Market dynamics are real interesting. Everything starts with an idea. Then, a bold person ventures into the idea, invests both money and time in it until it bears fruit. If the idea gains pace, other start flocking towards it.
This is usually the period when the giants in the field will be busy scoffing at the idea or telling people that it is not worthy for them to use it. This is a period of tremendous growth for this idea as many startups attempt to replicate the original or try new models in search of money.
Once the money starts to pour in, the big companies notice and jump in. Soon, the whole competition in the arena is eaten by these biggies that were once scoffing at the startups for trying something.
Sometimes, only a few with the first mover advantage remain. While there are many companies like Google and Amazon that can claim that they still have a startup like approach to business, the truth is that once you have a billion dollars to back you up, it is immaterial what is in your heart.
Online cloud storage seems to be going down the similar path. When Dropbox brought in 2 GB data, it was a small amount that was good starting point but with not very bright future plans. Cut to now, 25 GB seems to be a norm now. Companies like Google and Mega are giving out 25 GB space. Even Box gives 50GB space from time (either that or I got really lucky that every phone I buy adds box space for free).
Seeing the market, many competitors like Mega entered it as well. Canonical too was one of them. They decided to up their OS popularity by adding cloud services in the mix. In addition, Ubuntu One gave Linux users (some of them) a personal cloud storage especially made for Linux. Until then adding a linux client was just an afterthought. Ubuntu One started from this point.
Unfortunately, it could not compete with other services that were increasing the cloud space every day, especially considering Canonical has limited resources and they are right now focusing on ‘a convergent OS for phones, tablets and PC.’
In the words of Canonical CEO, Jane Silber- “As of today, it will no longer be possible to purchase storage or music from the Ubuntu One store. The Ubuntu One file services will not be included in the upcoming Ubuntu 14.04 LTS release, and the Ubuntu One apps in older versions of Ubuntu and in the Ubuntu, Google, and Apple stores will be updated appropriately. The current services will be unavailable from 1 June 2014; user content will remain available for download until 31 July, at which time it will be deleted.”
Silber also said that- “The shutdown will not affect the Ubuntu One single sign on service, the Ubuntu One payment service, or the backend U1DB database service.”
Therefore, if any of you use Ubuntu One, it is time to change ships.
I love DropBox and have used it for years both personally and in a business environment. The biggest challenge that they face is they provide a service that is easily replicated by any number of companies, including powerful ones like Google , Amazon and Microsoft. The services are a dime a dozen right now and they way I see it, there are two things that can set a company apart: 1) tight integration with multiple platforms and 2) lots of storage space. Dropbox is doing a great job on the integration front. But right now, they are getting pressure on the storage space issue. So right now I am making the switch to a product by Barracuda called Copy. They start you out with 20GB of space (more than I have on DropBox after years) and with referrals of 5GB a pop it can go up quickly from there. Check it out at https://copy.com?r=BlX7tm.