I like how the top comment in the Dropbox thread (#5) is someone criticizing it....

Mahn · on March 23, 2015

Still spot on today :)

MildlySerious · on March 25, 2015

"No mention of Javascript. How is this still relevant today?"

tmd83 · on March 23, 2015

priceless read :)

kachnuv_ocasek · on March 23, 2015

It's not really criticising Dropbox per se, but rather their comparison to USB sticks.

TheHypnotist · on March 23, 2015

To be fair, it was a pretty good suggestion!

soneca · on March 23, 2015

And to be fairer, he droped the USB tagline.

wjk · on March 23, 2015

theandrewbailey · on March 23, 2015

I argue that http://xkcd.com/949/ is the exact criticism.

edvinbesic · on March 23, 2015

"Every time you email a file to yourself so you can pull it up on your friend's laptop, Tim Berners-Lee sheds a single tear."

Made me chuckle, and then kind of sad since this is still standard practice for a lot of people I know.

liviu- · on March 23, 2015

What are the state of the art alternatives? FTPS? Dropbox?

edvinbesic · on March 23, 2015

Personally i use dropbox, we transfer or self hosted depending on the content and who I am sending it to.

ashmud · on March 23, 2015

Web-based email providers that switch to Dropbox-like services when attachments are too large for email?

timr · on March 23, 2015

It's a bit of HN lore that nickb was pg's sockpuppet.

I'm not sure if it was ever confirmed, but the evidence was reasonable.

Things were a little different back then. ;-)

amit_m · on March 26, 2015

That criticism was spot-on, and dropbox actually addressed those issues.