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A comment on "We'll call it AI to sell it, Machine Learning to Build it". Parent comment

Re:"We'll call it AI to sell it, Machine Learning to Build it" by throwaway290 on Wednesday October 11, 2023 @11:05AM (#37845370)
They spent it all on storage and on their new spammy looking marketing emails that pester free users to upgrade I guess. I don't recall something really new on Dropbox since they were established.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:"We'll call it AI to sell it, Machine Learning to Build it" by toomuchtodo on Wednesday October 11, 2023 @11:15AM (#37845537)
I am paying Dropbox for storage and will pay them until I die. Rock solid sync and object durability, API access to my storage for my apps, no complaints whatsoever. I don't want new, I want storage I don't have to think about.
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Re:"We'll call it AI to sell it, Machine Learning to Build it" by xwdv on Wednesday October 11, 2023 @11:47AM (#37846012)
Until they die, relatively soon. 100 years from now Dropbox will be a distant memory, but locally mounted FTP directories under version control will be alive and well.
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Re:"We'll call it AI to sell it, Machine Learning to Build it" by toomuchtodo on Wednesday October 11, 2023 @11:51AM (#37846060)
> but locally mounted FTP directories under version control will be alive and well. [1] [2]

This might matter to you, but it does not matter to me. In the meantime, my life will have been better and my time saved between now and death (certainly less than 100 years from now). That's what the money is for. Time is non renewable. If you have more time and ideology than money, I admit your solution is a better fit for your life and use case(s). Self host if you want, I have better things to do personally vs cobbling together technology that I can buy polished for the cost of two coffees a month. There's a product lesson in this subthread. No business lasts forever, the benefit is the value delivered during its lifecycle. Provide value, and I will happily let you ding my credit card monthly or annually (please support annual plans B2C!) forever. "Build something people want" or something like that [3].

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863 ("My YC app: Dropbox - Throw away your USB drive ")

[3] https://www.ycombinator.com/library/4D-yc-s-essential-startu...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:"We'll call it AI to sell it, Machine Learning to Build it" by xwdv on Wednesday October 11, 2023 @04:17PM (#37849735)
Self hosted and versioned FTP drives represent true power, like the stone buildings that stand for centuries. A dropbox subscription is the shitty McMansion that falls apart after 10 years.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:"We'll call it AI to sell it, Machine Learning to Build it" by Zacharias030 on Wednesday October 11, 2023 @05:00PM (#37850198)
how to?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:"We'll call it AI to sell it, Machine Learning to Build it" by TeMPOraL on Thursday October 12, 2023 @05:14AM (#37854986)
Unfortunately, longevity doesn't matter to an economy whose participants surf the cash flow. The shitty McMansion may fall apart after 10 years, but if it lets you earn more than it costs to replace, it's good enough. Sad as it is, a lot of the economy relies on the churn.
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Re:"We'll call it AI to sell it, Machine Learning to Build it" by throwaway290 on Thursday October 12, 2023 @08:36AM (#37856333)
In some ways FTP = you own, but Dropbox = you rent. Understandably some like renting more than owning
[ Parent | on HN ]