Highlights:
- Rakuten Drive offers free 10GB storage and unlimited file transfers, unlike competitors.
- Integrates with Microsoft 365 for document viewing and editing.
- Targets both individuals and businesses with separate plans.
- Paid “PRO” version increases storage to 1TB, allows bigger file uploads, and extends transfer link expiration.
- Future integration with Rakuten’s loyalty program planned.
This is an extremely misinformed take. I don’t care if it came from GNU, it’s still just bad advice. I’m someone who’s worked in IT for years. It takes a lot of effort for a business to run its own on-premises servers. You need static IPs set up ($10 a month), buy server equipment ($1,000 minimum for something business-grade and reliable), have a system administrator on-hand to maintain it ($90,000 p.a. or hire a consultant at $150 an hour), and even more because you still need to do off-site backups. Then you need to deal with downtime if something goes wrong or you need to do a system upgrade. Then you have to worry about running out of capacity because the server’s compute and storage resources are fixed. And now, because you’re hosting on-site, the security of your premises and your cybersecurity are subject to PCI compliance audits if you deal with credit card info. Everyone deals with credit card info.
For most businesses, it makes no logical sense to do on-premises computing. Anyone can learn to use AWS in a matter of months and anyone can sign up for a business Google Drive account be done in ten minutes. If you set up your own servers, in the best case, it will take years to recoup your investment and you’ll still have an ongoing headache, and when you do recoup your investment it might already be time to replace the hardware.