4 ms·

Dropbox CEO Drew Houston Opens The Door To Samsung’s Competitors

48 points by iProject 14y ago

unwind 14y ago
Today's TechCrunch whine: they should know that it's spelled the "Apple II"; I failed to understand what the "Apple 2 phase" referred to until they explained it.
- Samuel_Michon 14y ago
  If we're nitpicking: only the Apple IIGS used Roman numerals in its name. The first gens were styled '][' (Apple ][, ][ Plus), later it was '//' (Apple //e, //c, //c Plus). The Apple IIGS was released in 1986, two years after the Macintosh was introduced, so that wasn't the model Drew Houston was referring to. (“We’re in the Apple 2 phase of Dropbox,” he said, referring to the time when Apple hadn’t yet made the Macintosh.") Also, he might have been referring to the OS, not the hardware. In which case it's ProDOS.
- lclarkmichalek 14y ago
  It must be pretty good reporting if that's the worst thing in the article.
  - unwind 14y ago
    Heh, yeah, but I didn't claim it to be the worst thing. It was the first thing that annoyed me enough to sort of start questioning "why am I reading this?". Then I sort of re-realized the source (a site with "tech" in its name) and got annoyed, so I quit reading and went back here to ... whine. :)
- josteink 14y ago
  That says more about you than anything else though. That said, the I agree that TC is terrible.
- biot 14y ago
  They made up for that by saying "Samsung Galaxy SIV" instead of "Samsung Galaxy S4".
rplnt 14y ago
It's really confusing to have capitalized title with name that is also a verb (and the surname being a city name didn't help). I had to read it several times before it clicked. > Dropbox CEO Drew Houston to Samsung’s competitors: would be much better.
- logn 14y ago
  Since "Drew Houston" is an appositive and not essential information (there's only one CEO of Dropbox), the name can be surrounded by commas (or even omitted) which adds further clarity: > Dropbox CEO, Drew Houston, to Samsung’s competitors
  - hkmurakami 14y ago
    That sentence structure works well in a paragraph but I think it affects the flow of the phrase negatively when used in a title. (imo) I abuse the <noun>, <appositive>, structure heavily in my own prose :)
- Spooky23 14y ago
  Sometimes that happens when you load up the title to create the appearance of a conflict or betrayal. The story is "<Company> commits to partnerships with <Industry>". Very non-sexy.
- krrrh 14y ago
  Not to nitpick, but your version sounds like it could fit a story about how the Dropbox CEO had a conversation with Houston's city council, convincing them to use iPhones for city employees.
dfrey 14y ago
It's very shrewd/dishonest to say that your company is in its Apple ][ phase. It leads the audience to believe that in the future, you will be as successful as Apple is today.

48 points by iProject 14y ago

Today's TechCrunch whine: they should know that it's spelled the "Apple II"; I failed to understand what the "Apple 2 phase" referred to until they explained it.

Samuel_Michon 14y ago
If we're nitpicking: only the Apple IIGS used Roman numerals in its name. The first gens were styled '][' (Apple ][, ][ Plus), later it was '//' (Apple //e, //c, //c Plus). The Apple IIGS was released in 1986, two years after the Macintosh was introduced, so that wasn't the model Drew Houston was referring to. (“We’re in the Apple 2 phase of Dropbox,” he said, referring to the time when Apple hadn’t yet made the Macintosh.") Also, he might have been referring to the OS, not the hardware. In which case it's ProDOS.
lclarkmichalek 14y ago
It must be pretty good reporting if that's the worst thing in the article.
- unwind 14y ago
  Heh, yeah, but I didn't claim it to be the worst thing. It was the first thing that annoyed me enough to sort of start questioning "why am I reading this?". Then I sort of re-realized the source (a site with "tech" in its name) and got annoyed, so I quit reading and went back here to ... whine. :)
josteink 14y ago
That says more about you than anything else though. That said, the I agree that TC is terrible.
biot 14y ago
They made up for that by saying "Samsung Galaxy SIV" instead of "Samsung Galaxy S4".

rplnt 14y ago

It's really confusing to have capitalized title with name that is also a verb (and the surname being a city name didn't help). I had to read it several times before it clicked. > Dropbox CEO Drew Houston to Samsung’s competitors: would be much better.

logn 14y ago
Since "Drew Houston" is an appositive and not essential information (there's only one CEO of Dropbox), the name can be surrounded by commas (or even omitted) which adds further clarity: > Dropbox CEO, Drew Houston, to Samsung’s competitors
- hkmurakami 14y ago
  That sentence structure works well in a paragraph but I think it affects the flow of the phrase negatively when used in a title. (imo) I abuse the <noun>, <appositive>, structure heavily in my own prose :)
Spooky23 14y ago
Sometimes that happens when you load up the title to create the appearance of a conflict or betrayal. The story is "<Company> commits to partnerships with <Industry>". Very non-sexy.
krrrh 14y ago
Not to nitpick, but your version sounds like it could fit a story about how the Dropbox CEO had a conversation with Houston's city council, convincing them to use iPhones for city employees.

dfrey 14y ago

It's very shrewd/dishonest to say that your company is in its Apple ][ phase. It leads the audience to believe that in the future, you will be as successful as Apple is today.