Oh dear. How am I going to trust a company that includes in it's business model SPAM in exchange for "free" services? That's terrifying.
In the end, I don't want squat from my online storage provider except online storage. I want it to be totally transparent.
brian breslin
· 4 years ago
why do people insist on getting something as valuable as data storage for free? I think this should cost $1 a month or something, just to avoid spam as a means of financing it. I tried Mozy, and it didn't even work, and I'm still getting spam through my dummy email forwarder... ah well. time to delete that forwarder.
Anand
· 4 years ago
I agree. The very idea of sending out spam in return of its free service makes it a seriously flawed business model.
I wonder what the guys at Mozy will have to say on this.
aaron levie
· 4 years ago
This breed (free w/ ads) is very bad for our trade (online file storage). In the late 90's many companies were offering free storage, but as Pete notes, this type of business is not sustainable (even as storage costs go down) just from advertising. This makes people distrustful of other legitimate services, as the fly-by-night operations give everyone a bad name.
My suggestion: if a company doesn't list a toll free number, and if you can't reach a voice, don't rely on them for your important data. Always remember... you get what you pay for.
-Aaron
Pete Cashmore
· 4 years ago
Everyone - thanks for the comments, although I'm surprised no-one has defended Mozy yet (from the company or otherwise).
Aaron - yup, even though I don't work in the storage industry, I can see the Mozy business model is totally unworkable long term. Maybe they're planning to release paid versions in the future - who knows?
Leandro Ardissone
· 4 years ago
Yes, I've tried Mozy with just a few images and mp3 folders, not important at all, and it 'sometimes' works. Every night it upload changes. And I don't know if I have spam emails because I direct it to gmail and in my inbox it doesn't appears.
The spam model is wrong IMO, but maybe another way, like ads in the site could be better.
And I agree with Aaron, if the site doesn't show me their phone numbers, be careful with them.
wil
· 4 years ago
Well.. from the user perspective... this model is excellent.. getting online storage for free...in exchange for a little spam (You can store all those irrelevant stuff there like.. your porn.. ur old files.. you got no place to chunk aside...) ... And of coz.. just remember to use an email account intended for spam ..just like you suggested...
It's similar to Gmail I guess.. most of the people i know .. are using Gmail accounts for friends to forward junk mails and funny video clips and wat have you.. while they use yahoo or hotmail for the serious stuff.
Steve
· 4 years ago
When you sign up for something that says they will send you advertising, it isn't spam. I'm signed up with dozens of sites that send me emails between once a day and once a month.
You know what? I have a 90% unread email inbox. If the subject doesn't grab me, it doesn't get opened. Hows that for real control of my own destiny? Mozy isn't a SPAM model, it's a sign-up and if you're really REALLY lucky they might send you a dozen advertising emails in six months.
There are hundreds of sites begging for legitimate emails to send legitimate advertising to. I'm not going to pass up 2GB of backup storage online because I'm going to pretend I'm some kind of elite linux wannabe hacker.
I also wouldn't trust them with important data. That's why I've got it all on DVD/CD/NAS and a 2nd HD. I have long term data spanning decades all rolled up and stored away in lots of locations.
I'll sign up and they'll send me their crap, and if I think it'll help them keep the service, it'll be just one more site in the hundreds I visit each night.
Nothing scares me about spam and advertising. I've had the same email address since 1993. I say send your spam and be damned! I'll sign for anything and suffer the consequences of maybe having to delete a few emails. If any of it gets past the ISP spam filters, that is. :-)
Alex Popov
· 4 years ago
Yeah that model stinks. There are plenty of online storage opptys without spammage
Pete Cashmore
· 4 years ago
Alex,
Are you part of shopance? Sounds like an interesting project - feel free to ping me when you launch!
Josh Coates
· 4 years ago
okay, i'll take the bait. ;-)
i don't usually comment on blog reviews of us, but i noticed a bunch of referrers from your site, and i thought i'd check it out. i read your post, and was kind of surprised, since it's the first negative review of our beta service i've read.
but, then again, if we don't get *some* negative reviews, then we are probably doing something wrong.. ;-)
instead of writing a long dissertation on "why the business model will work" i'll just say that we're serious about making free remote backup work, and sending emails to our users on occasion with goods & services we think are useful seems like an okay thing.
and by useful, i'm not talking about viagra, fake rolex watches or mortgage refinancing opportunities.
i'm a real person, our team is made up of real people, and so are our investors - we get crappy spam every day and we don't like it either. the last thing we want to do is dump all over the internet to make a buck.
we're taking things really slow - working on perfecting the software and service before we start any type of marketing, or sending occasional ads to our customers.
eventually, we'll have a pay option for people that need more services - but fundamentally, the idea is to offer an enterprise quality remote backup service for gratis.
anyway, thanks for the plug, and if you are interested in discussing it further, just drop me a line. if you'd like to help with the beta, go signup and try it out - we've got a lot of really happy customers.
-josh
Pete Cashmore
· 4 years ago
Hi Josh,
Thanks for your balanced response - good to see you're taken the criticism well. (And I'm sorry that your original comment got nuked by my spam filter - turns out it picked up the word "viagra".) But I kinda feel like you're not engaging with the points raised here: don't you realize that many (most?) of Mozy's customers will have supplied unused email addresses? What do you say when you approach advertisers: "we have some unused email addresses to send your ads to - there might be a few real ones, too, but basically none of our users want to receive your ad anyway."
So admittedly I'm playing devil's advocate here and if you've got a paid model in the works all is forgiven, but I can't help feeling you've sidestepped the whole point about Mozy's business model. Or perhaps you're waiting for the model to emerge?
josh from mozy
· 4 years ago
it's josh, not doug. ;-)
so you're right, i have sidestepped the business model issue - mostly because i don't see it as an issue. let me explain..
the vast majority of our beta users are using their real email address because they understand we are providing them with a valuable service. there is nothing we can do about the few people that use disposable email addresses. dealing with leaches is a problem that all free services have.
but lucky for us, most people are fair and honest people. if we provide them with a quality service, they respect that and accept the deal at face value.
also note that the type of people that are interested in protecting their data tend to be more mature and serious about their computer use and their data is actually valuable - backups are an important part of their professional or personal computer use. these types of folks tend to be pretty reasonable when it comes to playing fair.
but as far as our model being an issue - i'm not sure i follow. opt-in email marketing is a well understood revenue model, and we're not exactly reinventing the wheel here.
in 2004 opt-in email marketing companies reported over $3B in revenue. why? because if you sign up with a company, and like their products and services, you have a certain relationship of trust. if they email you a newsletter or information on a new product or service, there is a good chance you will try it out. advertisers understand this about these customer lists, and the proof is in the pudding.
so, i guess what i'm saying is that this isn't some crazy new business model - though maybe we are more overt about informing people about it before they sign up. the opt-in email market isn't a whole lot different than a model based on adwords, or banner ads - at the risk of oversimplification, the primary differences are the delivery mechanism and the nature of the relationship (casual viewer versus established customer.)
i think what may be unique about us in this market, is that we are primarily a technology company - we're software engineers that specialize in large scale parallel systems and we've come up with some pretty neat ways to alter the economics of this kind of system that allows us to make this work on a very large scale on a relatively modest revenue stream.
and as i mentioned in my previous post, a reasonable pay option will also be available that will be an additional revenue stream.
anyway, i could write volumes on this, but i'll keep it short. data loss is a huge bummer - so if you and your readers don't do regular offsite backups (and heck, who does?) you may want to help out with the beta and give it a try.
thanks for the forum, and good luck with your ventures. ;-)
cheers,
-josh
Pete Cashmore
· 4 years ago
Hi Josh,
Thanks for that. No idea how I managed to call you Doug - fixed it now. :)
Well, I'm still not convinced by Mozy's biz model, but we'll see. While most Mozy users are no doubt fair and honest, surely it would only take one dishonest user (registering hundreds of accounts, perhaps) to cause you big headaches. Anyway, keep me updated.
Nice to talk to you.
Pete.
Ken
· 3 years ago
I have to chime in here. I am a current Mozy user and I love it! I did sign-up using my "real" email address and I can't remember more than 1-2 emails from Mozy ever. I am very happy with Mozy. For gosh sakes, it's FREE (and 2 gb worth!). I don't mind a couple emails every once in a while in exchange for 2 gb of online storage. I do backup my data weekly on a DVD. However, it stays in my house (I don't take my DVD's off-site). So, for me, Mozy is an extra level of security if anything ever happened to my house (and my DVD backups). I knew fair well what I was getting into when I signed up (they don't hide anything). And, I've been extremely happy with the service. I highly recommend it!
June
· 3 years ago
I am not very happy with Mozy. I keep getting connection lost Error 4 every time Mozy tries to back up. I use Symantec Anto Virus cliet and Comcast cable. I use the same anti virus at work and Mozy works fine. MY BIG CONCERN!.....Mozy support has not responded to 4 emails asking for help. I am ready to leave Mozy and tell everyone about this. I even purchased more back up space.
Duncan Drury
· 3 years ago
Number one concern for me is Mozy not replying to emails asking for more information. Several months ago I emailed them asking for more information on how their system protects my data. Still have heard nothing. Since their business model is a bit questionable it is even more important to know about this - even if I trust Mozy should they go out of business who will be responsible for wiping their hard drives before they get auctioned off? Should I trust those people with my data?
So far I've had the newsletters which are annoyingly irrelevant - their blog also seems to go down this route. They just aren't giving me enough reasons to take them seriously - but backup is all about being serious!
josh
· 3 years ago
Duncan,
Lighten up. ;-)
You sent an email "Backup system" to info@berkeleydata.net on 6/26 8:37AM We replied the same day, at 6:25PM
Sorry you didn't receive it - it's probably in your junkmail folder. I'll re-send it today.
But while I'm at it, all data is encrypted on the disks, and if you opt to use a private key, even we can't decrypt the data.
-josh
Andrew Smith
· 3 years ago
I've been using Mozy for about a month now and I have to say I don't see what everyone here is complaining about! I signed up with my real address and haven't received any spam from them.
I'm currently working on my masters project and back everything up to a memory stick daily and a cd weekly but it's very reassuring to know that every time I make a drink Mozy pops up and backs up my work for me.
It's free, 2GB automated backup and you get little to no spam. If you're bothered about security then use your own encryption key. What's the big deal?
I HIGHLY recommend using this, I've got about 4 other people using it so far. If you decide to sign up then use my referal code 7N4CLI and we BOTH get an extra 256MB free for life. https://mozy.com/?code=7N4CLI if you want the link.
DanH
· 3 years ago
Don't want SPAM? Try Carbonite Online Backup. It costs $50/year for unlimited storage http://www.carbonite.com. IT's pretty slick.
Hans Klein
· 3 years ago
I've been using Carbonite -- that gives me unlimited storage space for $49.95 a year. It's not free, but there's no spam, very professional, very simple. I keep telling people about it because it's so simple and foolproof. Since they have one-size-fits-all pricing, they just default to backing up nearly everything, so there's nothing to do except start it. So far no problems, though I was surprised how long it took to back up roughly 60GB. I believe that's a factor of my DSL upload, though. Did not try Mozy, but I need more storage than they offer.
Stephen
· 3 years ago
The model doesn't stink. It's very smart. All you have to do is offer the best service - or at least be in the top three, then when all the big players (google, yahoo, msn, etc.) are scrambling for online backup features next year you sell.
It's a great business model really, so long as you can break even in the mean time. And let's be honest folks, storage and bandwidth are cheap cheap cheap these days.
All Comments
In the end, I don't want squat from my online storage provider except online storage. I want it to be totally transparent.
I tried Mozy, and it didn't even work, and I'm still getting spam through my dummy email forwarder... ah well. time to delete that forwarder.
I wonder what the guys at Mozy will have to say on this.
My suggestion: if a company doesn't list a toll free number, and if you can't reach a voice, don't rely on them for your important data. Always remember... you get what you pay for.
-Aaron
Aaron - yup, even though I don't work in the storage industry, I can see the Mozy business model is totally unworkable long term. Maybe they're planning to release paid versions in the future - who knows?
The spam model is wrong IMO, but maybe another way, like ads in the site could be better.
And I agree with Aaron, if the site doesn't show me their phone numbers, be careful with them.
It's similar to Gmail I guess.. most of the people i know .. are using Gmail accounts for friends to forward junk mails and funny video clips and wat have you.. while they use yahoo or hotmail for the serious stuff.
You know what? I have a 90% unread email inbox. If the subject doesn't grab me, it doesn't get opened. Hows that for real control of my own destiny? Mozy isn't a SPAM model, it's a sign-up and if you're really REALLY lucky they might send you a dozen advertising emails in six months.
There are hundreds of sites begging for legitimate emails to send legitimate advertising to. I'm not going to pass up 2GB of backup storage online because I'm going to pretend I'm some kind of elite linux wannabe hacker.
I also wouldn't trust them with important data. That's why I've got it all on DVD/CD/NAS and a 2nd HD. I have long term data spanning decades all rolled up and stored away in lots of locations.
I'll sign up and they'll send me their crap, and if I think it'll help them keep the service, it'll be just one more site in the hundreds I visit each night.
Nothing scares me about spam and advertising. I've had the same email address since 1993. I say send your spam and be damned! I'll sign for anything and suffer the consequences of maybe having to delete a few emails. If any of it gets past the ISP spam filters, that is. :-)
Are you part of shopance? Sounds like an interesting project - feel free to ping me when you launch!
i don't usually comment on blog reviews of us, but i noticed a bunch of referrers from your site, and i thought i'd check it out. i read your post, and was kind of surprised, since it's the first negative review of our beta service i've read.
but, then again, if we don't get *some* negative reviews, then we are probably doing something wrong.. ;-)
instead of writing a long dissertation on "why the business model will work" i'll just say that we're serious about making free remote backup work, and sending emails to our users on occasion with goods & services we think are useful seems like an okay thing.
and by useful, i'm not talking about viagra, fake rolex watches or mortgage refinancing opportunities.
i'm a real person, our team is made up of real people, and so are our investors - we get crappy spam every day and we don't like it either. the last thing we want to do is dump all over the internet to make a buck.
we're taking things really slow - working on perfecting the software and service before we start any type of marketing, or sending occasional ads to our customers.
eventually, we'll have a pay option for people that need more services - but fundamentally, the idea is to offer an enterprise quality remote backup service for gratis.
anyway, thanks for the plug, and if you are interested in discussing it further, just drop me a line. if you'd like to help with the beta, go signup and try it out - we've got a lot of really happy customers.
-josh
Thanks for your balanced response - good to see you're taken the criticism well. (And I'm sorry that your original comment got nuked by my spam filter - turns out it picked up the word "viagra".) But I kinda feel like you're not engaging with the points raised here: don't you realize that many (most?) of Mozy's customers will have supplied unused email addresses? What do you say when you approach advertisers: "we have some unused email addresses to send your ads to - there might be a few real ones, too, but basically none of our users want to receive your ad anyway."
So admittedly I'm playing devil's advocate here and if you've got a paid model in the works all is forgiven, but I can't help feeling you've sidestepped the whole point about Mozy's business model. Or perhaps you're waiting for the model to emerge?
so you're right, i have sidestepped the business model issue - mostly because i don't see it as an issue. let me explain..
the vast majority of our beta users are using their real email address because they understand we are providing them with a valuable service. there is nothing we can do about the few people that use disposable email addresses. dealing with leaches is a problem that all free services have.
but lucky for us, most people are fair and honest people. if we provide them with a quality service, they respect that and accept the deal at face value.
also note that the type of people that are interested in protecting their data tend to be more mature and serious about their computer use and their data is actually valuable - backups are an important part of their professional or personal computer use. these types of folks tend to be pretty reasonable when it comes to playing fair.
but as far as our model being an issue - i'm not sure i follow. opt-in email marketing is a well understood revenue model, and we're not exactly reinventing the wheel here.
in 2004 opt-in email marketing companies reported over $3B in revenue. why? because if you sign up with a company, and like their products and services, you have a certain relationship of trust. if they email you a newsletter or information on a new product or service, there is a good chance you will try it out. advertisers understand this about these customer lists, and the proof is in the pudding.
so, i guess what i'm saying is that this isn't some crazy new business model - though maybe we are more overt about informing people about it before they sign up. the opt-in email market isn't a whole lot different than a model based on adwords, or banner ads - at the risk of oversimplification, the primary differences are the delivery mechanism and the nature of the relationship (casual viewer versus established customer.)
i think what may be unique about us in this market, is that we are primarily a technology company - we're software engineers that specialize in large scale parallel systems and we've come up with some pretty neat ways to alter the economics of this kind of system that allows us to make this work on a very large scale on a relatively modest revenue stream.
and as i mentioned in my previous post, a reasonable pay option will also be available that will be an additional revenue stream.
anyway, i could write volumes on this, but i'll keep it short. data loss is a huge bummer - so if you and your readers don't do regular offsite backups (and heck, who does?) you may want to help out with the beta and give it a try.
thanks for the forum, and good luck with your ventures. ;-)
cheers,
-josh
Thanks for that. No idea how I managed to call you Doug - fixed it now. :)
Well, I'm still not convinced by Mozy's biz model, but we'll see. While most Mozy users are no doubt fair and honest, surely it would only take one dishonest user (registering hundreds of accounts, perhaps) to cause you big headaches. Anyway, keep me updated.
Nice to talk to you.
Pete.
So far I've had the newsletters which are annoyingly irrelevant - their blog also seems to go down this route. They just aren't giving me enough reasons to take them seriously - but backup is all about being serious!
Lighten up. ;-)
You sent an email "Backup system" to info@berkeleydata.net on 6/26 8:37AM
We replied the same day, at 6:25PM
Sorry you didn't receive it - it's probably in your junkmail folder. I'll re-send it today.
But while I'm at it, all data is encrypted on the disks, and if you opt to use a private key, even we can't decrypt the data.
-josh
I'm currently working on my masters project and back everything up to a memory stick daily and a cd weekly but it's very reassuring to know that every time I make a drink Mozy pops up and backs up my work for me.
It's free, 2GB automated backup and you get little to no spam. If you're bothered about security then use your own encryption key. What's the big deal?
I HIGHLY recommend using this, I've got about 4 other people using it so far. If you decide to sign up then use my referal code 7N4CLI and we BOTH get an extra 256MB free for life.
https://mozy.com/?code=7N4CLI if you want the link.
It's a great business model really, so long as you can break even in the mean time. And let's be honest folks, storage and bandwidth are cheap cheap cheap these days.