I think you underestimate the value of marketing. As fun as consumer services are most people aren't going to pay for them (or will pay very little). The real

I think you underestimate the value of marketing. As fun as consumer services are most people aren't going to pay for them (or will pay very little). The real value in these types of services are Power Users and Business. As someone who considers himself a power user and who runs IT for a business I can tell you Dropbox has been very effective in its marketing. We use Box.net and my users are constantly pushing for Dropbox because they use it at home and find it preferable. If Dropbox had the features we probably would have switched by now. Same with Power Users in that word of mouth is likely to influence these people (though again I'd argue features in that the streaming ability of SugarSync is a real advantage for those users). So as crazy as it seems Dropbox is essentially using you for marketing. Think about it, companies pay millions for a couple minutes of Superbowl time. With that money Dropbox gives millions of users a free service and uses word of mouth to carry it along.