
Batch is shutting down - attheodo
http://batch.com/
======
andrewljohnson
This is one of the worst shutdown announcements I've seen on HN.

* no reasons/details

* no apologetic tone

* short timeframe to move your data

Suck it users!

~~~
logn
I would disagree. What reasons are needed? It's a startup: we know they ran
out of money. The rest is probably personal or not worth delving into.
Apologetic tone? Save your PR spin. Eight days to migrate? Well, the users
probably all have copies of the photos anyway. I liked the note. Short and to
the point.

~~~
robryan
They were acquihired and will be working on other things, probably worth
including that. Maybe something about the product, why it failed to catch on
and what they think users should use in its place.

Will not surprise me at all that many users will miss this announcement. Turn
off new accounts today, but give them 6 months and remind those that haven't
signed in monthly.

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waterside81
Almost a year to the day:

<https://twitter.com/paulg/status/130875076110323712>

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dabeeeenster
8 days to download your content? Classy.

~~~
morsch
I'm not sure this will be a popular sentiment here, but I think we might want
some sort of consumer protection laws dealing with things like this. Have a
sort of mandatory cooldown period for (paid?) web services after a
notification of cessation (or maybe a major restructuring?) of services.
Somewhat like an eviction notice.

Of course people will argue that regulatory action is unnecessary: if sudden
terminations are an issue, people will naturally flock to services which
guarantee due notice through terms of service.

~~~
georgemcbay
I'm so liberal I'm practically a socialist, but I don't see how you could have
this sort of regulation without it having a chilling effect on new services.
Generally when an event like this happens, the company behind the service is
dissolved, so who is even on the hook for keeping the data available?

This _is_ a very real practical problem. I basically never use any SaaS app
that isn't at least as established as, say, Basecamp and if enough people
think like me you've got a horrible chicken and egg problem. I'm not sure how
you fix it, but I don't think it is via laws.

~~~
jmathai
One way to fix the chicken/egg problem is to start off by decoupling the data
storage from the application.

Disclaimer: I'm the lead developer on OpenPhoto which does just this.

<http://theopenphotoproject.org>

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qq66
I don't use a lot of new consumer web apps for this reason (I did use Batch
just to test, but didn't start using it heavily because I was afraid of
something like this happening).

One way of reassuring me in using a product like this would be to have
something in the app's settings menu that allows me to point to a different
production server, and a commitment in the legal Terms of Service that in the
event that the product is shut down, that the server-side code will be open-
sourced.

------
TamDenholm
This is because AirBnB acquhired Dailybooth for their iOS team.

~~~
yesimahuman
Some more details in case you're like me and hadn't heard of Batch:
[http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/24/airbnb-brian-pokorny-
batch-...](http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/24/airbnb-brian-pokorny-batch-
dailybooth/)

------
dusing
What did batch do?

~~~
hv23
A fairly well-designed photo sharing app that let users organize their iPhone
photos into albums, that could be shared over Twitter and Facebook

[http://uncrunched.com/2011/10/27/batch-may-be-the-perfect-
mo...](http://uncrunched.com/2011/10/27/batch-may-be-the-perfect-mobile-photo-
sharing-app-no-seriously/)

~~~
blhack
Kindof like facebook?

------
rdl
I wish there were a service startups could use when they're setting up new
products which will provide a 60-90-180-etc. day transfer period for users if
the startup ever shuts down, runs out of money, etc. Maybe integrated with
more mundane disaster preparedness for the startup, too -- a datacenter ready
for them if theirs is flooded, etc.

It would almost make sense for AWS or someone else already providing the
infrastructure to do this for a few percent premium on every bill.

~~~
zacharycohn
Unfortunately selling to "companies that have failed" is a pretty unprofitable
market.

~~~
rdl
That's why you charge them before they fail. The idea being to make users more
willing to trust random startups with data and business service.

In the enterprise space, a lot of software contracts include source code
escrow, etc.

~~~
ericfrenkiel
I like the concept but it wouldn't work for the very reason people don't save
for a nice funeral.

Source code in escrow works because a large customer builds it into the
contract; meaning you only get paid if you agree to the terms.

Consumer startups work by removing payment friction for their users, which
inverts the dynamic. Plus, most consumers aren't as tech-savvy as HN so it
wouldn't enter into consideration when they use an application.

~~~
rdl
Yeah, it would have to be somewhat automatic and widespread, sort of like
credit card warranty/travel/etc. insurance.

It might make sense for b2b apps instead of consumer. b2b apps still aren't
usually sophisticated enough to do source code escrow (and what does that
really mean for SaaS apps), but a business would still be hurt if someone like
Salesforce disappeared (or even a smaller product like a CRM gmail extension
or whatever, if your workflow is built around it.)

Also, developers are customers of sites with APIs, so some kind of promise
that an API will remain available, non-throttled, etc. would be good incentive
to adopt it.

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stretchwithme
Hard to believe that they got $7 million in funding and are not even trying to
sell the leftovers on ebay.

~~~
batgaijin
That money bought a lot of respect for their users.

~~~
stretchwithme
Respect is free.

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oxwrist
What would you do with the domain name?

~~~
gm
DOS batch file programming reference and tutorials?

Joke.

Anyway, you would do anything with it. It's generic enough.

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robryan
The app filled a niche that no one really needed. It was well designed and
worked well, the winners in the photos space are providing more than a sharing
mechanism though. They are either attaching it to the rest of your social
media (Facebook) or providing new ways to take pictures (Instagram) which even
there has beat hipstamatic because they have built social around that and
developed their own network culture.

~~~
ceol
It also looks like a considerable number of people on HN— myself included— had
never heard of it. I mean, it appears the link to their site had never been
submitted before.

~~~
robryan
There has definitely been an article submitted about batch before. Wouldn't
really say they launched to a massive reception though.

------
muratmutlu
I wonder how a app like this got through $7 million of funding or do you think
they would be giving some back after deciding to shut down?

