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Google Drive: Is the Dropbox Party Over?

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Re: Google Drive: Is the Dropbox Party Over?

#191

Post by Elepsis »

jroseattle wrote: post #135
kenjackson wrote: post #81

Here is the fundamental problem of competing against Google as a SW company. Google is an advertising company, as everyone now well knows. They have no problem selling SW cheap, or giving it away for free, if they can help their advertising business (either directly by hosting ads in the service, or mining data from the service for info to help target ads). If you feel like your SW has actual value and charge for it,…

"If you feel like your SW has actual value and charge for it, but Google has you in their cross hairs, you either really need a great product (that can't easily be cloned) or very strong network effects." Let's substitute the names of Netscape and Microsoft circa 1997 and see how this plays out. I can't wait to hear all the reasons why the Google/Dropbox comparative scenario is so much different.

Is your argument that Google should also be taken to court by the Department of Justice and submit to one of the largest antitrust settlements in American history?

Re: Google Drive: Is the Dropbox Party Over?

#192

Post by Eliezer »

jpdoctor wrote: post #126
joebadmo wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, one of the reasons I like having a non Google service to hold some important files is in case I hit the Google black swan and get locked out of my gmail account. (I also backup my email regularly.) While integration would probably be convenient, I need to be able to keep working if I do get locked out.

> is in case I hit the Google black swan and get locked out of my gmail account. Do you think fear of a Google black swan is enough of a selling point for dropbox to survive?

Yes. That is the primary reason why I would pick Dropbox over Google.

Re: Google Drive: Is the Dropbox Party Over?

#193

Post by Eliezer »

It's sad, because I remember when the name meant something else, but... I just wouldn't trust Google with my files. By which I mean, I wouldn't trust that I wouldn't wake up one day and find myself locked out of Google Drive with no way back. I don't trust their user interface not to accidentally delete things, either. Google manages to give the appearance of this mysterious Tronlike glowing entity that occasionally spins off new automatic services, but not in a way that gives you the impression that this glowing manifestation of Google has ever talked with a user.

Re: Google Drive: Is the Dropbox Party Over?

#194

Post by whatusername »

cyberguppy wrote: post #185
wanorris wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, I started out as a Netscape for Windows user thinking Microsoft had no chance of catching up to a competitor as nimble as Netscape. IE 1.0 was awful (basically a rebrand of an outdated Spyglass Mosaic), IE2 was a little better but still grossly inadequate, IE3 was just fine, but there was no reason to switch, and IE4 was legitimately better (in my opinion) than Netscape was at the time. (Helped by the fac…

I started out as a Netscape for Mac user. I stayed that way until there was a viable alternative, and that alternative was never IE, no matter how much Steve Jobs stood on stage and said he loved it.

Really? I thoguh IE5 was a really solid browser on the mac.

Re: Google Drive: Is the Dropbox Party Over?

#195

Post by AJ007 »

wildmXranat wrote: post #71
jpdoctor wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If I were Dropbox I'd simply view this as market validation And if I were Dropbox, I'd worry like hell. Google isn't depending on making GDrive profitable from fees, so they can literally give it away.

Indeed. Competition on this market space is almost guaranteed to be a race to the bottom. Dropbox will have to respond by concentrating on features to set itself apart.

I can think of one huge feature: not giving all your personal data to the same company.

Re: Google Drive: Is the Dropbox Party Over?

#196

Post by alastairpat »

jpdoctor wrote: post #150
Seth_Kriticos wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering that DropBox is building on Amazon cloud storage (S3) and Google have their native storage arrays, I'd be very worried, as Google can offer storage much cheaper. If you check Google services (docs, mail), you get for just $5 -> 20GB of storage for a YEAR (or for $20 -> 80GB). DropBox takes $9.99 a MONTH for 50GB, or around $120 a YEAR! User lock-in is powerful, but if a competitor can offer a product for…

> Considering that DropBox is building on Amazon cloud storage (S3) ...which tells you the only logical acquirer. Any other will have a middleman of S3 to pay, which will make the financials not very sensible. If GDrive releases and is viable, Dropbox should put on their best push-up bra and fishnets, and head over to seattle as soon as the mascara is dry.

I realise that it's not the most reliable source, but I read a rumour [1] that Apple offered $800m to acquire Dropbox and they declined. It's possible it simply wasn't enough, but perhaps they're not interested in selling.

[1] http://www.macrumors.com/2011/09/09/dropbox-may-have-decline...

Re: Google Drive: Is the Dropbox Party Over?

#197

Post by jroseattle »

Elepsis wrote: post #191
jroseattle wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"If you feel like your SW has actual value and charge for it, but Google has you in their cross hairs, you either really need a great product (that can't easily be cloned) or very strong network effects." Let's substitute the names of Netscape and Microsoft circa 1997 and see how this plays out. I can't wait to hear all the reasons why the Google/Dropbox comparative scenario is so much different.

Is your argument that Google should also be taken to court by the Department of Justice and submit to one of the largest antitrust settlements in American history?

Just an "observation".

You would have to ask the DOJ about anything else.

Re: Google Drive: Is the Dropbox Party Over?

#199

Post by Groxx »

eavc wrote: post #164
Groxx wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, though they haven't really dominated any of those sections - I considered a few, actually. Picasa for instance is decent and moderately used, but Flickr and especially Facebook are way way larger in almost every respect. Their calendar is the best online calendar I've found, but nobody I know uses it except Google-aware geeks and the ones I've taught (they love it now, didn't know it existed before). And online…

Agreed that the market penetration is still limited for many or most of those things, but I imagine Google's offering has made a disruptive splash to more than a few companies.

Yeah, we agree there :) I, for one, like the disruption - even if Google doesn't do it better, it spurs changes.

Re: Google Drive: Is the Dropbox Party Over?

#200

Post by tjmc »

cyberguppy wrote: post #185
wanorris wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, I started out as a Netscape for Windows user thinking Microsoft had no chance of catching up to a competitor as nimble as Netscape. IE 1.0 was awful (basically a rebrand of an outdated Spyglass Mosaic), IE2 was a little better but still grossly inadequate, IE3 was just fine, but there was no reason to switch, and IE4 was legitimately better (in my opinion) than Netscape was at the time. (Helped by the fac…

I started out as a Netscape for Mac user. I stayed that way until there was a viable alternative, and that alternative was never IE, no matter how much Steve Jobs stood on stage and said he loved it.

That may be true for the Mac, but the vast majority of users were on Windows. And on Windows, IE would have won the browser wars on its own merits without Microsoft's dirty tricks. As the GP said - IE3 was better than Netscape 3 and IE4 was streets ahead. Netscape 4 was the worst release of a major browser that I've seen.
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