Batch is shutting down
batch.com
batch.com
* no reasons/details
* no apologetic tone
* short timeframe to move your data
Suck it users!
"An Airbnb spokesperson told me that if plans change in the future, Dailybooth and Batch users will be given ample notice before those services are closed."
Hilarious.
Will not surprise me at all that many users will miss this announcement. Turn off new accounts today, but give them 6 months and remind those that haven't signed in monthly.
Although it's not a very good page for their users, either.
In a situation like this, if you can't say anything professional, then don't say anything at all.
We're monitoring who's downloading their content and who's not. If we see that there are a large number of users who still haven't downloaded their content, we'll adjust that date.
When you go out of business, save each user's data separately and send them an access URL. The user can pay Amazon to retrieve it if they want it back.
All that said I don't think Glacier is set up to deal with a situation where one party inserts a ton of data owned by many other parties, so this is all very theoretical, but IMO it would be great to have something like this.
After reading the pricing and FAQ a bit more, it looks like there will have to be a 3rd party in the middle. There doesn't seem to be a "reader pays" option in Glacier.
There. I registered data-morgue.com. Now, if I can just get a free week…
Of course people will argue that regulatory action is unnecessary: if sudden terminations are an issue, people will naturally flock to services which guarantee due notice through terms of service.
This is a very real practical problem. I basically never use any SaaS app that isn't at least as established as, say, Basecamp and if enough people think like me you've got a horrible chicken and egg problem. I'm not sure how you fix it, but I don't think it is via laws.
Disclaimer: I'm the lead developer on OpenPhoto which does just this.
I would love to see someone make that argument and try to keep a straight face at the same time.
One way of reassuring me in using a product like this would be to have something in the app's settings menu that allows me to point to a different production server, and a commitment in the legal Terms of Service that in the event that the product is shut down, that the server-side code will be open-sourced.
http://uncrunched.com/2011/10/27/batch-may-be-the-perfect-mo...
Hint to startups: don't try to solve problems that are already solved.
It would almost make sense for AWS or someone else already providing the infrastructure to do this for a few percent premium on every bill.
In the enterprise space, a lot of software contracts include source code escrow, etc.
Source code in escrow works because a large customer builds it into the contract; meaning you only get paid if you agree to the terms.
Consumer startups work by removing payment friction for their users, which inverts the dynamic. Plus, most consumers aren't as tech-savvy as HN so it wouldn't enter into consideration when they use an application.
It might make sense for b2b apps instead of consumer. b2b apps still aren't usually sophisticated enough to do source code escrow (and what does that really mean for SaaS apps), but a business would still be hurt if someone like Salesforce disappeared (or even a smaller product like a CRM gmail extension or whatever, if your workflow is built around it.)
Also, developers are customers of sites with APIs, so some kind of promise that an API will remain available, non-throttled, etc. would be good incentive to adopt it.
Joke.
Anyway, you would do anything with it. It's generic enough.