trying to turn into an ecosystem for its entire existence, right?
- damnyou 7y agoYeah, VC is cancer.
- gnicholas 7y agoI typically hear the categories as feature, product, platform (aka ecosystem). Apple is a platform/ecosystem. Dropbox is a feature/product, but definitely not a platform. In SV, "just a feature" has a derogatory connotation, sort of like "lifestyle business". It causes people who run feature companies to try to get away from this characterization – even if it means stretching their business into something that it cannot easily become. This is especially true for features that have no moat, and which would therefore be Sherlocked [1] by companies like Apple. 1: https://www.howtogeek.com/297651/what-does-it-mean-when-a-company-sherlocks-an-app/ https://www.howtogeek.com/297651/what-does-it-mean-when-a-co...
- damnyou 7y agoYeah, you've accurately explained how Silicon Valley culture can ruin companies that would be completely sustainable otherwise. Thanks!
- gnicholas 7y agoFor the record, I think both of these derogatory connotations are crap, and I run a "feature" startup myself. Fortunately, we don't need venture investment since we're running breakeven. Even with issued patents and paid licensees, it's nigh impossible to find VCs interested in a feature company.
- chipotle_coyote 7y agoIt's true, Apple has deviously engineered it so their operating systems only run applications written for those operating systems. It's a good thing nobody else does that!
- damnyou 7y agoHow can I sync to iCloud on my Android phone and Linux desktop?
- NoPicklez 7y agoSteve also said "There’s no better mobile computing tool than your finger"... Now they're rolling out mouse support on the iPad.
- toxik 7y agoI’m sure Jobs also commented on the merits of juicing, what does that have to do with Dropbox?
- radarthreat 7y agoDamn!
- plorkyeran 7y agoMouse support on iPadOS is explicitly an accessibility feature. It's pretty awkward to use and not what you'd choose if you have a choice.
- kirb 7y agoI’d even call it intentionally designed to be bad, because they don’t want you to use it. Which is the opposite of what the parent comment is implying. They have the ability to port over the full Magic Mouse/Trackpad drivers from macOS with intuitive scrolling and gestures, but they chose to leave them broken and awful to use.