Nirvanix Watch

Nirvanix: Amazon S3 Killer, or Crap in Sheep’s Clothing?

Autor tombassett

NOTE:  This article originally posted on Newsvine.com, who censored and deleted it at Nirvanix’s command.   Everything below this disclaimer is from the original article.

UPDATE: Apparently, the subject of this article thinks it
contains inaccuracies, so guess what? Nirvanix/Streamload/MediaMax
bullied Newsvine into making me allow their comments on this article,
so prepare your BS detectors for whatever crap they spew in the
comments section.

And for those who say they that Streamload/MediaMax/Nirvanix are different companies, this article proves otherwise.

There’s been a lot of talk on the so-called “blogosphere” about Nirvanix, the new upstart company rising to challenge the mighty Amazon S3. Unfortunately, the true story isn’t as glorious or inspiring.

Let me tell you a tale.

The year was 2005, and a new site debuted to rave reviews. The site was Streamload.com, and it had a great deal. Get 10 free GB of storage (soon raised to 25) for FREE. Upload and download times seemed good, they had an innovative
technique which was too technical for me to understand, but the point is - it worked, and it was good. But you know what they say about all good things.

Back in those days, Steve Iverson was the President/CEO. And in September of 2005, they issued a press release announcing a product called “Streamload MediaMax”. MediaMax, they said, would be “the world’s largest online media center, helps consumers centrally store, organize, access, and share their entire media collection.” That’s only
the beginning of their grandiose promises - Click here for the whole release. I think they promised a free car for every American in there somewhere.

Then, somewhere in 2006, things started to fall apart. “Streamload Mediamax” failed to live up to the promised awesomeness. Despite this, the site took the plunge changed from Streamload.com to MediaMax.com. Then, the event that started what some MediaMax users have deemed “The
Year of Hell”. MediaMax decided to change or upgrade their servers.

All hell broke loose. What does this have to do with Nirvanix? Hold your horses, you’ll know soon enough. You youngsters are too impatient today, with your MTV and your internet porn.

So, back to MediaMax. After the “upgrade”, things began to suck mightily. Uploading was spotty. Downloading was near impossible. Files would go missing. Eventually users weren’t able to access their pictures and files - those sections were thereafter removed from the site. Comments were shut off of the blog when too many asked questions (yet they force third parties to accept their OWN comments in the interest of fairness, see below). Emails for help went unreturned, or
with auto-replies that had nothing to do with the questions being asked. And those things were just for the lucky users - the unlucky ones woke up to find MediaMax had given them herpes.

Okay, that herpes thing is just an internet rumor, but the rest is verifiably accurate and is still going on to this day, a year later.

But in 2007, a new sheriff rolled into town. Mr. Patrick Harr was appointed President/CEO of the company, a position he would only hold for a few months. Why so short a tenure? Was he fired because MediaMax continued the colossal downhill slide to the grave? That’s what you’d think, but no - he was actually given a NEW job, some might say a better one.

Behind the scenes, MediaMax/Streamload was developing yet ANOTHER new company - Nirvanix. Harr would lead this company, which would compete directly with Amazon.com’s S3 service in “partnership” with MediaMax. To make it even clearer: Nirvanix is an offshoot of MediaMax, and the president of Nirvanix is the old president of MediaMax. The new president of MediaMax? Why, it is the OLD president, Steve Iverson.  Meet the new boss, indeed.

Nirvanix is being billed as an entirely new company, with new funding, new ideas, and new methods. But really, it is being organized and run by two guys (and their cronies) who have completely and utterly screwed THOUSANDS of users, who to this day still cannot access their files and pictures. Instead of working overtime to fix the problems which have festered for a YEAR, they scheme behind the scenes to create a new company which will be “affiliated” with the old company. That way, they can begin anew as Nirvanix, while staying slightly removed from the rotting stench that is MediaMax.com.

Neat trick, isn’t it? Your company begins to suck, and you just start a new one, and say it is “partnering” with the old one.

Now, I realize this article is a bit meandering, dramatic, and took a while to get to the point. Hey, I’m no Danielle Steele, or whatever famous writer the kids like nowadays. I’m just a guy who wants to warn you. Be careful when having anything to do with Nirvanix.com. And don’t let anyone confuse you - it is the same company with the same management - Streamload = MediaMax = Nirvanix. They are the same. And
sucky companies don’t just become unsucky by getting a snazzy new name and lots of internet hype. They remain sucky until things change drastically.

Please, do your own research on this. Don’t believe me, and for crying out loud, don’t believe THEM. Find the facts for yourself, talk to MediaMax users, hear their stories, and then decide if it is really worth it to trust the integrity and availability of your data to these people.

UPDATE:

I just got an email from Newsvine. They say that the subject of this article complained about alleged inaccuracies. Well, I guess they’d know about inaccuracies, having been the source of so many of them (it’s only temporary, your files will be ready soon, etc). You’d be hard pressed to find a statement they made in the past year that DID turn out accurate.

They also requested (nay, DEMANDED) that I turn comments on, so that they may reply to this article. Wow, what irony - amulti-million dollar company that disabled comments on their official blog when too many people complained, is asking me for the opportunity they denied thousands of their customers! Well, they’ve got balls, I must give them that.

Request denied.

You see, I wanted to get my views across, so I used my Newsvine column. If they’re so upset, let them start their own Newsvine column. Or, let them use their official blog site to reply where the world can see it. I’m not about to open up yet another forum where their shills can post glowing praise for the company, like they do in the blog comments of so
many other sites. But, at heart, I have a sense of fairness - so I will post links to those pages in the “more information” section below.

Update 2:

Well, I just got another email from Newsvine. They basically said “Let Nirvanix/Streamload/MediaMax deface your article with their comments, or we’ll just take it down.” Hey, Newsvine - maybe you can talk them into allowing public comments on their blog, or it just gonna be a one-way thing, big company bullies the little guy into so-called “equal time”, but still gets to censor their own site?

Whatever - it seems I have no choice. They said it goes against the spirit of Newsvine to put forth controversial opinions (they’re not controversial, ask any MediaMax user and you’ll find they are quite commonly held) without allowing the other side to reply (Which is exactly what MediaMax did on their own official, so I guess THEY go
against the so-called “Newsvine spirit”). But whatever - I don’t want to get banned, so I guess I better fall in line. Another victory of MediaMax vs their users. Congratulations, MediaMax/Streamload/Nirvanix!

For More Information:

TechCrunch: Streamload Upgrade Goes Very Wrong; Some Users Revolt

Mashable: Nirvanix To Launch B2B Online Storage: Amazon S3 Competitor?

MediaMax: We Need You Started by users after MediaMax shut off comments on the official blog

MediaMax: Official MediaMax/Streamload blog