The difference is that Search was enough to sustain Google and still is its cash cow. They branched out due to interest, not out of necessity. Dropbox's current business will not sustain and they NEED these acquisitions to find viable business models for the long haul.

What I don't understand about these acquisitions is how tangential it is to Dropbox's original value prop of being a "dumb" folder that would magically sync all of your files and stay out of your way. Now, instead of Dropbox passively running in the background and letting me do my thing, they want me to start actively engaging with the software.

I agree that it's necessary and overall a smart move, but still a very large and difficult pivot to make.

Advertising I'd their cash cow. Google's original business model was enterprise search. It took them a bit of time to land on their current business model m

I think many people forget that Google wasn't really sure how to make money until they completely changed online advertising with AdWords/AdSense. Everyone else was content with your standard banner ads and rates. Google made those relevant to the search context. Since that time they have made money hand over fist.

> 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.

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

"They" is just me and our wonderful & kind contributors. :)

EtherCalc was, is, and will remain a F/OSS infrastructure project, not a business enterprise.

I'd consider Smartsheet.com to be playing in that space.

Your point is very true - plan 1 may not be monetizable, but a large user base with a lot of data can open other doors. Facebook is another example - it was never going to just monetize people poking each other with sheep.

    But even Search wasn't enough for Google; it's not wrong 
    for companies to expand their offerings.

Google has made billions consistently from it's advertising operation. Their shift to other areas have always driven to expand search.