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Comment by Shish2k | Hacker News Reader

"When Plug is installed on your computer, our application intercepts all the input/output operations performed on your files, using several patent pending technologies. When Mac OS X, Windows or Linux want to store or access data, they ask our application instead of manipulating the hard drive."

They've patented FUSE now? Or is that NFS?

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FUSE wouldn't do what they claim to do. FUSE would let them create a Dropbox-alike, i.e. a separate partition whose contents are synced to the Plug. Using FUSE to intercept all I/O on all files would require you to migrate your entire directory structure to their FUSE filesystem; probably a rather unfriendly setup procedure.

If their description is to be believed, they're presumably installing a kernel module which hooks in above or below the filesystem layer, so it doesn't require you to modify your existing filesystems.

That would be the "Translucent File System" from Sun, patent #5,313,646 (http://www.google.com/patents/US5313646). Back when Sun was building a new source code control system (code named Avocet) they wanted a way to create a 'view' of the branch which included stuff from NFS servers and stuff locally. The problem is subtly tricky in some ways (creating 'whiteout' to delete a file which exists in one layer but not the other).

Its a really handy thing, and I was very impressed with it in the mid '90s when I was using it. Perhaps its time has come again?

A similar technique is also used in IBM's Rational ClearCase suite. It uses a proprietary networked filesystem to provide a dynamic view to users. It was an interesting attempt at a solution for version control and I'm sure that its in use today.

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearcase

I have a fuzzy memory of the folks at Rational licensing the entire source code product from Sun at one point. I know some of the key engineers on it went to work for Rational (this was all pre-IBM acquisition)

If their kernel-hacking description is to be believed, it will hork your whole system every time you get a minor OS upgrade.

Weird ad copy. The product is aimed at techies, but techies abhor patent-encumbered software.

I thought the days of using "patent-pending" as marketing puffery were over...

The product is aimed at techies? I got a very different impression, from phrases like “we have a passion for simplifying the life of non-geek people,” as well as the general tone of the pitch.

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