
New Rule: Don’t launch a storage service if you’re going to close down within a year. - peter123
http://blog.box.net/?p=737
======
hapless
Something that the author brushes over is that the other two services that
closed their doors -- Xdrive and Briefcase -- are over ten years old.

When HP closes a service after a year, maybe they really just don't get it.

When AOL and Yahoo close 10-year-old services... Well, it's not necessarily a
good sign for box.net that the big players in their niche have decided it's
non-viable after a decade-long trial period.

~~~
snprbob86
Not worthwhile for AOL and Yahoo is very different from non-viable. They might
not have the resources to dedicate to sustaining it. It might not fit with
their corporate strategy or vision. Maybe it makes money, but just not enough
to justify their manpower.

~~~
hapless
If these sites were viable, but not a "fit," then we would be hearing about
AOL and Yahoo selling the properties, not closing them down.

~~~
snprbob86
What would they sell?

The engineering team they need for other projects?

The technology which several startups have proven is easily recreated?

They aren't going to sell part of the AOL or Yahoo brand, so they could only
really sell it if it had a unique name with which to preserve the user base
under.

I dunno, the basic math shows you can charge people for storage and bandwidth
and you can make money on top of it. I wouldn't right this product off yet.

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spolsky
Pardon me for stating the obvious, because nobody has yet: Nobody PLANS to
close down within a year.

If you really want to give customers confidence that you're going to be around
for the long run, you have to charge a lot of money. More than the
competition. That's the only way to demonstrate that your business is viable.

~~~
dhouston
well, they do charge more than the competition ;)

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sgrove
Meh, not much substance here. A bit of marketing speak, "razor-focused" etc.

I wouldn't mind some details about how they excel, why they built those
features in, when they realized each feature was the next critical step, etc.
That would make for interesting reading, and I assume "Aaron Levie, CEO and
Co-Founder of Box.net" has knowledge to explain it all.

Here's hoping we get to read about that next!

~~~
ryanwaggoner
True, to the HN crowd, there's not much substance, as we want details. But for
the average consumer of the types of services Box.net is offering, this seems
like a great marketing move to me.

~~~
tptacek
Under no circumstances is the average consumer going to believe that "box.net"
is a safer bet than HP, even if that is in fact the case.

~~~
ryanwaggoner
Excellent point. I should start thinking through these comments...

~~~
sgrove
tptacek makes a good point, as do you ryan. I suppose I had assumed we were
the target for this post, not "the average consumer".

If I was right, I think my point stands. If not, tptacek's likely right,
though perhaps it may lay the seeds of confidence in box's readership.

------
Angostura
The actual headline of this article seems as if it should be: "New Rule:
Online storage alone is insufficient for an online storage venture to
succeed".

------
zacharypinter
Just skimming the headline, I read that as Box.net was going down. After
reading the article I of course saw that Box.net was criticizing others for
going down. However, I have to wonder if the confusion of the blog post's
title hurts their credibility more than than the article helps it.

------
dw0rm
Whats with the link on the logo, its href is {#http_root#}

~~~
hachiya
Must be a templating system glitch.

------
TweedHeads
Oh boy, somebody is going to eat his own words.

That post will be frozen in time till the day they close shop, then it will
haunt him for the rest of his life.

