989 karma · joined May 28, 2013
I’m not saying publishers can get away with anything with a simply “beta” label, but it’s an important fact to mention if you’re going to release a whole piece about this…
I also 100% agree with what you say about product updates, I want my backup provider to be relatively static and slow in changing their product as long as it is robust and it does the job.
On the more specific reasons I think Backblaze is a little far behind in UI/UX: - It's very hard (or impossible) to know if you're 100% backed up after you add new files to your HD. - When you go to the website to check if your new files are backedup, the web page is extremely slow and outdated (I'm talking windows xp style interface iframed into a modern page). - When you get a new HD, because you're constantly filling this things up, the transition process is very sketchy, to say the least. Technically you go through the same process as when you loose an HD, which might make sense, but the process is very slow and the user doesn't get much feedback as to the progress and state of it. Which is particularly nerve-racking when you're dealing with a huge and priceless treasure trove of information.
That said I do have to make a caveat in favor of Backblaze. Not only it is reasonably priced (100$/year, new pricing), Backblaze seems to be design to run continuously on computers with lots of storage and with their HDs connected at all time. That's why they don't bother giving the information about the completeness of your backup, or even making a good web UI for it, because I guess their target user just turns on Backblaze and never really looks back at it. And forget about sharing files through Backblaze, it is 100% a backup tool, not a modern cloud file tool.
It should be said that I fall a bit off their target user, I want to backup my external drives that are connected only when I add new files, and not my whole computer, all the time. This is also the motivation to once in a while look for an alternative in hopes of finding a better solution.
Thanks for the tip on SpiderOak, I'll have a look into it.
Indeed, merge policy management and enforcement is a pain point for a lot of companies out there, specially for the ones growing up and trying to keep a solid process with new people coming in.
It would be interesting if this could be a browser extension that modifies the original Hacker News so we can upvote and comment.
What's also mildly interesting is that the phones don't have a single screw on the outside. It's all glued/clipped in.
On the other hand you have a Figma, product-led, figuring out what's best for users, and kicking ass with a web-based solution that IS what designers/devs need. Legends!
Treating all PRs as the same, will lead to waiting times all the same was well, probably 1-5 days long, which is crazy high with todays knowledge and technology. We can do better.
What we've seen that work's well is the 3) option that you mentioned, convincing (or also paying) somebody with a great network to talk about our product.