[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!