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The real GDrive is here

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70 pointsnoahkagan69 comments

Do you really want to give yourselves the same name as a boy band from 10 years ago?

Hello all, I'm one of the founders of Insync. I shared the demo with Noah not knowing he would post it here. I'm glad he did :)

I will be glad to answer any questions.

I have one question:

Can I get a beta invite?

Sure, you can sign up for a beta at http://insynchq.com

I'm a bit confused by the concept. Why would I want my documents to sync to gDocs – when I already have gDocs that handles all the syncing? Sell me!

* I don't even worry about offline access anymore, since I'm basically never offline.

* I can share a document in real-time over gDocs.

* The only reason I have now to keep a document out of gDocs is formatting issues. Since these documents are synced to gDocs, I'll likely loose all the formatting.

It depends on your use case. Personally, I use Google Docs and Office.

But beyond that, it handles syncing and sharing outside of the GDocs folder. The feature set is actually quite broad.

Great concept. What about security? Will you have access to users' Google Docs files?

Thanks Andrew! The Google Docs access is approved via OAuth when you sign up.

I looked at the video, I looked at your site, and I still don't understand what the big difference between you and Dropbox is.

I realize the "Dropbox Killer" title wasn't accurate (or posted by you!), but from your other comments, it does look like you're competing with Dropbox (correct me if I'm wrong). Which is why I keep trying to understand what you do better, and failing.

Some background about me: I don't use Google Docs at all (which might be a problem, since your demo seems focused on that). I use and love Dropbox, I'm a paying customer (50Gb). I don't have any major complaints about Dropbox, it's been a dream so far, but I'm always open to alternatives.

Besides the GDocs integration, the big differences are our business edition that integrates tightly with Google Apps and shared folder recipients are not counted against their storage quota.

And a bunch of little things.

I don't know if you plan to actually market yourselves as a "better Dropbox". But if you do, you should make the differences (and similarities) much clearer. As someone who understands what Dropbox is, the sentence you wrote above is excellent: I know exactly what you are (like Dropbox), but also where you're better.

"I looked at the video, I looked at your site, and I still don't understand what the big difference between you and Dropbox is"

It looks like Dropbox works on more platforms.

This looks awesome, something I'd use every day.

My co-founder and I currently use Google Docs for everything from financial planning to project management (to-do lists, features, planning, spreadsheet feedback forms, etc.), but we also use Dropbox for sharing anything except docs and spreadsheets (stuff like sharing images and assets with our designers, etc.) It'd be great to bring it all under one program.

Thanks! Hope you give it a shot.

Funny, but calling something a "DropBox Killer" can easily backfire. It just reinforces Dropbox's position as the leader.

Someone who doesn't understand all the technology might not be able to distinguish features and prefer to go with the established entrenched leader (as confirmed by you!) over something 5% better that might not be here 6 months from now. Just a thought.

Noah has a way with words :)

We love Dropbox and I actually met Drew in Startup School last year. Funny story but at that time, we were just beginning to reverse engineer Finder on SL and Drew basically said (paraphrasing) "It's a bitch." We found out that he was right.

Anyways, we think that it's a pretty big market.

Edit: Thanks Noah for changing the title.

rsync + fuse + s3 is a dropbox killer. If you don't care about web and fancy iphone apps.

But without a "fancy iphone app", how can I read my documents on my iPhone? Also, will that combination work on Windows? Or on computers you have very limited access to (e.g. the iMac in the meeting room that is hooked up to the projector)?

And if you don't care about sharing documents with anyone other than a select few.

This is indeed a huge plus. "I can't disinfect your computer, I know absolutely nothing about Windows" works wonders too. Geek snobbism my friend!

or user experience or anyone other than geeks using it, yep, sure is a dropbox killer.

A piece of string with two cans is an iPhone killer too I suppose, by that logic...

For info of who came late here, the original title was 'Ask HN: Review my friends startup "DropBox Killer" '

Why do we need a Dropbox "killer" anyways? Dropbox works well and gives you 2gb for free. This is something that needs to be killed?

Whoa. A bit surprised to see this get voted up so quickly. I guess people either want an alternative to DropBox or like the Google Docs Offline Sync. Thoughts?

Text documents are the last thing I would use dropbox for because I have google docs. And I'm a heavy using, paying dropbox user - I don't think you can find many people to pay money for this.

We handle all file types and in-file deltas as well as deduping.

But what do you do that dropbox doesn't, besides google apps syncing, that makes Insync a Dropbox killer?

How does it handle complexly formatted documents? That's one of my main complaints of Google Docs (and main reason why I still use Office 2007 for all of my "serious" word processing needs).

Really? Maybe I missed the train but I wouldn't produce something that needs serious formatting in Office. I would imagine a language like LaTeX or even Markdown would be a better choice for seamless sharing between applications and the web?

Don't understand the downvotes here. This is exactly what I do — we just submitted at 20,000 word academic grant application with 15 collaborators at 6 sites. There is no way we could have done this in (sanely) in Word. We used our own etherpad instance to edit Markdown, then pandoc to convert to latex. Worked like a dream, and no old profs able to screw up the formatting.

Yes, the down votes on my previous thread confuses me. I am definitely not the larges MS Word lover in the bunch; however, there is no way that the wonderfully intelligent community that is HN is depending on it to format text that is being sent to an otherwise diverse group of people and platforms. One word simply comes to mind, "bizarre."

It’s certainly great if you don’t have to use Word. Many people have to, though, because they depend on other people who can only or will only use Word.

Writing in that context ‘but you don’t really have to use Word’ without actually answering the relevant question is wildly off topic and irrelevant and only true for a, I would guess, rather small subset of people.

Nothing is going to fall apart if you write everything in full .txt files. Word, iWork, Google Docs, and generally everything will open the file and it isn't formated with the likes of Word.

If you feel truly and honestly feel that you need to use a piece of software to appease a group of people, you have some deep seated issues with creativity. Of course I use the word you in reference to people who feel this way and not to anyone in the thread directly.

I use Word from time to time (but not if I don’t have to) because I don’t want to be a total douchebag. Life involves compromises. Working together with other people involves compromises. I can’t always convince everyone that we really should be using something different.

Oh, and while I am more than willing to agree with you that Word sucks I have no qualms using and liking other software which ultimately doesn’t give me text files. I absolutely adore InDesign and see no reason why I shouldn’t.

Insync works also outside of the Google Docs folder so complexly formatted docs are just fine :)

If you are a premier edition user, Google Docs allows you to keep document fidelity.

Looks cool. What happens when two users are editing a file at once? How does it handle the merging?

If gdocs to gdocs, then google takes care of it. If desktop to gdocs, we employ a simple conflict resolution where the conflicted copy gets saved locally.

How is this fundamentally different then SugarSync, or SpiderOak? There are at least 50 cloud storage apps all vying for the same market - why is this any better?

Here is the URL.

https://www.insynchq.com/

InsyncHQ (as in head quarters)

Thanks Mahmud for not just posting the link but helping us review our backend gratis! Cool guy!

It's ok. Definitely don't see this as a 'startup' perse. Maybe if it gains traction Google would do a talent acquisition to continue to build out Google Docs.

Definitely not a "DropBox Killer" though.

The concept is not bad, but in the age of Etherpad and Google Wave, this kinda feels a bit dated.

What's with the downvoting?

People don't seem to care for the tagline: "a Dropbox Killer"

What makes it a dropbox killer rather than a dropbox clone?

I would certainly appreciate the sync functionality with Google Docs. On the other hand, most of the time I just use Google Docs -- I don't switch back and forth from desktop to Google Docs, like in the video.

This is for when you work with people who use MS Office.

  "hey bro, install Insynchq"

That's it; you can stay in Google Docs, and they can stay in MS Office. Look ma, no manual document re-uploading needed!

I could see how you might be able to compete with Dropbox on price. Google storage is a lot cheaper than dropbox. Dropbox 50Gb is $120/yr (last I checked). Google will sell you 400Gb for $100/yr.

What'd really like to see is sharing specific folders with friends or colleagues who also use this app, just like Google apps allows you to share files with anyone.

We support that.

Cool idea but the reason I use Google Docs is because I don't have/want Microsoft Office on my computer - and for the sharing/collaboration.

I could see this being useful for notes and the like, but I've been a loyal Simplenote user for over a year now and I can't see myself ditching it for this.

I am a beta user and a die-hard Google Docs user. I found Insynchq immensily useful when working with MS Office shops; you just tell them to install the client and they will never have to email you a document again. Edits, deletions, etc. everything is kept track of without you having to move from version to version.

I like the app - seems pretty cool.

But what's the business here if all the storage is handled by Google?

The Google Docs folder is the only part where storage is handled by Google. Folders outside of that can be shared and/or synced and their storage is handled by Insync.

Dropbox killer is a bit dramatic. This seems to focus on syncing with Google Docs and desktop apps, Dropbox's aim is much more broad. I would venture to guess Dropbox already has something like this in the works as a feature.

The Google Docs sync is one of our features. There's a list on our homepage with screenshots – http://insynchq.com

Just one simple comment: the app name and URL do not match which can be an issue for adoption. I would consider an app name where you can match the two. Tricky to do these days but worth it IMO.

Of course, DropBox was originally www.getdropbox.com, so they could make the transition too if they can afford a matching domain.

A business which depends on google can't be called startup, it's a hack! They will let you live for a while then suddenly they will pull the plug.

Rapportive seems to be doing very well, and is certainly a "business which depends on google" right now.

For starters, it's not business yet - there's no money coming in, except funding. Second, they will do very well as long as Google tolerate them messing with GMail UI. So, it's a feature - yes, a clever hack - yes, but not really a sustainable business.

Insynchq has desktop clients for Windows, Mac and iPhone, and a client API. It can be used for document synching for things other than Google Docs, you can use it for asset management if you're a graphics designer, iterating through versions and allowing a client to see changes immediately. You can use it for synching and sharing any other documents as well.

How is that a mere hack?

I think it's due to your branding/feature page. The way it's presented, it's easy to think it's only work with Google Docs.

It doesn't just breaks GMail UI, but it hides the precious ADS panel.

Unfortunately I (and everyone concerned about privacy) won't let anyone beyond google "reading" my inbox.

Not a "DropBox Killer" since I don't think dropping 1 GB Photoshop files into Google Apps is a good idea.

But awesome anyway!

How do you differentiate yourself from Memeo Connect, Syncplicity, or even something like Gladinet?

Don't forget about SpiderOak when looking at Backup, Sync and share for Windows, Mac and Linux (Fedora, Ubuntu, OpenSUSE, Slackware etc). https://spideroak.com - like Dropbox but with more feature and security focus. Also 2+GB free with referrals etc.

does this require a premium docs account? meaning a min # of paying users?

I think it's a great idea. Makes Google docs much easier to access from other applications. It could really help in the corporate world where a company wants to migrate to Google Docs and legacy services need to be supported or to reduce training requirements.

It's no dropbox killer, but it serves different requirements. In fact, that title is link bait-ish. Nevertheless, it looks to me like it could be a viable product. I'd use it.

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