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Dropbox: The hottest startup you've never heard of

tech.fortune.cnn.com

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Re: Dropbox: The hottest startup you've never heard of

#51

Post by dedward »

phlux wrote: post #34
tomazmuraus wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It "kinda" supports LAN sync. Files still first need to be transfered to the cloud first before you can sync them over LAN. At least it was like this the last time I have looked at it (a few months ago).

It would be incredibly interesting if your dropbox machines all ran a bitorrent client that auto shared the syncing between them all. With logic to determine which machines are closest (in bandwidth) So that if I have my 5+ machines at home (desktops, laptops and phones, which all have the client on them) - they all see that they are on the same subnet and sync very fast between each other. Then update the cloud at t…

Dropbox already takes advantage of the local subnet if it can for synchronization... has for quite a while now.

Re: Dropbox: The hottest startup you've never heard of

#52

Post by wlievens »

6ren wrote: post #18
lemon_pie wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

possibly. that said, 100m in revenue 4 years after launch with a fairly unbounded market (every consumer), looks like quite the promising start.

> Benioff predicts sales could hit $100 million this year. (The company declined to comment.) Unfortunately, a prediction; and also by someone not privy to actual figures... > Dropbox reportedly experiences well over 10 times year-over-year growth... Sounds pretty good! > ...and positive cash flow. The mildest expression of profitability possible. Though I'm pretty sure they're doing way better than >0. From scanning…

With their kind of scalability, any positive cash flow is awesome news.

Re: Dropbox: The hottest startup you've never heard of

#53

Post by tom_b »

zaidf wrote: post #16

While I'm sure Dropbox has their work cut out, you know they are onto something when you run into their flyers outside college dorms cross country in Chapel Hill, NC.

Hey, there are even old boring people walking around on campus who are users . . . heck, even in Carrboro

If it wasn't a HIPPA issue, we might be using Dropbox for more internal projects here

Love, love, love dropbox. You undergrad at Sitterson?

Re: Dropbox: The hottest startup you've never heard of

#54

Post by phlux »

dedward wrote: post #51
phlux wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be incredibly interesting if your dropbox machines all ran a bitorrent client that auto shared the syncing between them all. With logic to determine which machines are closest (in bandwidth) So that if I have my 5+ machines at home (desktops, laptops and phones, which all have the client on them) - they all see that they are on the same subnet and sync very fast between each other. Then update the cloud at t…

Dropbox already takes advantage of the local subnet if it can for synchronization... has for quite a while now.

Thanks, I didnt know this , was pretty obvious for them to do it that way.

Re: Dropbox: The hottest startup you've never heard of

#55

Post by saidulislam »

51Cards wrote: post #11

I think this article is perfectly valid. What everyone here is forgetting is that we are a pretty focused demographic of technical people. If you ask the average CNN user what Dropbox is you'll probably get a blank stare. The fact that an article like this is BEING written is just another sign of Dropbox's success... it may be crossing the tipping point to main-stream media and adoption outside of the tech community.…

well, the article is in tech section. for someone to read or write a tech article on cnn and not know about drobbox is a serious WTF

Re: Dropbox: The hottest startup you've never heard of

#56

Post by code_duck »

asnyder wrote: post #45
code_duck wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If anything, what blows my mind is that Microsoft has failed that significantly on connecting systems which share a LAN. There should have been something as easy as Dropbox built into Windows, and made known to users, at least 10 years ago.

Microsoft had built in cloud storage, something like live space, or live disk, or something along those lines. It was very similar to dropbox, but for whatever reason it didn't catch on. I know a few people that still use it.

That's the thing - Apple and Microsoft have both had somewhat similar offerings, but in some way they were not as user-friendly, or were not presented to users properly (Apple has iDisk, or something like that).

For LAN use, cloud (external) storage isn't even needed though.

Re: Dropbox: The hottest startup you've never heard of

#57

Post by zaidf »

tom_b wrote: post #53
zaidf wrote: post #16

While I'm sure Dropbox has their work cut out, you know they are onto something when you run into their flyers outside college dorms cross country in Chapel Hill, NC.

Hey, there are even old boring people walking around on campus who are users . . . heck, even in Carrboro If it wasn't a HIPPA issue, we might be using Dropbox for more internal projects here Love, love, love dropbox. You undergrad at Sitterson?

Nah, just got my communications(!) degree and moved up to NYC :)

Re: Dropbox: The hottest startup you've never heard of

#58

Post by nbashaw »

ch0wn wrote: post #50
JonnieCache wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>cloud computing -- that catchall phrase corporations use to describe services delivered via the Internet With this line they are streets ahead of most pure tech sites in terms of accuracy.

I love Dropbox for not using this horrible term.

Horrible term? Just because it's the catch phrase du jour doesn't mean it's totally meaningless. I get annoyed with the buzz and malapropism just as much as the next guy, but like it or not, cloud computing is a major global phenomenon.

Re: Dropbox: The hottest startup you've never heard of

#59

Post by Hovertruck »

pge wrote: post #44
51Cards wrote: post #11

I think this article is perfectly valid. What everyone here is forgetting is that we are a pretty focused demographic of technical people. If you ask the average CNN user what Dropbox is you'll probably get a blank stare. The fact that an article like this is BEING written is just another sign of Dropbox's success... it may be crossing the tipping point to main-stream media and adoption outside of the tech community.…

What is fascinating to me is how quickly dropbox spread outside the HN demographic. My 70 year old mother, who was as far from a techical user as one could be, asked me in early 2009 if I used dropbox so she could share some photos with me. That's when I realized they were really on to something. It was just that easy to use, and it was spreading very rapidly in non-technical communities - they had reached a user lik…

I recently got my dad's large real estate brokerage to start using Dropbox for all of their file sharing. Anyone who's ever worked in or near realty could tell you that the technology in the market is usually 5-10 years (at least) behind where it should be, so I considered this a huge accomplishment.

Re: Dropbox: The hottest startup you've never heard of

#60

Post by asynchronous13 »

asnyder wrote: post #45
code_duck wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If anything, what blows my mind is that Microsoft has failed that significantly on connecting systems which share a LAN. There should have been something as easy as Dropbox built into Windows, and made known to users, at least 10 years ago.

Microsoft had built in cloud storage, something like live space, or live disk, or something along those lines. It was very similar to dropbox, but for whatever reason it didn't catch on. I know a few people that still use it.

the reason it didn't catch on is because it was terrible to work with. it did not synchronize consistently. it would detect that changes had been made in multiple locations, then just keep extra copies -- leaving the user wondering why the number of files suddenly exploded. I used it for a bit, and finally gave up because it was too much hassle.
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