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Show HN: Dply – Free temporary Linux servers

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Re: Show HN: Dply – Free temporary Linux servers

#101

Post by OwainX »

http-teapot wrote: post #97
p4bl0 wrote: post #95

If like me you are wondering about the prices, I finally found the FAQ (link in small font at the bottom of the page) and there is the relevant information: 2 Days: $2 1 Week: $3 1 Month: $10 6 Months: $50 So, if you need a long term server (which is not what this service is intended for) it's a lot more expensive than other cheap VPSs (it's easy to find OpenVZ VPSs for as little as $15/yr).

The price reinforces the idea of free temporary Linux servers with short TTL. I think it's smart and the price point could possibly make up for the money lost providing a free service. I am curious as to how it'll turn out financially.

That's the real test here. A 2 hour instance is dirt cheap and each paid server covers the cost of at least 100 free ones but until the data starts rolling in we don't know what the base conversion rate will be and whether this can be self-sustaining in the long run.

Re: Show HN: Dply – Free temporary Linux servers

#102

Post by OwainX »

accnt wrote: post #33

First, on the FAQ's section "How do I connect to the ssh service on my server?" is a typo: > An ssh-key is required to connnect to your server. Second, any plan other login/signup methods? Cool idea, I'll play with it.

No plans for different login methods anytime soon. The Github integration also handles the ssh key management so we don't have to store anyone's keys in our database or worry about updates on their key in Github not being immediately reflected. We'll get that typo fixed :)

Re: Show HN: Dply – Free temporary Linux servers

#103

Post by OwainX »

wheelerwj wrote: post #73

You should disable bitcoin somehow, or this will end very, very badly for you.

Part of the goal in the beta is to improve the abuse processes and profiling abusive users based on the small amount of data we collect (Github account/ssh keys) with the goal of creating a process that lets us effectively block abusive users without creating higher barriers for others to get started. We'll be tweaking things as we go and whether to keep the Bitcoin option will depend on what the measurable effect of it turns out to be.

In the future if abuse becomes a problem we may consider things like requiring a certain amount of history in the Github account.

Re: Show HN: Dply – Free temporary Linux servers

#104

Post by smnc »

oneeyedpigeon wrote: post #42
OwainX wrote: post #2

This is a project I've been working on for a while. Dply allows you to quickly create a temporary cloud server (1CPU/512MB RAM/20GB SSD) for free. You can have one free server running at any time. Log in with your Github account and it will allow you to create your server using your Github ssh-key. Servers are free for 2 hours and expire after that time (unless you choose to add more time via credit card or bitcoin).…

FYI, small typo on https://dply.co/how - "it's" should be "its".

Also on https://dply.co/help/sshkey there's mention of "pubic" key instead of a public key.

Re: Show HN: Dply – Free temporary Linux servers

#105

Post by jpalomaki »

jcrawfordor wrote: post #16

I've seen a number of services just like this that come and go because of the persistent abuse problems this kind of thing attracts. Perhaps using github for authentication will help but I'm skeptical of how far it will get you. Do you have any other novel strategies to reduce the abuse problem?

What kind of abuse has caused problems for the other services?

Re: Show HN: Dply – Free temporary Linux servers

#107

Post by Exuma »

tyingq wrote: post #94
Exuma wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you not see the similarity between "Diply" and "dply" that uses the identical font and a similar color...

It honestly seems like a coincidence to me. Using a popular font (Lobster) for your logo means your logo will look like other people's logos. As for "similar color", the dply logo appears to be black. There is some blue (not the same blue) on the page, I guess?

Diply's brand color is blue: http://diply.com/

Re: Show HN: Dply – Free temporary Linux servers

#108

Post by wheelerwj »

iancarroll wrote: post #96
wheelerwj wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

....that's not how fraud works. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7490766 Just google aws bitcoin mining abuse and see what happens when shitty people have access to free servers.

Pretty sure it only makes sense when you can spin up AWS GPU instances, which you probably cannot do here.

When there are no costs, it makes sense spin up anything. You literally can't lose. It's just opportunity costs at that point.

Re: Show HN: Dply – Free temporary Linux servers

#109

Post by brianwawok »

wheelerwj wrote: post #108
iancarroll wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty sure it only makes sense when you can spin up AWS GPU instances, which you probably cannot do here.

When there are no costs, it makes sense spin up anything. You literally can't lose. It's just opportunity costs at that point.

Unless you missed the no API part. If it takes a person 5 clicks to launch an instance, the reward has to pay for the cost.

Why aren't people using AWS free tier to Bitcoin mine?

Seems a bad prop.

Re: Show HN: Dply – Free temporary Linux servers

#110

Post by joosters »

OwainX wrote: post #2

This is a project I've been working on for a while. Dply allows you to quickly create a temporary cloud server (1CPU/512MB RAM/20GB SSD) for free. You can have one free server running at any time. Log in with your Github account and it will allow you to create your server using your Github ssh-key. Servers are free for 2 hours and expire after that time (unless you choose to add more time via credit card or bitcoin).…

I like the simplicity, well done for getting this up and running!

Please be more open about the pricing though. When the service costs are not upfront and are buried in the FAQs, I lose trust in the service.

Every real customer of yours will want to know what it costs. Have a simple pricing page at the very least, and link to it from the standard 'how does this work?' and other places. Just saying that you can pay $2 to keep your server running longer is not good enough.

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