Or perhaps you want to position this as a FB-only service? It would certainly differentiate your service, but might also limit your user base unnecessarily.
I'd agree that generally it's not the best idea to limit a service to just FB users (unless it is fundamentally tied to FB). That said, it's not horrible to start with FB and iterate outward... As long as that iteration happens in the near future.
We use Facebook to validate your identity and send the download link directly to the recipient's Facebook message inbox.
Technical question: how are they able to do this? I needed to programmatically send Facebook PMs a while back, and from what I could tell it was not possible. What gives?
It would certainly differentiate your service, but might also limit your user base unnecessarily
Limiting user base? I don't think it would hurt much. Half of internet users use Facebook. I think they have a good chance at giving better user experience by tying with Facebook.
Peer to peer? I guess I am getting old. I can remember when peer to peer meant that one host would communicate directly to the other host and not store the file transfer on a centralized system. Or that an application would not use a centraliozed third party for authentication.
Amen, brother! These were my assumptions as well when clicking the link. It would be more accurate to call this service peer-to-server-to-another-server-to-peer.
We only store the file on our central server if the receiving end doesn't have our app. If they have the app, we create a direct connection between both parties and transfer the file(s) directly without them ever hitting our servers.
"All our files are encrypted with top of the line 256-bit AES encryption. We use Facebook to validate your identity and send the download link directly to the recipient's Facebook message inbox. No one but the recipient will ever be able to access the file."
No, thank you. Above is a turn off. First of all, the files can't be yours and you can't make people use Facebook to use your service.
I love seeing apps that replace what we misuse email for -- e.g. sending files to a friend -- and looks like you guys have that spot on.
The biggest issue with other solutions is that they grow to a point where it's no longer easier than just emailing the file. Hopefully you guys don't outgrow the ease of use!
We also support hooking into your address book on your Mac, and are working on integrating your online email address book and ActiveDirectory into it. We're trying to cover every single contact mechanism out there so you don't have to worry about "finding the right tool" to send a file to someone -- we hope to make SendRail work for every single use case you encounter.
Cool product and integration with OS X. Your video needs a lot of work - you're talking way too much about technical things like 'threads' 'asynchronous' and 'in the background' - no normal user cares about these things. Show me how I can click a file, press a shortcut, and have it show up on my friends computer. This is a killer feature and you need to HAMMER it.
Every time people think about a solution about this (to my mind) huge e-mail issue I'm really happy to be not the only one who is sick of the existing solutions out there.
I used to use things like Dropbox or other syncing services and then share the link of a file, which is for me an okay solution. But not what makes me really happy.
Your idea looks also interesting, but how do you want to manage things like the file storage time? Do you want to store them permanent?
What will become also some interesting challenge is to make the "send file functionality" everywhere in the world fast, regarding up- and downstream.
Really looking forward if other people will find an idea soon.
I've been thinking for a while now about it and still never found the kick-ass idea.
Great that other smart people are trying to make sending files easier!
We at Dropdock ( http:/getdropdock.com/getstarted , check at the end for invite code ) are also working on this problem. We have developed a Cross platform application that send files to anyone, wether they are a dropdock user or online.
Dropdock also work flawlessly over LAN. Our client auto detect other dropdock users on the LAN so you can send them larges files with ease.
We have working on an Android & iOS app too so you can send all those photos and HD video to anyone in one big batch instead of uploading them to different services or sending multiples emails.
We don't want to replace file attachement. If you want to send a simple spreadsheet to someone, you should sent it through email with explanation and not upload it somewhere and C/C the links.
Finally, we though going the facebook route too, but it wasn't too user friendly since you can't auto detect other users base on their facebook account and it just didn't make sens for us to use Facebook messages for notifications.
We are currently in private Beta ( Alpha-ish ) but are about to release a big update with a lot of fixes and new features. If you want to try it out, signup at http://getdropdock.com/signup with the invite code DROPDOCKBETAP1.
It may well be a great product, but sadly as soon as I see the word "facebook", my gut reaction is good bye privacy, there for Im automatically excluded. Shame.
Cool concept. Is there not a way to streamline the process even more? Is it possible to generate a magnetized link that sets the file location for you?
We host our files on a completely different server which is completely secure. Sorry for the confusion there and thanks for raising this point -- we'll add SSL to our main website too.
This seems almost identical to Sendoid which appears to have died completely. For asynch file sharing, we can use Dropbox, for synchronous file sharing, Skype. Is there a file size limit on Skype?
I must say that when I've seen a very very similar product completely die as recently as Sendoid did, I get pretty sceptical about the viability of the idea.
Side note, but I'm curious: what do you use to send messages directly to the Facebook messages inbox? The standard FB dialog or is there some Graph API endpoint that will let you do that? My memory of the FB API is hazy, but a quick scan seems to indicate that you still can't post messages to the inbox without popping up the UI.
Great question - we're using the xmpp_login permission that Facebook Auth provides to get messaging permission from the user and we have an XMPP server running on Node.js that handles all the messaging.
[+] [-] miles|13 years ago|reply
You might want to consider offering a couple of different options; none of these file transfer services have a FB requirement:
http://wetransfer.com http://yousendit.com http://letscrate.com http://ge.tt
Or perhaps you want to position this as a FB-only service? It would certainly differentiate your service, but might also limit your user base unnecessarily.
[+] [-] spartango|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] itmag|13 years ago|reply
Technical question: how are they able to do this? I needed to programmatically send Facebook PMs a while back, and from what I could tell it was not possible. What gives?
[+] [-] alagu|13 years ago|reply
Limiting user base? I don't think it would hurt much. Half of internet users use Facebook. I think they have a good chance at giving better user experience by tying with Facebook.
[+] [-] mwexler|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dfc|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] miles|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ritikm|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|13 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] webwanderings|13 years ago|reply
No, thank you. Above is a turn off. First of all, the files can't be yours and you can't make people use Facebook to use your service.
[+] [-] ericz|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mtgx|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rsamvit|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] _urga|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] latortuga|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lixef|13 years ago|reply
I used to use things like Dropbox or other syncing services and then share the link of a file, which is for me an okay solution. But not what makes me really happy.
Your idea looks also interesting, but how do you want to manage things like the file storage time? Do you want to store them permanent? What will become also some interesting challenge is to make the "send file functionality" everywhere in the world fast, regarding up- and downstream.
Really looking forward if other people will find an idea soon. I've been thinking for a while now about it and still never found the kick-ass idea.
I wish you all the best for your product.
Ps: on the bottom of your website is a "-->".
Best, Felix
[+] [-] knes|13 years ago|reply
We at Dropdock ( http:/getdropdock.com/getstarted , check at the end for invite code ) are also working on this problem. We have developed a Cross platform application that send files to anyone, wether they are a dropdock user or online.
Dropdock also work flawlessly over LAN. Our client auto detect other dropdock users on the LAN so you can send them larges files with ease.
We have working on an Android & iOS app too so you can send all those photos and HD video to anyone in one big batch instead of uploading them to different services or sending multiples emails.
We don't want to replace file attachement. If you want to send a simple spreadsheet to someone, you should sent it through email with explanation and not upload it somewhere and C/C the links.
Finally, we though going the facebook route too, but it wasn't too user friendly since you can't auto detect other users base on their facebook account and it just didn't make sens for us to use Facebook messages for notifications.
We are currently in private Beta ( Alpha-ish ) but are about to release a big update with a lot of fixes and new features. If you want to try it out, signup at http://getdropdock.com/signup with the invite code DROPDOCKBETAP1.
[+] [-] alan_cx|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aprescott|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gillett|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kirillzubovsky|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] simonmales|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ritikm|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dools|13 years ago|reply
I must say that when I've seen a very very similar product completely die as recently as Sendoid did, I get pretty sceptical about the viability of the idea.
[+] [-] fomojola|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ritikm|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dfield|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rsamvit|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bencoder|13 years ago|reply
http://www.filesovermiles.com/
Can't really see how this could be more convenient to me.
[+] [-] slurgfest|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] icebraining|13 years ago|reply
[1]: http://www.getshareapp.com/
[+] [-] sturmeh|13 years ago|reply
It has a desktop client? (Which is the whole point.)
[+] [-] lixef|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bussetta|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mintplant|13 years ago|reply