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Show HN: Servus for Mac and Dropbox (servus.io)

95 points by czottmann ↗ HN
I've built a thing! A few months back someone (not me) posted my Mac app Droplings to HN. It was incredibly rough around the edges back then, and in alpha.

Well, it's finished now and sparkles like crazy. Please take a look! :)

39 comments

[ 3.6 ms ] story [ 95.4 ms ] thread
czottmann
I've built a thing! A few months back someone (not me) posted my Mac app Droplings to HN (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4277856). It was incredibly rough around the edges back then, and in alpha.

By now Droplings has become Servus. It still is a Dropbox-powered sharing app for Mac. It's a menubar icon. If you drop a file on it, it'll build a nice preview page around it, upload both to your Dropbox, then copy the public preview link to your clipboard. The preview page can be entirely customizable via themes.

It's been released a few days ago, and it sparkles like Nibiru. Please take a look! :)

aravan
You may show an example. Is that dropbox sharelink that difficult? I understand the brand name. You could make some sales while using nice and good looking screen shots. It creates a feel and then a sale. The example you have shown is boring honestly.
czottmann
Of course. So here's an example shared via Dropbox' own Share Link feature:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wckaf7i7anhtq4v/this-screenshot-se...

Here's the same picture shared via Servus.

https://dl.dropbox.com/s/l2zxws95dpwrfsq/index.html

The difference is that Dropbox' own page is not customizable at all, whereas Servus allows you to use your own theme for the preview pages. My example uses the built-in default theme.

Also, it's about convenience. When you drop a file on Servus' menubar icon, it'll automatically copy the public preview link to your clipboard after upload — or the direct link to the file, your choice.

With the native Dropbox client, to share a file you have to get to it in Finder, copy it to your Dropbox folder, right-click it and select "Share Link" — which will then take you to the Dropbox website where you are presented with the link. Let's just say it takes a while. ;)

thorin_2
Links above are broken...or at least for me (using Chrome).
hmans
Love it. Time to convert those design agencies that are still struggling with FTP or sending huge PSDs through email.
digitalengineer
I like the dropbox tool! Most design agency's rely on http://www.wetransfer.com It's free and found a way to show cool ads full screen. We're using our own wetransfer-channel.
thorin_2
Very interesting. Does anyone know what tech wetransfer uses for uploading? I was prompted to use Flash for download, but what about uploads? They don't use a Java applet. Anyone?
davidcollantes
It will be nice if you could build a version of Versus, that would use an AWS S3 bucket instead for this. That would be awesome!
rudasn
This seems like a nice, useful little app. Congrats on shipping!

One question though. Have you considered a free for ever version?

I know a few people that would find this a bit useful but would never pay for it, at least not now. If you had a free version minus the templates (or any other extra features you add later) then they would use it for sure.

And you keep your not free version for all the fancy stuff like templates, contacts/address book integration for auto-email/share, custom branding, etc.

Bonus question: Why not share the folder directly with your client so that they get updated versions automatically?

czottmann
> Have you considered a free for ever version?

No. I won't rule it out for the future, but right now I need to prioritize as my time is limited.

> Why not share the folder directly with your client so that they get updated versions automatically?

It's not something I need myself. Also, when I need to work with my clients in the same folder we usually just use a "native" Dropbox shared folder via Finder. At that point I don't need custom preview pages anymore. :)

rgonzalez
I was reading your website and all I thought was, this is the convenience of CloudApp(http://getcloudapp.com/) but for a one time payment that plugs into your dropbox and hence you don't have to pay a subscription.

Anyhow, I agree with having a free version of some sort,e.g. less features. And it would be definitely awesome if this was the equivalent of CyberDuck but for file sharing, in the sense that plugs into dropbox, s3, whatever other file sharing system out there, hosted or self-hosted.

Good stuff.

OafTobark
How does this compare to existing competitors such as Droplr or CloudApp?
czottmann
Favorably. ;)

For one, no monthly fees. Unlimited uploads per day, and your upper file size limit is only dictated by your spare Dropbox space. Also, you can use your own custom themes (HTML/CSS/JS) for your preview pages.

I've built Servus to scratch my own itches I had with those services. Don't get me wrong, they're really good, hands down. They just didn't work the way I wanted, so there.

Void_
Your landing page could use a screenshot of the page Servus produces.

Also, fantastic name and domain. Knowing word's meaning I expected IM/communication app, but most people don't so you're fine. :)

czottmann
I've linked to an example page ("Servus comes with a clean built-in preview page theme (example)"). It's the real thing, i.e. better than just a screenshot! ;)
Void_
Yea how many people do you think will click that small link, completely lost in text?
mmahemoff
I'd suggest embedding a screenshot on your landing page so people immediately "get it". It did take a little reading to grok this concept. Also, I'd suggest a (simple) real-world example rather than "this serves as an example" which almost reads like a snarky response to people complaining it's not there :).
kappaloris
in my opinion you should have a free version without theme selection and heavier branding, and remove the footer from the paid one.
JCB_K
Nice app. Users could combine this with a proxy, so they can use files.yourdomain.com/file.html instead of dl.dropbox.com/s/longrandomstring/file.html. I've used this one for a while, which runs for free on App Engine: http://code.google.com/p/dropbprox/.
mhd
Probably a good idea for designers and other people who wouldn't touch a shell script for this. Although that customer base might need a more hoity-toity name than "servus"… (bussibussi.io?)
czottmann
I don't think that joke works outside of Bavaria. :P

Besides, I had the latin meaning of the word in mind, not the southern German one.

pasbesoin
Well, that answers my question.
rgonzalez
You said you built this because as a freelancer you often needed to share files. What else would help you as a freelancer that you haven't built yet?
czottmann
I'll tell you once I've built it. ;)
thedangler
kind of similar to cloud app, accept with out the personal touch.
czottmann
> with out the personal touch

Care to elaborate?

ernestipark
This seems like it could go well with a gumroad integration so you could sell things as well. Haven't really thought through it much but it could be interesting.
nopal
Looks very nice. I don't know why I personally need it yet, but I think I'm going to buy it!

One question -- why didn't you use the App Store? Was your decision technical, financial or both? I really appreciate the convenience of the App Store, especially for updates.

czottmann
Thank you! :D

I've scribbled down my reasons for releasing outside the MAS here: http://blog.servus.io/post/37663343570/servus-1-1-grand-stor...

Regarding updating: Servus has a built-in auto-updater, so it's easy to keep it up to date.

nopal
Purchased.

Another benefit of the App Store is convenience. I don't have to type all of my info into yet another place. Can you get stats on how many people abandon the FastSpring form?

One feature request: resize preview images. My test png wasn't resized for the thumbnail and took a couple of seconds to load.

alexpopescu
Looks nice. I'd probably mention somewhere in the page that this is a Dropbox-based alternative solution to Droplr or CloudApp
newobj
I read the copy on the front page three times and still can't figure out what it does. Maybe it's just me.
czottmann
1. You have a file, you'd like to send that file to someone, but you want to have that file embedded in some sort of preview page. 2. You drop the file on Servus' menubar icon. 3. Servus uploads your file to your Dropbox account. 4. Servus builds a preview page for your file and uploads that, too. 5. The link to the preview page is copied to your clipboard.

Step 4 will either use Servus' built-in preview page theme, or you can use your own templates for that.

Does that help? :)

pknerd
You should have made the Landing page of it..or atleast content writing :)
d2s
Looks interesting but… could be better if there would be option to choose custom endpoint (like SFTP account).

Certainly understand that from developer's viewpoint it's easier to use Dropbox's app as a tool of file transfer (probably, if I understood it right). Still, just a idea for the future.

(Yes, I have used Dropbox (and still do, from time to time), but don't consider it as a good way for sharing things compared to a nicely maintained web host with good CDN.)