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Our Incredible Journey claims another. Interesting though, Dropbox appears to be on a buying spree. They just claimed Cloudon last week, now this.

by MAGZine 12y ago

martythemaniak 12y ago
What exactly is your problem? That they didn't publicly flagellate themselves to your liking? That they "sold out"? That they build something valuable, but the next Google? Or you just get kicks out of being a snarky ass?
- elsurudo 12y ago
  http://ourincrediblejourney.tumblr.com http://ourincrediblejourney.tumblr.com
- Argorak 12y ago
  Because it's often of no interest for the customer. At all. It's like a star at the Oscars saying thanks to all the fans that supported them, except that there is no film, no Oscar and no fans. From a customers perspective, it's probably for the worst, even.
  - Kiro 12y ago
    > Because it's often of no interest for the customer. At all. So what? Why must every single word be about the customer? I find "our incredible journey" posts inspirational and as long as they are clear what will happen with the service and what it means for the customers I don't see what the problem is.
    - Argorak 12y ago
      Because they are addressed to the customer and for most of them, the aren't inspirational, because they are not entrepreneurs. For what happens to the service, 2 paragraphs in my inbox is quite enough.
- Dylan16807 12y ago
  Did the comment you're replying to change? I don't see any complaints or snark. There is a touch of humor but it's not pro or con.
- sp332 12y ago
  The service is going down and they're going to delete my data in a year. But they pitch it to me like it's some great thing.
- jarcane 12y ago
  A product which provided actual value and novel functionality to end users has been swallowed up by a larger corporation with maybe a 25% chance of actually getting any kind of continued life, if this plays out as these things usually do. And once again, this is pitched as winning the trophy, because the culture has become more obsessed with collecting a payoff than actual long-term growth and innovation. In the 1990's when Creative Labs bought out and shuttered Aureal and basically killed 3D audio in its crib, it was a fucking travesty that audio buffs still mourn to this day. If that'd happened now, in 2015's "startup culture," we'd be expected to cheer that they got theirs.
  - nedwin 12y ago
    "Provided actual value" but unfortunately couldn't extract enough value from their users to survive independently. The choice was likely between shutting down and going on unemployment or finding a soft landing.
    - markemer 12y ago
      Yeah. And it seems like a natural fit for DropBox. I'd love this service on my dropbox. And I had never heard of it before. Dropbox is looking for ways to stay competitive with the likes of Google, etc, and I'm amazed at how well they are doing.
  - jscheel 12y ago
    To be fair, if anyone could keep this technology alive, it would be Dropbox.
  - patio11 12y ago
    In an alternate universe, this genre would sound like: "We produced a great product which costs $60k a month to run but which only charges customers $8k. We hope you have enjoyed being subsidized by our investors and below-market salaries, but there is simply no more subsidy left. We received an offer of a soft landing, which means the team is taken care of and the founders get a consolation prize which doesn't quite make up for spurning the BigCo offers they turned down to get here. We took it. Please tell uninvolved third parties who have never even heard of us before to mock us on the Internet, as is customary in these sorts of situations." We do not ask people to actually write that because to do so would be petty, cruel, and beneath a community organized around people who make things.
elsurudo 12y ago
Heh, I was actually looking for those very words. While similar in style, this lacked them, which I found unsatisfying. Maybe people are more careful now to stay away from some specific keywords...
jedberg 12y ago
I'm pretty sure Dropbox has been buying a company every few weeks for the last few years. You just haven't heard about most of them.

Our Incredible Journey claims another. Interesting though, Dropbox appears to be on a buying spree. They just claimed Cloudon last week, now this.

by MAGZine 12y ago

Our Incredible Journey claims another. Interesting though, Dropbox appears to be on a buying spree. They just claimed Cloudon last week, now this.

martythemaniak 12y ago

What exactly is your problem? That they didn't publicly flagellate themselves to your liking? That they "sold out"? That they build something valuable, but the next Google? Or you just get kicks out of being a snarky ass?

elsurudo 12y ago
http://ourincrediblejourney.tumblr.com http://ourincrediblejourney.tumblr.com
Argorak 12y ago
Because it's often of no interest for the customer. At all. It's like a star at the Oscars saying thanks to all the fans that supported them, except that there is no film, no Oscar and no fans. From a customers perspective, it's probably for the worst, even.
- Kiro 12y ago
  > Because it's often of no interest for the customer. At all. So what? Why must every single word be about the customer? I find "our incredible journey" posts inspirational and as long as they are clear what will happen with the service and what it means for the customers I don't see what the problem is.
  - Argorak 12y ago
    Because they are addressed to the customer and for most of them, the aren't inspirational, because they are not entrepreneurs. For what happens to the service, 2 paragraphs in my inbox is quite enough.
Dylan16807 12y ago
Did the comment you're replying to change? I don't see any complaints or snark. There is a touch of humor but it's not pro or con.
sp332 12y ago
The service is going down and they're going to delete my data in a year. But they pitch it to me like it's some great thing.
jarcane 12y ago
A product which provided actual value and novel functionality to end users has been swallowed up by a larger corporation with maybe a 25% chance of actually getting any kind of continued life, if this plays out as these things usually do. And once again, this is pitched as winning the trophy, because the culture has become more obsessed with collecting a payoff than actual long-term growth and innovation. In the 1990's when Creative Labs bought out and shuttered Aureal and basically killed 3D audio in its crib, it was a fucking travesty that audio buffs still mourn to this day. If that'd happened now, in 2015's "startup culture," we'd be expected to cheer that they got theirs.
- nedwin 12y ago
  "Provided actual value" but unfortunately couldn't extract enough value from their users to survive independently. The choice was likely between shutting down and going on unemployment or finding a soft landing.
  - markemer 12y ago
    Yeah. And it seems like a natural fit for DropBox. I'd love this service on my dropbox. And I had never heard of it before. Dropbox is looking for ways to stay competitive with the likes of Google, etc, and I'm amazed at how well they are doing.
- jscheel 12y ago
  To be fair, if anyone could keep this technology alive, it would be Dropbox.
- patio11 12y ago
  In an alternate universe, this genre would sound like: "We produced a great product which costs $60k a month to run but which only charges customers $8k. We hope you have enjoyed being subsidized by our investors and below-market salaries, but there is simply no more subsidy left. We received an offer of a soft landing, which means the team is taken care of and the founders get a consolation prize which doesn't quite make up for spurning the BigCo offers they turned down to get here. We took it. Please tell uninvolved third parties who have never even heard of us before to mock us on the Internet, as is customary in these sorts of situations." We do not ask people to actually write that because to do so would be petty, cruel, and beneath a community organized around people who make things.

elsurudo 12y ago

Heh, I was actually looking for those very words. While similar in style, this lacked them, which I found unsatisfying. Maybe people are more careful now to stay away from some specific keywords...

jedberg 12y ago

I'm pretty sure Dropbox has been buying a company every few weeks for the last few years. You just haven't heard about most of them.