The thing about useful stuff is: Unlimited free storage

Unlimited free storage - too good to be true? Friday, December 29, 2006

DivShare is a service that claims to offers FREE unlimited online file storage and sharing. This takes the online storage arms race to a new level amongst start-ups.

There are a number of firms operating in this space such as

DropBoks is a website that allows you to securely upload and download your files as you please. No bells, no whistles. Each account has 1 GB of storage space available. You can upload and download files (any format) as large as 50 MB. It relies on donations to operate.
Localhostr is another free service that is no longer accepting registrations - it accepted files up to 7mb in size.

Surprisingly the service can be used without registering although more features are available if you do. The service features:

Upoload unlimited files
Serve unlimited downloads
Files stay online forever!
No pop-up ads or spam
Incredibly fast, reliable servers

So, with no apparent revenue stream and yet unlimited storage cost exposure I question how long these folks can possibly survive. Whilst the bullets above are differentiators when viewed as a package, it's not clear why a large firm would choose to buy them - cheaper to replicate and use a strong brand instead. So in using them, you're left wondering

how long will they be around - if they disappear one day, so will my files and so that's not a reliable backup
who gets access to my files - not sure any sensitive/confidential files should end up here

Not compelling is it? Sometimes if it looks to good to be true, maybe it is.

posted by John Wilson @ 10:26 PM Permanent Link newsvine reddit