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Dropbox is definitely a case where a single person's vision was required to create a revolutionary product. Judging by the comments, leaving it to HNers as a g

by bstar77 13y ago

Dropbox is definitely a case where a single person's vision was required to create a revolutionary product. Judging by the comments, leaving it to HNers as a group would have just resulted in a faster usb drive.

yen223 13y ago
Representative quote: "For a Linux user, 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. "
- broodbucket 13y ago
  His statement is correct, and totally irrelevant when considering consumers.
  - raverbashing 13y ago
    > and totally irrelevant when considering consumers. That's the most important part, and the mostly often ignored in HN discussions It's the same with the difference between the Apple I and Appple II
    - deleted 13y ago
      [deleted]
    - k__ 13y ago
      I think the technology and its usability wasn't the problem. The problem was, nobody thought people would be so crazy and store their stuff on the other side of the planet (performance) on the servers of complete strangers (security). But they totally would...
      - jiggy2011 13y ago
        Dropbox doesn't really suffer from the first problem since you keep a local copy of everything and people have been trusting complete strangers with their email and bank account details since forever.
    - smtddr 13y ago
      >That's the most important part, and the mostly often ignored in HN discussions Example... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6572743 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6572743
      - GFischer 13y ago
        When (if) Netflix adds live sports, (and channel-like functions), it'll be the nail in the coffin for cable tv.
        podperson 13y ago
        Channel-like functions?! Please no. The only thing stopping anyone from streaming live sports is licensing.
        GFischer 13y ago
        I'm talking in the "curated series of shows" sense, as ctdonath aptly put it https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6572450 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6572450
        podperson 13y ago
        Actually the thing that's infuriating about Netflix and many of its competitors is the weak or no support for deep linking to content. We don't need channels to curate content if bloggers, etc. can do it themselves.
    - esusatyo 13y ago
      It's the same with any modern Apple products too. People called iPads and iPhones stupid.
  - philh 13y ago
    In particular, "linux users" in context doesn't include anyone with a smartphone.
- ReverendBayes 13y ago
  I almost choked on my lunch laughing after re-reading that. I remember reading the original thread and actually agreeing with him, without the slightest chuckle. Im amazed at how most people still find it hard to find pictures in their filesystems on their pcs. But think about it, how many people carry .jpg, .jpeg, .png etc file associations in their heads? Hilarious.
001sky 13y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9272 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9272 Was a great response, IMHO.
fit2rule 13y ago
I think a far more insidious fact is that Dropbox fills in a gap left wide open by incompetent OS developers. Its the 21st Century - the OS should be providing such features inherently, without requiring a third party involvement. Maybe HN'ers, at that time, were somehow conscious of this fact, and thus declined to 'see the revolution' that was headed their way. Either way, since there was no other option, Dropbox was "revolutionary" enough to have gained a following.
- ams6110 13y ago
  Dropbox support several OSes though, which is still better than any one OS providing a similar capability natively. In general, the OS should just do what it NEEDS to do, and let applications fill out the rest.
  - fit2rule 13y ago
    The fact that there are multiple OS's out there means there is a battle going on. Dropbox serves a need that should be being defined by co-existing OS participants. But we see this everywhere in the Application space, so your point is valid, there is just an OS border, and an App border. I think what I'm trying to say is that border moves around a bit, and I'm cranky about that.
- jimmaswell 13y ago
  Microsoft is beginning to do this with SkyDrive.
- alecdbrooks 13y ago
  Apple has started to do that with iCloud [0] and to a lesser extent, AirDrop [1]. But aside from Apple hardware, iCloud only supports Windows laptops and desktops — no official Linux, Android, or Blackberry support. [0]: https://www.apple.com/icloud/features/ https://www.apple.com/icloud/features/ [1]: http://www.macworld.com/article/2048737/get-to-know-ios-7-airdrop.html http://www.macworld.com/article/2048737/get-to-know-ios-7-ai...
  - 13y ago
_pmf_ 13y ago
> Dropbox is definitely a case where a single person's vision was required to create a revolutionary product. In the case of Dropbox, I think the main factor was (and this is the exception rather than the regular case) the perfect technical execution, not the vision.

by bstar77 13y ago

yen223 13y ago

Representative quote: "For a Linux user, 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. "

broodbucket 13y ago
His statement is correct, and totally irrelevant when considering consumers.
- raverbashing 13y ago
  > and totally irrelevant when considering consumers. That's the most important part, and the mostly often ignored in HN discussions It's the same with the difference between the Apple I and Appple II
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
  - k__ 13y ago
    I think the technology and its usability wasn't the problem. The problem was, nobody thought people would be so crazy and store their stuff on the other side of the planet (performance) on the servers of complete strangers (security). But they totally would...
    - jiggy2011 13y ago
      Dropbox doesn't really suffer from the first problem since you keep a local copy of everything and people have been trusting complete strangers with their email and bank account details since forever.
  - smtddr 13y ago
    >That's the most important part, and the mostly often ignored in HN discussions Example... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6572743 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6572743
    - GFischer 13y ago
      When (if) Netflix adds live sports, (and channel-like functions), it'll be the nail in the coffin for cable tv.
      - podperson 13y ago
        Channel-like functions?! Please no. The only thing stopping anyone from streaming live sports is licensing.
        GFischer 13y ago
        I'm talking in the "curated series of shows" sense, as ctdonath aptly put it https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6572450 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6572450
        podperson 13y ago
        Actually the thing that's infuriating about Netflix and many of its competitors is the weak or no support for deep linking to content. We don't need channels to curate content if bloggers, etc. can do it themselves.
  - esusatyo 13y ago
    It's the same with any modern Apple products too. People called iPads and iPhones stupid.
- philh 13y ago
  In particular, "linux users" in context doesn't include anyone with a smartphone.
ReverendBayes 13y ago
I almost choked on my lunch laughing after re-reading that. I remember reading the original thread and actually agreeing with him, without the slightest chuckle. Im amazed at how most people still find it hard to find pictures in their filesystems on their pcs. But think about it, how many people carry .jpg, .jpeg, .png etc file associations in their heads? Hilarious.

001sky 13y ago

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9272 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9272 Was a great response, IMHO.

fit2rule 13y ago

I think a far more insidious fact is that Dropbox fills in a gap left wide open by incompetent OS developers. Its the 21st Century - the OS should be providing such features inherently, without requiring a third party involvement. Maybe HN'ers, at that time, were somehow conscious of this fact, and thus declined to 'see the revolution' that was headed their way. Either way, since there was no other option, Dropbox was "revolutionary" enough to have gained a following.

ams6110 13y ago
Dropbox support several OSes though, which is still better than any one OS providing a similar capability natively. In general, the OS should just do what it NEEDS to do, and let applications fill out the rest.
- fit2rule 13y ago
  The fact that there are multiple OS's out there means there is a battle going on. Dropbox serves a need that should be being defined by co-existing OS participants. But we see this everywhere in the Application space, so your point is valid, there is just an OS border, and an App border. I think what I'm trying to say is that border moves around a bit, and I'm cranky about that.
jimmaswell 13y ago
Microsoft is beginning to do this with SkyDrive.
alecdbrooks 13y ago
Apple has started to do that with iCloud [0] and to a lesser extent, AirDrop [1]. But aside from Apple hardware, iCloud only supports Windows laptops and desktops — no official Linux, Android, or Blackberry support. [0]: https://www.apple.com/icloud/features/ https://www.apple.com/icloud/features/ [1]: http://www.macworld.com/article/2048737/get-to-know-ios-7-airdrop.html http://www.macworld.com/article/2048737/get-to-know-ios-7-ai...
- 13y ago

_pmf_ 13y ago

> Dropbox is definitely a case where a single person's vision was required to create a revolutionary product. In the case of Dropbox, I think the main factor was (and this is the exception rather than the regular case) the perfect technical execution, not the vision.