Writely, Desktop as a backup, & Sync
Congrats to writely. I wonder if Google will enjoy Box.net’s project notes. 
Moving on… Let’s, for a moment, assume that no bandwidth constraints existed, and we could freely upload and download files to the internet at a speed similar to writing data onto our local drive. At that point, it would actually make perfect sense to manage all of your data on a website or mapped drive. Taken further, you could almost consider your desktop as the backup drive. Seann Birkelund, of Azure Capital Partners, mentioned this neat perspective to us. More on this later.
Lastly, as a Sync software update: Our brave testers have found a handful of quirks in the software, so once we have all these cleaned up we will release the 1.0 to everyone. Thanks again to those of you who are helping!
Oh, and one final thing… Techcrunch announced the soon-to-launch Goowy module for file storage/sharing, powered by Box.net. We also have another module that is available to the public right now. Since we have not publicly announced it yet, I can’t disclose which site you’ll find it on, but if you email me I’ll give you a hint.
that other site would be Netvibes then
March 10th, 2006 at 9:48 am
no comment
March 10th, 2006 at 10:06 am
hehe nice been using since last night - will probably change the way I store files!
March 10th, 2006 at 10:12 am
Is there a plan at some point to offer IMAP mail service on box.net? mail.box.net or something? The appeal there would be centralizing my docs and files (using sync) and my mail using your service, it would be the beauty of .mac without the perverse fees.
Also I noticed some of the email-only services online offer a “migration” utiltiy where they will connect to existing IMAP or POP3 accounts (like Gmail) and over time pull down all your messages from those accounts into the one central account, this is a huge turn on so if you guys did go this route this may be something people ask/demand/require which I’m guessing is just shy of a huge undertaking.
Sorry this might seem OT
March 10th, 2006 at 12:20 pm
Hi Aaron
I’d sent you an email to test the Sync software but haven’t heard from you. I am eagerly waiting for the sync software. Can you please give me the link to download the software?
Thanks
March 10th, 2006 at 3:47 pm
re Riyad’s comments I really like the idea of having email and files together. The email service I use also offers online storage with webDAV access but at prohibative cost for backup use (about 5 x box.net fees for 1G of files)
I already regard the box.net copy of my files as the ‘master’ and work with box.net open on the desktop dropping things in as I update them. The desktop sync promises to be a major step forward for me.
Of course once you have email and files, you could then add the ability to host websites…. where would you stop?!
March 10th, 2006 at 5:17 pm
Abdul,
We had you on the second round of testers. Since we got a good list of bugs to fix, we wanted to have them worked out before more people start using it.
Nick, glad you’ve started to treat us that way! Web hosting is a bit of a stretch for us, mostly because we don’t want to confuse our message. So I think that is where we might stop
March 10th, 2006 at 6:00 pm
Aaron,
I enjoy using Box.net alot. Very slick UI with very nice color theme, it makes me want to pick up the crayon and start coloring! As a web deverloper myself, I wonder about your bandwidth and server implementation. The servers must be uber powerful, but witouth giving out much of box.net’ secrets, can you give us some kinds of statistic on the capacity of the servers and the number of users you can handle with the current bandwidth.
It’s just hard for me to see that a start-up company having that much resource to sustain in this very steep competition. Don’t you just hate google now for commoditizing everything? Thanks God that they don’t have the budget to hire a decent web-designer (just kidding, but they should stay out that way).
Business wise, I can see box.net cost you guys at least 1 to 2 grands a month for server and bandwidth costs. Plus the team of 4, 5 other deverlopers. It’s hard to get enough people paying a McDonald burger a month to secure their files online, especially with the G-monster’s menace.
Anyway, best of luck and again, I do enjoy staying with Box.net. Hopefully you guys won’t stop being awesome any time soon.
PS: If you want to increase your users, do advertise on Facebook.com. It works but again, it’s even harder for students to shell-out $5.00/ a month — maybe if you can persade the parents to do the look pay. Hey, how about direct sales to the University to have their students’ files hosted on your server? That would be nice as students don’t have to carry the usb-key around and lost it like I did. Just my suggestions …
Alex
March 10th, 2006 at 6:39 pm
Alex,
All good suggestions. We have thought about the University route… there is tons of demand, but the red tape at colleges makes it very difficult and not necessarily worth our time at this stage. Unfortunately I cannot share our costs with you, but I can confirm they are high
To your Mcdonalds response, we’ll just have to see if people like us more than cheeseburgers (at least once a month). Google will definitely be an obvious choice for some, but we’ll have a strong user base before that time comes.
Till then, keep storing.
March 10th, 2006 at 7:22 pm
Hi Aaron
havent’ got time to hunt up an email client on this computer lol… but am at the uni trying to use box.net and unfortunately (must be the proxy settings here) i can download files but not upload files…
which is a bit of a pain.
Thought I’d mention it… you can scrub this as a comment though I guess. Its really just because there’s no basic way on the site of emailing you’s directly.
cheers.
Steven Clark, aka nortypig
March 10th, 2006 at 9:04 pm
Which upload method are you using? Can you try clicking: “settings > preferences > simple upload” ? then go back to the browse screen and click “upload > add files”
Let me know if that works if you have no email. Posting on the blog is fine, but maybe I’ll clean up this thread later
March 10th, 2006 at 9:13 pm
Just one question - if I refer 5 friends, I get the Premium account,then if I pay 49.95 over that,will you give the Pro account for one year.
Second question - what if you get purchased by Google
will we still get to keep the Premium.
BTW there are email services like Runbox and Fastmail,which have a much larger base than Goowy, especially Fastmail. You might set up an API and get them to use Box.net. Runbox already has an 1 GB files folder but they charge an additional 29.95 /GB
March 10th, 2006 at 10:51 pm
Box.net is one of the options in netvibes
March 10th, 2006 at 11:00 pm
Yes sure, that upgrade would work.
I think if Runbox is charging for 1GB, then they may not want to give it out for free
Fastmail is a good idea… There are lots of providers in that space we would love to work with.
March 11th, 2006 at 12:26 am
Right Hello Aaron,
Congratulations on the BRILLIANT site, i havent found an online storage site which is anything like this one. But i have one question how do sub-users log in??? Probs a noob question but i cant find anything about it anywhere
THanks for the help
Joe
March 11th, 2006 at 11:59 am
Emailed you.
March 11th, 2006 at 12:02 pm
Aaron, can you also please email me regarding that sub users login.
My girlfriend is not very tech savy, and I try to fing her the easiest way to use that service.
Also, just an idea : Yahoo propose a briefcase, with only 50 Mb.
Did you ever think working with them ?
Let say with their paying subscriber (15 $/year) and offereing them, a specific account, of 500 Mb or 1Gb ?
A lot of people are savings their files to and from work using the briefcase (case where I am working).
A deal with yahoo (against Google would assure you some nice days!
Well, as I said, just an idea (and I will be happy to see my email client working with Box.net!).
Sebastien
Sebastien
March 11th, 2006 at 3:44 pm
The help section should go over sub-accounts if you have general questions. If you run into specific issues, feel free to email me directly. Working with yahoo is a great idea, of course; it’s just a matter of getting in the door. Thanks for the suggestions.
March 11th, 2006 at 5:36 pm
Heya, kids. I absolutely LOVE Box.net. Seriously. The color scheme, the user friendliness… I just have one request and it is thus: Don’t change. Seriously. Add more, make it better, but don’t go away. ^_^ Good luck with everything, guys.
March 11th, 2006 at 6:02 pm
Hi, i like your serverve i found you via netvibes.com because they offer to enclose your service. On the Feature-Site a found a Description for the “Desktop Sync” but nowhere a download. Is this still beta or is there a way to get it? Ray
March 13th, 2006 at 2:34 am
Hi, your site is greate. But …
I have a Basic account, and it’s very difficult to upload something, It interrupts very often and i have no idea why, Simple upload or Single file upload or Java-applet work same way. It can be made specially? To limit the free-of-charge traffic?
March 15th, 2006 at 11:25 am
i’m hard waiting for the desktop sync software. is there a way to try the beta ?
March 18th, 2006 at 4:47 am
Hello there,
when will the sync application be available? Please give us a date.
This is the only thing to be tested before upgrading my account.
nob
March 19th, 2006 at 3:18 am
when will the sync be available? I want to use it for primary backup of my data on a daily basis, with remote employees able to access the materials real-time.
Your concept is great.
March 24th, 2006 at 1:32 am
coolblooded plane destroy or not , when cards increase boy play
March 26th, 2006 at 8:52 am
any news about the sync tool ?
March 26th, 2006 at 10:34 am
When When When will the sync tool be ready ?
April 2nd, 2006 at 9:52 am