One of Japan's largest tech companies just launched its own cloud storage service — its main appeal is not its free 10GB storage but its unlimited transfer service
www.techradar.com
Rakuten Drive also lets users view and edit documents and spreadsheets in Microsoft 365

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.
  • Pons_Aelius@kbin.social
    0·
    9 months ago

    unlimited file transfers, unlike competitors.

    Looking into my crystal ball…

    I give this 2-3 months before file transfers are limited due to multi-terrabyte daily transfers from accounts hosting pirated media.

      • Pons_Aelius@kbin.social
        0·
        9 months ago

        Nah, that will come 3 months later when to keep providing a world class service they will have to discontinue the free accounts.

        But don’t worry, they will give existing customers great upgrade deals.

  • HakFoo@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    0·
    9 months ago

    Oh, boy! As an American consumer, I’m even more perplexed what the hell they are.

    Like 15 years ago, Rakuten seemed to be a normal ecommerce site. I think they bought buy.com or something to get a foothold in the US market. Then they pivoted to being some sort of cashback referral service.

    I’m not really sure why that would lead customers to think “yeah, I want cloud storage from the people who made a weird janky digital simulation of the Piggly Wiggly Value Club Card!”

    (AWS made it work because they could say “we have the infrastructure to host one of the busiest sites on earth, it’s good enough for you”, but Rakuten does not have that credibility in the US)

  • Archer@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    9 months ago

    I have literally never heard of this company before and it sounds like particularly unsubtle Indian scammers

  • bartvbl@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    9 months ago

    For personal backups I can recommend Jottacloud, although they only have servers in Norway.

  • laverabe@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    9 months ago

    SaaSS (service as a software substitute) bullshit

    It is common for SaaSS dis-services to charge a monthly fee for use. Usually one SaaSS site does not substitute for another, so if users become unhappy with one dis-service provider it is no easy matter to switch to another. When users become dependent on one, it can gouge them at will with repeated small price increases that over time add up to a lot. We view the loss of freedom inherent in SaaSS as worse than the cost in money, but when a dis-service has you over a barrel, the cost can be painful. Thus, even users who don’t see deeper than the bottom line should beware of SaaSS.

    Businesses should host their own servers.

    https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/who-does-that-server-really-serve.en.html

    • NateNate60@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      9 months ago

      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.

    • AxiomPraxis@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      9 months ago

      Rakuten are the ones who make Kobo, a Kindle competitor that’s more popular outside of the US - I have a Kobo.

      Likely this is to eventually integrate into their Kobo device offerings, to let you upload your own .epubs (as opposed to Amazon .mobi). 10GB may be small fish for everything else but for ebook storage it’s more than you’d ever need.

    • NateNate60@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      9 months ago

      People aren’t storing massive amounts of data on cloud storage. For text document storage or even a moderate number of images, 10 GB is enough for many people.