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Dropbox acquires Hackpad (YC W12)

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Re: Dropbox acquires Hackpad (YC W12)

#61

Post by jdp23 »

0x006A wrote: post #7
jdp23 wrote: post #5

Congrats Alex and Igore, Hackpad is really impressive. Great move by Dropbox. What's the state of the opensource alternatives? Etherpad development seems to have plateaued a while ago.

What features are missing in Etherpad for you?

The ones Hackpad added :)

And, raw Etherpad has a lot of usability problems as well. Plus it's challenging to integrate it with an outside authentication mechanism.

I've looked at the code some and while on the one hand this could all be added, it's a clunky base. Node's come a long way since etherpad lite started.

Re: Dropbox acquires Hackpad (YC W12)

#62

Post by odl »

sheetjs wrote: post #54
rattray wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree and disagree; file sharing alone was never going to be "enough". But even Search wasn't enough for Google; it's not wrong for companies to expand their offerings. In the case of Dropbox, they need to go head-to-head with the Drive/Docs/Apps provision coming from Google. They're not as well-positioned to do that as they could be, and I'm not sure hackpad will be close to sufficient to get them there. But it's…

> They need to go head-to-head with the Drive/Docs/Apps provision coming from Google If that's really the play, Hackpad isn't the right acquisition. The real value is in the sheets/excel space, and the knowledge of collaborative document editing doesn't naturally translate to spreadsheets (the general nature of edits are not linear)

Is there anyone seriously pursuing the space? There's ethercalc but they don't seem to have much steam ...

Re: Dropbox acquires Hackpad (YC W12)

#63

Post by bmelton »

mimiflynn wrote: post #25
opendais wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Am I the only one that immediately sees that as a sign of 'Maybe people should setup satellite offices and stop recruiting in the Valley due to costs'?

Is remote work a viable option?

Where remote work is a viable option, then it's obviously easy to tackle.

Where it isn't, set up shop in a smaller market that isn't the valley and have a separate office. Execs can split-time between the locations if necessary, but standing up an office in Houston, Austin, Atlanta, or wherever, and hiring another manager for that location can pay for itself quickly, considering wage-market discrepancy.

My office is in Mountain View, but I live in Annapolis, MD. We have an office in Georgetown, DC, that's about an hour away from me. I work from home, but have the convenience of the DC office in the event that I need to physically sign papers, get stationery, or whatever, and I fly out to MV for a week every couple of months, or every quarter.

Our company has a services division as well, that is mostly remote (though, remote in that scenario is generally on customer premises), and while sure, we have a need for office in some spots, we most of the time don't, so we oversubscribe desks and such. I think we have 6 desks in the Georgetown office for 20-something employees, and it's extremely rare that they're ever full.

Re: Dropbox acquires Hackpad (YC W12)

#64

Post by rattray »

sheetjs wrote: post #54
rattray wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree and disagree; file sharing alone was never going to be "enough". But even Search wasn't enough for Google; it's not wrong for companies to expand their offerings. In the case of Dropbox, they need to go head-to-head with the Drive/Docs/Apps provision coming from Google. They're not as well-positioned to do that as they could be, and I'm not sure hackpad will be close to sufficient to get them there. But it's…

> They need to go head-to-head with the Drive/Docs/Apps provision coming from Google If that's really the play, Hackpad isn't the right acquisition. The real value is in the sheets/excel space, and the knowledge of collaborative document editing doesn't naturally translate to spreadsheets (the general nature of edits are not linear)

Smiled when I saw your username. Looks like great work you guys are doing, hope you're able to help them out.

Re: Dropbox acquires Hackpad (YC W12)

#65

Post by unhush »

My favorite parts of Hackpad were the features that weren't intended to have mass-market appeal (ex: code syntax highlighting, markdown-inspired keybindings, ability to easily create/delete accounts). These will likely be gone in whatever notes product that Dropbox makes with the help of the (wonderful) Hackpad team.

So for me, this acquisition seems like a loss. I realize that Hackpad has said that they'll keep the site alive, but I expect it to be less functional if everyone maintaining it is a full-time Dropbox employee now. Fingers crossed that there will someday exist a good collaborative doc editor for hackers that doesn't fall over when >10 people connect or require a Google account!

Full disclosure: I have written code and done security auditing for Hackpad. I tried to get them to add vim mode. :)

Re: Dropbox acquires Hackpad (YC W12)

#66

Post by Angostura »

amykhar wrote: post #8

Just a little side note. I really wish people would give an overview of what their service is or does in press releases like this. Quite often, I see 'Facebook bought x' or 'Dropbox bought y' and I click to see what it is, and if I would want to use it. More often than not, there's no little blurb that lets me know what their product even does.

Could anyone tell me what it is? Even the test drive link on their home page offers no clues without signing up, and the blog isn't responding.

Re: Dropbox acquires Hackpad (YC W12)

#67

Post by yukichan »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #10

One of those 'no brainer' moves, glad to see it got done. Love the irony of a YC exit as an acquisition by a YC company :-) Congratulations, hackpad is an awesome product and the combination with Dropbox has excellent potential.

> Love the irony of a YC exit as an acquisition by a YC company :-)

Honest question, why is that irony?

Re: Dropbox acquires Hackpad (YC W12)

#68

Post by unhush »

npizzolato wrote: post #38
colmvp wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Snarky comment aside, we've used them for many months and have had a fantastic experience on it. Great for collaboration is significantly better than Google docs/e-mails.

Can you explain why it's better then Google Docs? I've never heard of Hackpad before, but from their front page, it seems like it fills exactly the same space as Google Docs (collaborative, real-time editing), with little information about why they're better.

They don't do a great job of advertising why they're better, but semi-sensible keybindings (similar to Github markdown) and code syntax highlighting sold it for me. Also doesn't require a Google account to use.

Also auto-embeds photos/videos/soundcloud when you paste in links and has prettier UI. Not sure if Google does the former.

Re: Dropbox acquires Hackpad (YC W12)

#69

Post by joshuak »

jordanlev wrote: post #60
joshuak wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. I'm afraid, the famous quote about Dropbox from Steve Jobs about being a feature not a product is playing out. Dropbox doesn't even own the commodity they sell (as far as I know). They sell you on storage, but you receive a syncing service, not storage. I like dropbox, don't get me wrong, but they need to recognize the core value they brought to the table (and may still have) is better user experience design,…

I agree with you that their core value is a better user experience. In my mind, offering their own apps is actually the natural continuation of this core value -- since the underlying storage is just a commodity, they can differentiate by having really well-designed apps that sit on top of it.

Or have well designed apps that sit on top of something else, the constraint is unnecessary and I argue a net negative.
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