4 ms·

"...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

"...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."

DSingularity 5y ago
Classic. Response to the Show HN for drop box right?
- bryceym 5y ago
  Yup https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863
Ozzie_osman 5y ago
Great one. More broadly is always some version of "couldn't you just do X?" in response to any new product.
- benjaminsuch 5y ago
  Honestly I ask this question a lot, but without a passive-aggressive intention. I just don't understand everything and I hope the asked person can explain it to me well enough, that I understand why. It's usually really helpful for both.
- colmvp 5y ago
  I think that's fair as consumers will certainly pose the same question.
- Cthulhu_ 5y ago
  "Couldn't you just put a text file in Dropbox instead of use a todo app / password manager?" "Couldn't you just rent a server instead of Amazon's?"
bloniac 5y ago
There’s simply no better smack down of the old “I could build this in a weekend” than for the idea to become a multi billion dollar company.
- Cthulhu_ 5y ago
  Picture rsync... as a service! I mean I would've thought that by now the competition for Dropbox would be as aggressive as for todo apps, but I guess it's more complicated due to legal (= content checking) issues.
  - Decker87 5y ago
    MS and Google have their competitors + the demand is drying up.
  - segfaultbuserr 5y ago
    > Picture rsync... as a service! https://rsync.net https://rsync.net Not the cheapest storage, but it's a very good service. > Cloud Storage for Offsite Backup > We give you an empty UNIX filesystem to access with any SSH tool. Built on ZFS for data security and fault tolerance. You can back up any other cloud with your rsync.net account. > rsync / sftp / scp / borg / rclone / restic / git-annex
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
mickael-kerjean 5y ago
This comment is what led me down the rabbit hole of building a Dropbox like UI for FTP [1] and generalise the approach to work with SFTP, WebDAV, S3 and ultimately any system that can be modelled as a filesystem [2] with the magic of interfaces in OO [3] [1] https://github.com/mickael-kerjean/filestash https://github.com/mickael-kerjean/filestash [2] https://www.filestash.app/img/illustration/filestash-framework.png https://www.filestash.app/img/illustration/filestash-framewo... [3] https://github.com/mickael-kerjean/filestash/blob/cddbcfc6d1e71e6146ba36e9c91ff38e1afd6165/server/common/types.go#L10-L20 https://github.com/mickael-kerjean/filestash/blob/cddbcfc6d1...

"...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."

DSingularity 5y ago

Classic. Response to the Show HN for drop box right?

bryceym 5y ago
Yup https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863

Ozzie_osman 5y ago

Great one. More broadly is always some version of "couldn't you just do X?" in response to any new product.

benjaminsuch 5y ago
Honestly I ask this question a lot, but without a passive-aggressive intention. I just don't understand everything and I hope the asked person can explain it to me well enough, that I understand why. It's usually really helpful for both.
colmvp 5y ago
I think that's fair as consumers will certainly pose the same question.
Cthulhu_ 5y ago
"Couldn't you just put a text file in Dropbox instead of use a todo app / password manager?" "Couldn't you just rent a server instead of Amazon's?"

bloniac 5y ago

There’s simply no better smack down of the old “I could build this in a weekend” than for the idea to become a multi billion dollar company.

Cthulhu_ 5y ago
Picture rsync... as a service! I mean I would've thought that by now the competition for Dropbox would be as aggressive as for todo apps, but I guess it's more complicated due to legal (= content checking) issues.
- Decker87 5y ago
  MS and Google have their competitors + the demand is drying up.
- segfaultbuserr 5y ago
  > Picture rsync... as a service! https://rsync.net https://rsync.net Not the cheapest storage, but it's a very good service. > Cloud Storage for Offsite Backup > We give you an empty UNIX filesystem to access with any SSH tool. Built on ZFS for data security and fault tolerance. You can back up any other cloud with your rsync.net account. > rsync / sftp / scp / borg / rclone / restic / git-annex

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

mickael-kerjean 5y ago

This comment is what led me down the rabbit hole of building a Dropbox like UI for FTP [1] and generalise the approach to work with SFTP, WebDAV, S3 and ultimately any system that can be modelled as a filesystem [2] with the magic of interfaces in OO [3] [1] https://github.com/mickael-kerjean/filestash https://github.com/mickael-kerjean/filestash [2] https://www.filestash.app/img/illustration/filestash-framework.png https://www.filestash.app/img/illustration/filestash-framewo... [3] https://github.com/mickael-kerjean/filestash/blob/cddbcfc6d1e71e6146ba36e9c91ff38e1afd6165/server/common/types.go#L10-L20 https://github.com/mickael-kerjean/filestash/blob/cddbcfc6d1...