I've noticed that these days I avoid all free services and, when the information is available to me, will pick the lifestyle over the vc backed company.
Next time I buy a tool, I'm going to look for something I can hold in my hand (metaphorically speaking), and use until I decide not to.
Maybe there's a middle ground? If someone provided me with a VPS but made it really easy to self-host applications from a curated list, I'd be all over that.
Then you connect to your services via any thin client (just thumbprint on any terminal anywhere and you're logged in). Any screen, any device, anywhere.
Someday.
You should be able to tell XYZ service to work with your photos as stored on Amazon S3. Or stored on, what's that other company, starts with a D...?
It's by far the cleanest sunset I've ever used.
Startups like this are lying to us, straight in the face. Simple as that. And we believe the bullshit they say every time. It's written so almost explicitly in the startup "literature". Growth. They are not building real products that are supposed to solve problems for people, they build make-believe products that are supposed to lure people in. Because that's how you prove your worth these days - by number of users you can get on board.
I apologize if I hurt someone who doesn't start the company just in order to bullshit his/her way to acquihire year or two later. Maybe you're honestly building a real product to solve real problems and you actually care about your users. But then again, to quote Nick Fury, "things like this give me trust issues".
I'm still waiting for someone to solve the "punching through the Internet" problem. This way I could express what I really feel, as a user, about taking "a toast" for the "next chapter" of your "immensely exciting journey".
At least the service its prices are sustainable. Or premium.
not saying jake won't take the money and run if offered it, or shut down exposure, but given that it looks like he's fairly comfortable after collegehumor and his investment in tumblr, chances are lower that he's looking to offload exposure/elepath. but who knows.