XDrive is up for sale!
I always thought there is scope for online storage and the market for it is very large. However, with AOL putting up XDrive for sale and that too for $5M which is way less that they bought it for $30M (Rumored) says a lot. However, Xdrive had inspired me to take up a similar project based on Online Backup storage academically and to see my insipration being sold off like that kind of hurts!
Although i think XDrive had some fundamental problems the basic one being the fact that it lacked social interaction among its users. They could have done much better if users were able to collaborate on documents, share files, etc. They could have also done much better to have targeted the programmers market with providing version control for files etc instead of just providing space for downloading and uploading. I mean anyone can provide that space and people can buy that kind of space dirt cheap these days especially with the competition in the online storage sector as well as with services like Amazons S3 with its pay per stroage and pay per download model of operation.
So, lets hope that the new owners incorporate these changes and make XDrive a better system.



July 29th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Hey, you mentioned the need for tools to collaborate on your files? And how about commenting, sharing, editing, faxing, signing, among others?!
Kendra from Box.net here - just wanted to chime in and let you know that Box.net will happily provide a smooth transition to any XDrivers interested in a new service for their files.
We are even offering a 20% discount to those who sign up through http://www.box.net/ref/xdrive and using the promo code: xdrive
Take good care,
Kendra
Community Manager
http://www.box.net
August 1st, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Hey, this is Giovanna from Drop.io!
If you need a venue to privately share documents, audio, video, etc… online, Drop.io can definitely help you out. In fact, we can even do it for free!!
Right now Drop.io is welcoming you and all Xdrive users to privately store and share files online with a free premium upgrade!
All users have to do is visit: http://www.drop.io/welcomeXdrive and they will be provided with a free 1GB drop valid for one year.
All the best,
Giovanna
http://www.drop.io