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Also the argument that its a token effort that doesn't really practically help people can also be applied your downer comment. Complaining about this offer isn't helping the victims either.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I understand your points. It's why we wanted to give free unlimited lifetime accounts instead of a free year or something else to monetize. > It's rather useless compared to actual help. Arguments against helping in ways that have specific impact (providing food, assisting with relocation, etc) are a straw man. It's not better to do nothing than something of small value. I have plenty of photo albums in my closet and…
> Arguments against helping in ways that have specific impact (providing food, assisting with relocation, etc) are a straw man. It's not better to do nothing than something of small value. My argument isn't to do nothing - again, this looks like a nice gesture - but that you should do more. Maybe take all your earnings for a month and donate them to help the victims. You can evidently afford to give out almost-free a…
Difficult question to answer as a company. As a company we felt a free account was a good start. We are also a startup.
Personally supporting the cause is another story but they're separate.
> Then scan them and throw them on Dropbox. Your service actively costs the victims money, Dropbox does not, so which helps more?
In case you're unfamiliar with the project it's an open source photo platform. We support Dropbox (and Box.com, S3, DreamObjects, CX, etc) as the place your photos get stored.
Dropbox isn't really free, for photo backup anyway. You'll hit your limits pretty quickly.
> These are people who are already financially strained by the hurricane. They may not even have a penny anymore. Did you consider this?
I have not. But it's a valid point. The subsequent penny each year could be avoided but we're doing it to verify that the person does live in an affected area. I appreciate you bringing this up and we'll see what options we have.
Apparently our database of zip codes isn't big enough though and we're adding them as they arrive.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I understand your points. It's why we wanted to give free unlimited lifetime accounts instead of a free year or something else to monetize. > It's rather useless compared to actual help. Arguments against helping in ways that have specific impact (providing food, assisting with relocation, etc) are a straw man. It's not better to do nothing than something of small value. I have plenty of photo albums in my closet and…
> Arguments against helping in ways that have specific impact (providing food, assisting with relocation, etc) are a straw man. It's not better to do nothing than something of small value. My argument isn't to do nothing - again, this looks like a nice gesture - but that you should do more. Maybe take all your earnings for a month and donate them to help the victims. You can evidently afford to give out almost-free a…
Why should they do more? They already open source a lot of their software (https://github.com/photo) and they are giving free lifetime accounts. Should they also send blankets? Or is that not enough, pillows too (Emmanuel Levinas would take your side).
The penny is their verification method (this has issues I will be emailing them about).
Yes they are seeking some publicity for it, but I'd say that's a fair trade (their site has links to a Scoble video and a Techcrunch writeup so this isn't exactly how they are launching).
I'm not a user of their product yet, but since I am in an affected area (and evaluating options for storing baby photos) I might give it a whirl.
(Note that I'm not doubting your sincerity, just your motivation.)
A bit of feigned altruism while driving traffic and subscriptions. Cheap: yes ... effective: ?. Please post back and let us know how well this works. (Note that I'm not doubting your sincerity, just your motivation.)
The motivation was that it seemed to be a good fit. Hopefully we get a lot of users taking us up on the offer and hopefully we get some paying users as well.
This is part of an exercise in seeing how we could effect change for the overall good of society. Sounds altruistic, sure. But we're funded by the Shuttleworth Foundation, not a bunch of VCs looking to make a buck[2].
[2] Not that there's anything wrong with that
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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Yes, the intent was to not profit off the situation. It's why the free accounts are lifetime ones and not something that expires and then forces the user(s) to pay. If there's anything to be done to make that more clear we're happy to update the offer.
I guess what I was trying to say is:
Though you aren't financially profiting. You still gain publicity through this promotion at a time when the product you are offering is likely to be the last thing on many people in the affected areas mind. IMO it's a little distasteful.
I do however understand that it's done with the best intentions. I also agree with points made by others that maybe a different action might have come across more positive at a time like this (donations to a charity etc).
I'm nowhere near the disaster area being in the U.K but are there charities directly involved in clearing up the mess and helping people out that you could have donated to?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Arguments against helping in ways that have specific impact (providing food, assisting with relocation, etc) are a straw man. It's not better to do nothing than something of small value. My argument isn't to do nothing - again, this looks like a nice gesture - but that you should do more. Maybe take all your earnings for a month and donate them to help the victims. You can evidently afford to give out almost-free a…
Disclaimer: I'm from an affected area (but all good now except for cable/internet). Why should they do more? They already open source a lot of their software ( https://github.com/photo ) and they are giving free lifetime accounts. Should they also send blankets? Or is that not enough, pillows too (Emmanuel Levinas would take your side). The penny is their verification method (this has issues I will be emailing them a…
Email support@openphoto.me with issues and we'll get them sorted out.
Having browsed both the linked page and the main page, I'm still fuzzy on what this service does. Even if it's free, why do I want to deal with yet another photo-sharing account? I could use flickr or iCloud to back up my photos for free and make them shareable - they have limited size by default but I can pay more if I need more. I think DropBox has a photo syncing feature too, though I don't use it. If people sign…
By decoupling the application from the photo storage you essentially increase the options you have for keeping your photos for a longer time.
If Yahoo! shuts down Flickr you have to figure out what to do. Download a zip file of a few thousand photos? Then what? Upload them somewhere else?
Our approach is multi-fold (hence us working on the messaging).
If Dropbox shuts down or increases their price or you find someone else you like better then you can use our tools to migrate your photos from Dropbox to BetterDropbox while retaining albums, tags, comments, etc. Your mobile apps will continue to work how they always have. it's 100% transparent for you.
If we shut down you can still have the same benefits. Everything we've done has always been open source[1]. That important because anyone can take the torch and run with it. Not so if Flickr dies.
So as far as we can tell, this is the most effective way (yet) to ensure you don't lose your photos in the long run.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, the intent was to not profit off the situation. It's why the free accounts are lifetime ones and not something that expires and then forces the user(s) to pay. If there's anything to be done to make that more clear we're happy to update the offer.
After going back and reading my original post I realise I didn't make clear my problem, at all, please accept my apologies. I guess what I was trying to say is: Though you aren't financially profiting. You still gain publicity through this promotion at a time when the product you are offering is likely to be the last thing on many people in the affected areas mind. IMO it's a little distasteful. I do however understa…
This really isn't an issue of what should we be doing and is what we're doing enough. That's a larger question and applies every tragedy.
As a business (and a startup) we aren't involved in any specific charitable organization. This one seemed to align with our goals as a company. And even more as an open source company who received funding from the Shuttleworth Foundation.
Will be gain publicity? Probably. I hope so. But that doesn't mean we can't offer our services to people who might need it, even if it's not the most important thing on their mind right now.
So yes, I agree with you philosophically. But pragmatically, not as much.