[butz]

I have a feeling that Proton has too many different products, and inevitably, like their greatest competitor, the google, they will be forced to wind some of them down. And that will make some users mad. Proton Drive still does not have an option to sync files from Linux with no ETA. Introducing new products and not caring about existing products sure shows company's nearsightedness. And even if I am paying customer, they are still pestering me with upsell promotions, to use their other products that I have no interest in.

[tailspin2019]

Completely agree. I'm a longstanding paying customer and general supporter of Proton and it has been very clear for a long time that their attention is being spread too thin.

The more recently launched products are not really feature complete in many ways and some go months without updates.

Email is great, I'd still highly recommend it. But I wish they would restrict their WIP and focus on fewer things (for their own sake).

Edit: to balance out my negativity a bit - I REALLY recommend Proton for email, to home users and business users alike. It's rock solid and the iOS app is extremely good too. It's also very clear to me that the Proton team work extremely hard, and listen to feedback. But my concerns about a perceived lack of focus still stand!

[protonprivacy]

Hi there, Proton is backed by subscribers rather than VC investors, advertisers and selling data to third-parties. Both SimpleLogin and Standard Notes are open source community-driven projects, and for more on what makes Proton different, see: https://proton.me/blog/sustaining-mission-over-time

[WhatsName]

Is this a automated bot response? The main critique of the parent comment isn't that Proton engaging in many project, because of investors/ad revenue, but the act of doing so.

I'm a active Protonmail subscriber too, who downgraded to the mail business plan, because I too want Proton to focus on their core business and not engage in becoming a clone of Microsoft 365.

There used to be a regular vote on what users are mainly interested in. Maybe I missed it, but I too think that the risk of engaging in too many ventures will be the ultimate downfall. One last argument is, that hosting files and text and whatever is planned in the future weakens the legal ground to protect user privacy, as the (legal and technical) attack surface of hosting services is greater than just end-to-end encrypted email.

[blackeyeblitzar]

Looking at other responses posted by that account, I think they might be a bot or just pasting AI-generated responses.

That said, I think privacy oriented people are desperate for exactly what you said you don’t want - a Microsoft 365 equivalent that is privacy oriented. I’d be willing to pay for it personally, and don’t think it automatically follows that launching a new product makes existing ones worse. Maybe they’ll get a lot more users that purchase the overall bundle and help them fund all these ventures better than ever before.

[jddj]

I think you're right, and it's an angle that it seemed like Mozilla were taking too, though they seem to have lost interest since.

[protonmail]

No, we don't use bots to respond to questions here. Automated messages from us (which we sometimes use in our support ticketing system) are always marked as such.

[protonprivacy]

Hi there, the above is not an AI response. We were just sharing that creating privacy focused tools without the backing of big tech takes time and effort. We have a lot planned for 2024 to round out our suite of privacy products, and we're excited for what we can accomplish with the support of the community.

You can also check out our feature request platform and change the category to planned or completed to see recent activity https://protonmail.uservoice.com

[bityard]

Just a tip, here on HN we like talking to _people_ in the comments. Founders and senior managers, for preference. But anyone willing to give their name and role in the company will often do.

Your comments so far read as detached and impersonal, especially with the more than conspicuous usage of plural pronouns.

[tailspin2019]

> Proton is backed by subscribers rather than VC investors,

So I really hope you listen to us, the subscribers, and try to keep focus on improving the products that you have already launched and that we are paying for, before getting distracted on other projects.

Honestly the basic features that are still missing from Calendar are becoming a bit embarrassing. It's also embarrassing for me with my business clients when my calendar system is the only one that doesn't seem to function like a normal calendar does - and they see that too.

You've done an amazing job with product development so far - especially Email - but please don't squander that. Some of your products really really need basic missing features and bugs sorted - and quickly, because you've already sold them to customers. I get the sense that your customers are unusually loyal (which is to your credit) but goodwill won't last forever.

[protonmail]

Thank you for your feedback. We're working on improving the Proton Calendar offer, currently making sure that our iOS app is on par with its Android equivalent (we've recently made it possible to add participants directly from the app, as well as some additional convenience features). Once this is finished, we'll look into other planned improvements for Proton Calendar.

[tailspin2019]

This is really great to hear. Thanks for following up!

[sojournerc]

Fine - please fix email threads in the android email app. I feel what OP is saying when a basic feature expected of any email client is still absent. I say this as a multi-year, mostly satisfied customer.

[protonmail]

We're working on this!

[neonnomad]

I'm not sure why you think this just because they don't support Linux yet. They have a few core key products such as Mail, Calendar, Drive, VPN and Pass. All of these are great for a Google Workspace convert. Adding Notes to that makes perfect sense as I want my Notes secured end to end and as a Voyager subscriber I'm really happy they are going down this path and it seems right in their wheelhouse.

To address your Proton Drive comment directly, they are a small team and they are rolling out Web, iOS, Android, Windows and Mac. The most common platforms today which is what they should focus on. Android already has photo backup, iOS it's in beta. They are continually having new releases for all of these products and you can see that on /r/ProtonDrive. Saying they have abandoned these products or don't care about them is hyperbole. Is it taking longer than I would like, sure, do I want them to release a Public API for Drive (for rclone) and a Linux client, absolutely but lets give teams the benefit of the doubt.

[coldtea]

>I'm not sure why you think this just because they don't support Linux yet

He doesn't think it just because of that, this is just an example. That they had spread too thin with different products is a fact.

I got interested in them for mail, and I could undertand them having a few more things, but the constant expansion worries me too. Even worse if they amass a portfolio just to look nice to get sold and folded into some monstrocity like Google.

>They have a few core key products such as Mail, Calendar, Drive, VPN and Pass

Even those, do these sound as "few core key products"? Those are already a lot for a company like that (as you said, " they are a small team"). Especially when they keep adding other stuff too, like Notes now.

[neonnomad]

It's not a fact, it is your opinion and you should really learn the difference.

[coldtea]

And you should really learn some manners!

In any case:

1) They are a small team (some a little over 400 employees).

2) They have over 4 widely different products (web mail, vpn, cloud storage, password manager) - and now they're integrating Notes.

Those a hard facts.

Now, how does that employee count compare?

Fastmail has same number of employees to ONLY run a web mail offering.

Nord has 4 times the number of employees and has one less product category (vpm, cloud storage, and password manager but no web mail).

So, no: that they're spread too thin is a fact.

[neonnomad]

You have no idea, it is your opinion and employee counts don't mean anything there as you don't know what their org looks like or what their productivity looks like. You keep stating things as fact without any real knowledge. You have no real evidence to back up your claim of "fact" and I don't wish to argue with you. I hope you progress and learn how arrogant you are here with your claim of fact and change your attitude in the future and to give people the benefit of the doubt. Best of luck to you.

[francocalvo]

> To address your Proton Drive comment directly, they are a small team and they are rolling out Web, iOS, Android, Windows and Mac.

You said it was a small team for Proton Drive. I also feel they are prioritizing more products instead of investing in improving their current offering

[tailspin2019]

> iOS it's in beta

And was last updated 9 months ago. I'm still paying for it but have had to switch back to using Tresorit while I wait for them to update it.

[neonnomad]

* Android version was last updated April 10 2024.

* iOS has had some issues, I actually had to remove myself from the TestFlight due to a bug but it is actively being worked on (the beta version). I'm assuming they are waiting on the iOS beta to be stable before another release but I'm not part of the team.

* Proton Drive for Mac was last updated March 29th.

Just because a team is having an issue with one piece of their software doesn't mean it's abandoned or unsupported. Again, there is a lot of hyperbole here.

[tailspin2019]

> doesn't mean it's abandoned or unsupported

I didn't use those words though. I just stated that I have switched to a competing product which is more feature complete.

> Proton Drive for Mac was last updated March 29th.

I switched back to Tresorit due to the lack of comparable features on the Mac app too. And Tresorit is not exactly packed with features.

We can debate dates and details but there is a reason why the comment you originally responded to is the top voted comment for this article.

Do you work for Proton?

[protonprivacy]

An update to the iOS app is coming soon, thanks for your patience!

[35803288]

Please, stop writing “soon”. It’s become a bad joke at this point.

[esafak]

Provide feedback here: https://protonmail.uservoice.com/forums/932839-proton-drive

[butz]

So, "Linux Client" for Proton Drive is 2nd most voted request. I need to log in to vote. Guess what are two top options to login... Facebook and Google. This is really sad.

[esafak]

What would you have preferred?

[ivan_gammel]

I don’t really understand the point of your comment. Uservoice is a 3rd party SaaS. You can use email/password login there. What do you expect and why it is sad?

[iowemoretohim]

What's the ETA for the Google Drive Linux client?

[grepexdev]

Zinger! Thanks for the laugh

[mstkllah]

Soon™

[blackeyeblitzar]

I think notes are something their privacy oriented customers have been asking for. It’s not just an arbitrary thing. Personally I would like more such products from them, like an end to end encrypted office suite.