Sign in / up

back to article Ubuntu N-ONE: 'Storage war' with Dropbox et al annihilates cloud service

Linux distro biz Canonical is shutting down its Ubuntu One online file and music storage service. The cloud system offered 5GB of space per user account, and allowed Linux, Windows, Android and iOS devices to back up data to its servers. Users could buy a subscription to get additional space. But it was no match for rivals …

COMMENTS

House rules Send corrections
This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Sanctimonious Prick

    Dear Jane

    Remember when we partied in the park, like it was 1999?

    You coined the phrase "cloud services" that night, and you said "there's a future in it."

    But, my dearest Jane, you got so blotto that night, I doubt you remember.

    Live long and prosper, dear Jane. Cloud Services Are The Future.

    2 0
  2. Unlimited

    Shoddy

    The service wasn't that great, but it did integrate nicely across Ubuntu/Windows/Android.

    Learning about it's closure via a Reg article linking to a blog post is just appalling though.

    Would it have been so hard for them to email their paying customers?

    7 0
    1. tmsbrdrs
      Reply Icon

      Re: Shoddy

      Actually they have. It wasn't posted in the article but in their blog, they did mention that they would do so.

      1 1
      1. Unlimited
        Reply Icon

        Re: Shoddy

        "they have"

        "they would do so"

        Your tenses don't match, making it hard to understand what you are saying.

        If you are saying they have already emailed, then I didn't get that email.

        If you are saying that they have indicated they will be emailing in future, then that is too late, as I've already found out the news via the Reg, rather than directly from the company themselves.

        0 0
        1. RainbowTrout
          Reply Icon

          Re: Shoddy

          Got my email yesterday. Never used the service though.

          0 0
    2. J 3
      Reply Icon

      Re: Shoddy

      They were quite late with the email, but it did come. I (non-paying subscriber) got it yesterday (07 Apr).

      0 0
  3. Nate Amsden

    seems like an opportunity

    for Ubuntu to partner with another provider dropbox, box or whatever to provide this service for customers.. They seem to like to do that sort of thing anyway (I recall the search box /amazon stuff they tried to pull ?? I'm still on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS on my desktops/laptops yes I know it is EOL)

    5 0
  4. southpacificpom
    Pirate

    A Cloudy Day

    Good for Canonical/Ubuntu for trimming the fat so they can concentrate on what they do "best".

    And, another good example of why cloud based computing is dangerous for your data. At least users get some warning in this instance, some cloud offerings disappear overnight along with your data.

    6 1
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: A Cloudy Day

      Your data is not lost though, its still on your computers, you can re-sync it with another provider.

      So maybe not quite the disaster you paint it to be.

      1 1
  5. btrower

    Knew it

    I signed up for this, but I kept putting off any sort of commitment because I just had a bad feeling.

    Ubuntu started out well, but has lost their way. Shutting down that service was probably the best thing to do now, but a better thing would have been to stick to their knitting in the first place.

    Ubuntu broke faith with the advertising debacle. There was no way to defend a noxious default setting clearly contrary to user intentions. Since then I have looked at everything with a jaundiced eye and began searching in earnest for an alternative. I am not quite ready to cook my own distribution from Debian directly, but I am getting there.

    I have an Ubuntu server here and have kept it up since about version 6 up through LTS versions since 8.04, 10.04, 12.04. I am not committed to upgrading to 14.04 LTS yet. I am installing Linux Mint as a workstation OS this month and may take the time to convert the server as well.

    As I say, they started well, but it seems the people directing Ubuntu have become insular and detached from their community.

    3 1
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Knew it

      My advice: just make the server Debian Wheezy.

      There's no 5-year extended LTS, but there's a new release about every two years, and you get about a year of overlap time to upgrade; that maps well to the 8.04 -> 10.04 -> 12.04 pattern you've been following anyway.

      Minor pain points: you don't get sudo installed by default, and */sbin directories are not in a regular users $PATH by default. Both are easily fixed. Also if you need closed-source binary blob drivers, they are available, but you have to go fetch them separately.

      Apart from that you probably won't be able to tell the difference between Ubuntu Server and Debian.

      1 1
    2. Obvious Robert
      Reply Icon

      Re: Knew it

      Or if you do go with Mint, wait until May and you'll get the new 5 year LTS Mint 17. Current Mint 16 only has about four months of support left!

      0 0
  6. msknight
    FAIL

    Bugger

    (checks date for April 1st ... no, we're on the 3rd.)

    A friend asked me to migrate them to Mint because his XP was booting like an elderly animal that really should see the vet one last time; and he had tried a neighbours Win 8 laptop and thought it was so bad ... that he was willing to put the effort in to learning Mint.

    As part of the process I nearly signed him up to Ubuntu One last night, for seamless synching; as like others have said, it may not be the largest free file service, but it does its synching job a damn sight better than the competition, in my humble opinion.

    Canonical just keep making decisions that alienate me from them, and their services. The more they cut, the more irrelevant they are to my computing life. I stopped Ubuntu because of Unity; Ubuntu One was the only storage and music service I used ... then they discontinued the music service, and now they're going to discontinue the storage service.

    Dumb move Canonical. There are people out here that think a damn sight more of the service and its abilities, than the shear amount of the storage.

    Flame suit donned - let me have it.

    6 0
    1. msknight
      Reply Icon

      Re: Bugger

      You know ... if they had come and said, "We can't compete with free and needa few quid even to continue the 5gig service," ... I'd be perfectly willing to stump up a few squids even for the 5gig One service.

      0 0
      1. Liam Proven Silver badge
        Reply Icon

        Re: Bugger

        Good for you.

        I woudn't. Why? Because currently I have 52GB of Dropbox and 15GB of Google Drive, without paying a penny.

        And I suspect that few others would, either.

        Ubuntu does Linux OSes. It should not have been mucking around with cloud services, music stores etc. when there are others that do those things far, far better. It is foolish to enter a crowded marketplace with strong, established players unless you have a remarkably compelling offering, which Ubuntu didn't.

        1 0
    2. Liam Proven Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: Bugger

      There's an old maxim that clearly bears repeating.

      Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

      1 0
      1. msknight
        Reply Icon

        Re: Bugger

        Actually, they're not in one basket. Thanks to the Ubuntu One service, they're automatically replicated all over my devices, inclusing the mobile phones, so even when the service does go in to that good night, my data is still safely mine ... multiple times.

        0 0
    3. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Bugger

      Who else quit Ubuntu over Unity ?

      Upvote, please!

      0 1
      1. Hans 1
        Reply Icon

        Re: Bugger

        They should have offered what EVERYBODY wants from a music service ... flac files and/or AppleLossLess - that is what the world wants, somebody make it happen, I am tired of having to buy plastica nd rip so I can have quality waves through my MSP5's.

        0 0
  7. Vociferous

    Canonical seems as lost as Microsoft

    Neither seem to have any clue where to go or what to do next, both are flailing around wildly looking for new markets, both are doing concessions to keep desktop users from hating them too much, and both are in the situation they are because they've bought in to the "the desktop is dying/the future is mobile devices with touch screens" mantra.

    3 0
  8. Sarev

    25 and 50GB free - erm, who?

    The headline and subheadline state that Ubuntu can't compete with "Dropbox et al" and we've got their statement saying "particularly with other services now regularly offering 25GB to 50GB free storage."

    Genuine question here from a Dropbox user who regularly hits the top of his free 6.25GB quota - who are these mythical(?) providers offering 25 to 50GB free? All I've found is:

    * Dropbox - you start at 2GB free and earn extra by inviting other people

    * Amazon Cloud Drive is 5GB free - but it's Amazon :(

    * Google Drive is 15GB free - but it's Google :(

    Oh, and I'd still be needing/expecting the desktop client integration on Linux, as per Dropbox...

    5 0
    1. pklausner
      Reply Icon

      Re: 25 and 50GB free - erm, who?

      Just for the record:

      * Dropbox' underlying storage is Amazon S3

      * Ubuntu One's storage is ... Amazon S3

      So if you want to be sure that No Such Agency has a direct tap into your files [not], you need to look into an encrypted service:

      * Wuala - 5GB free, encrypted storage in Switzerland et al, Java sync client works on all major platforms - albeit not as smooth as Dropbox :(

      Any other?

      0 0
    2. robmobz
      Reply Icon

      Re: 25 and 50GB free - erm, who?

      Box.com would give you 50GB if you were referred, not sure if they still do.

      0 0
  9. peteste1

    Dropbox Quota

    Well in my case I got a 3GB bonus for using the 'Camera uploads' function when I tied my smartphone to my Dropbox account, and I got an additional 96GB from Samsung for buying a Galaxy S4. I've also grabbed the odd 500MB here and there for recommending Dropbox to other people...

    I now have 123GB of storage - all free.

    1 0
    1. ragnar
      Reply Icon

      Re: Dropbox Quota

      Although if it's anything like the quota I got when tying my Note 2 to Dropbox, it only lasts for 3 years, then you need to dig deep.

      1 0
  10. A J Stiles

    It's called "cutting your losses".

    It's a shame that it has to come to an end; but at least Canonical are going to do the decent thing and release the Source Code for the underlying software behind the service. This means someone else will be able to carry on providing a service which ought to be a direct drop-in replacement, perfectly compatible with existing Ubuntu One clients -- and someone else will be able to improve upon it.

    0 0
  11. John Deeb

    Déjà Duped

    One of the Nice things in Ubuntu was that they included since 11.10 as default a backup tool (deja dup) to schedule and backup stuff into their cloud, which seemed like a neat feature to offer this way. Nice and easy, what else to use that "cloud" thingy for? Bit of strange to announce by mail today that the service is to discontinue while suggesting to "download the files". Actually I'd prefer them to suggest or point out as well an alternative cloud storage for their own supplied default backup program. Or at least supply a hint which additional packages enable other backup services. You know, think with your customers, not against them. Ah well, sorted it out by now. I know, it's all free and DIY but I thought Ubuntu wanted to make money and appeal to simple folks as well. Pulling plugs on important services without much of any "now what" suggestions is not going to help with the old perception.

    1 1
  12. RainbowTrout

    Got my letter yesterday.

    0 0
This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like