[dont]

I tend to see the software world as divided between "Tools" and "Platforms"

Platforms are systems that enable a large number o similar behaviors -- Google is the search platform, Amazon the shopping platform, Windows is a platform as is MS Office. Platforms tend to be a winner take all business, as there are significant advantages to scale as well as strong network effects.

Tools on the other hand do one thing and one thing well. Most products start off as tools - then there are 2 ways to go, either become a platform (eg: facebook) or get bought by a platform (eg: flickr).

I don't see how dropbox is going to be worth $5B as a file sharing tool, nor do I see any platform buying them at that price.

So my question really is -- what is the dropbox platform gonna look like? What do the investors know that we don't?