4 ms·

Compared to my mindset a decade ago I've become so cynical about the whole SV tech scene. There's value there, of course: Dropbox was a fantastic service when i

Compared to my mindset a decade ago I've become so cynical about the whole SV tech scene. There's value there, of course: Dropbox was a fantastic service when it first came out. But these companies are incentivized to keep expanding until they occupy the entire universe. Now Dropbox wants to be my word processor. Next it wants to use AI to touch up my photos or whatever the hell because AI is the New Hot Thing tech companies must do to please Wall Street. I'm tired of closing modal boxes promoting a service I never asked for.

PragmaticPulp 4y ago
You’re not the target customer. A lot of people do use those tools, although most of them are outside of the tech world. You’d probably be better off using a different service if it bothers you so much.
- bamboozled 4y ago
  We’ll I just realised I can use iCloud or Google drive for like 1/10th the cost of Dropbox ?
- afavour 4y ago
  I stopped using Dropbox a long time ago (though switching cloud storage services is not trivial!). My point is a more general one, that today's tech companies can't just be, they must expand and expand. To butcher a quote from Grandpa Simpson: “I used to be ‘the target customer’, but then they changed what ‘the target customer’ was. Now I’m not ‘the target customer’ anymore and ‘the target customer’ seems weird and scary. It’ll happen to you!
  - oytis 4y ago
    > today's tech companies can't just be, they must expand and expand. Isn't it in the nature of tech industry though? If a company "just is", it doesn't need to do any R&D work, so it's not a tech company any more.
  - rchaud 4y ago
    The key to attracting a Dropbox is to follow Rule 1 or Rule 2: Rule 1: Be an enterprise account that uses the "Call us for a quote" option, and does not complain about feature changes or removals Rule 2: Don't break Rule 1
- meling 4y ago
  Yes, I’m also not their target customer for all those add on features that I don’t want… I would be using a different service if there was one with similar or better syncing capabilities that works as well as Dropbox…
meling 4y ago
Totally agree… I wish I could buy Dropbox’s minimal feature set: syncing files. And that they’d improve that feature rather than adding features I don’t use or want.
- tapoxi 4y ago
  I'll happily recommend https://syncthing.net/ https://syncthing.net/, it's open source, end to end encrypted, and peer to peer (your machines send files directly to each other).
  - bayindirh 4y ago
    I can’t recommend it enough. Install your own directory servers, and you’ll have true invisible infrastructure.
  - haunter 4y ago
    Searched for the iOS client, first hit answer by the maintainer >I remain unconvinced of the usefulness of the Syncthing sync model on iOS https://forum.syncthing.net/t/syncthing-for-ios/16045/4 https://forum.syncthing.net/t/syncthing-for-ios/16045/4 So basically it's not an alternative at all to Dropbox
    - unionpivo 4y ago
      well to those of us, not using iPhone it is* And to be honest, most of the files I sync, I never access on a phone anyway. So it would still be useful even without Android support. Not sure how common my setup is, But I have desktop both at home and at work. And I use git and synching, to sync most of the stuff seamlessly. That said I mostly work from home nowadays, so I mostly use my work comp to speed up compilation, or run tests, dockers, databases, etc. * Not trying to be an asshole. There are plenty of iPhone only app, that I sometimes** wish I could use, so I know how you feel. ** But not too much, otherwise I would switch by now :))
  - gizmo 4y ago
    Syncthing is not end-to-end encrypted. It's peer to peer TLS encrypted. With end-to-end encryption you can transfer data with an untrusted server as intermediary, which syncthing doesn't support.
spacemadness 4y ago
As long as we stick with the economic incentives we have in quarterly stakeholder capitalism, it will forever be this way. You can’t fix it by appealing to people’s sense of bettering the world.
rchaud 4y ago
Customers want a dumb pipe. PublicCo can't go up the value chain as a dumb pipe and starts adding bells and whistles. It's a story as old as Web 1.0
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
fullshark 4y ago
You aren't cynical enough. This incentive structure is what keeps us employed and our salaries going up and you should encourage it (assuming you're a laborer). If companies weren't doing this they'd hire to build a product with a minimal feature set and then layoff at a much larger rate once it was done. In other words, encourage this mindset wherever possible, it's going to be what causes the next wave and spike in demand for SWEs.
- fHr 4y ago
  Honestly there are just to many SWE then. FAANG just paid moonsalarys and lot of bad SWE joined the space who ofcourse never get to FAANG or only for 1 axed project but still are in the space not needed at all with I worked FAANG on cv. We can't all be SWE. The skilled will survive it no doubt.
  - alfalfasprout 4y ago
    Agreed. The field has become flooded w/ bad talent. I in large part blame leetcode hiring. Folks that are used to "cram cultures" just cram for that test but have zero idea how to engineer and architect good software and systems.

PragmaticPulp 4y ago

You’re not the target customer. A lot of people do use those tools, although most of them are outside of the tech world. You’d probably be better off using a different service if it bothers you so much.

bamboozled 4y ago
We’ll I just realised I can use iCloud or Google drive for like 1/10th the cost of Dropbox ?
afavour 4y ago
I stopped using Dropbox a long time ago (though switching cloud storage services is not trivial!). My point is a more general one, that today's tech companies can't just be, they must expand and expand. To butcher a quote from Grandpa Simpson: “I used to be ‘the target customer’, but then they changed what ‘the target customer’ was. Now I’m not ‘the target customer’ anymore and ‘the target customer’ seems weird and scary. It’ll happen to you!
- oytis 4y ago
  > today's tech companies can't just be, they must expand and expand. Isn't it in the nature of tech industry though? If a company "just is", it doesn't need to do any R&D work, so it's not a tech company any more.
- rchaud 4y ago
  The key to attracting a Dropbox is to follow Rule 1 or Rule 2: Rule 1: Be an enterprise account that uses the "Call us for a quote" option, and does not complain about feature changes or removals Rule 2: Don't break Rule 1
meling 4y ago
Yes, I’m also not their target customer for all those add on features that I don’t want… I would be using a different service if there was one with similar or better syncing capabilities that works as well as Dropbox…

meling 4y ago

Totally agree… I wish I could buy Dropbox’s minimal feature set: syncing files. And that they’d improve that feature rather than adding features I don’t use or want.

tapoxi 4y ago
I'll happily recommend https://syncthing.net/ https://syncthing.net/, it's open source, end to end encrypted, and peer to peer (your machines send files directly to each other).
- bayindirh 4y ago
  I can’t recommend it enough. Install your own directory servers, and you’ll have true invisible infrastructure.
- haunter 4y ago
  Searched for the iOS client, first hit answer by the maintainer >I remain unconvinced of the usefulness of the Syncthing sync model on iOS https://forum.syncthing.net/t/syncthing-for-ios/16045/4 https://forum.syncthing.net/t/syncthing-for-ios/16045/4 So basically it's not an alternative at all to Dropbox
  - unionpivo 4y ago
    well to those of us, not using iPhone it is* And to be honest, most of the files I sync, I never access on a phone anyway. So it would still be useful even without Android support. Not sure how common my setup is, But I have desktop both at home and at work. And I use git and synching, to sync most of the stuff seamlessly. That said I mostly work from home nowadays, so I mostly use my work comp to speed up compilation, or run tests, dockers, databases, etc. * Not trying to be an asshole. There are plenty of iPhone only app, that I sometimes** wish I could use, so I know how you feel. ** But not too much, otherwise I would switch by now :))
- gizmo 4y ago
  Syncthing is not end-to-end encrypted. It's peer to peer TLS encrypted. With end-to-end encryption you can transfer data with an untrusted server as intermediary, which syncthing doesn't support.

spacemadness 4y ago

As long as we stick with the economic incentives we have in quarterly stakeholder capitalism, it will forever be this way. You can’t fix it by appealing to people’s sense of bettering the world.

rchaud 4y ago

Customers want a dumb pipe. PublicCo can't go up the value chain as a dumb pipe and starts adding bells and whistles. It's a story as old as Web 1.0

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

fullshark 4y ago

You aren't cynical enough. This incentive structure is what keeps us employed and our salaries going up and you should encourage it (assuming you're a laborer). If companies weren't doing this they'd hire to build a product with a minimal feature set and then layoff at a much larger rate once it was done. In other words, encourage this mindset wherever possible, it's going to be what causes the next wave and spike in demand for SWEs.

fHr 4y ago
Honestly there are just to many SWE then. FAANG just paid moonsalarys and lot of bad SWE joined the space who ofcourse never get to FAANG or only for 1 axed project but still are in the space not needed at all with I worked FAANG on cv. We can't all be SWE. The skilled will survive it no doubt.
- alfalfasprout 4y ago
  Agreed. The field has become flooded w/ bad talent. I in large part blame leetcode hiring. Folks that are used to "cram cultures" just cram for that test but have zero idea how to engineer and architect good software and systems.