Ask HN: Review our startup: Tonido

http://www.tonido.com/

by codemechanic • 17 years ago

17 43 17 years ago

tonido.com

yan• 17 years ago

The site is beautiful, but even after reading the blurb, I'm not sure what Tonido is. Is it for users or developers?

codemechanic15• 17 years ago

primarily for users. so messaging is the problem

simonista• 17 years ago

Agreed, I don't know what it is either. Also, I'd try shrinking your logo/header so that some actual content shows up in the first screen of content.

codemechanic15• 17 years ago

thanks. good suggestion

xsc• 17 years ago

Agreed... beautiful

FYI, when I see nothing above the fold, it's a bit discouraging.

Screen: http://www.imagecabin.com/?view=24423358607dd118227aaef6e

thorax• 17 years ago

This review very quickly worded things so it was clear what was going on: http://www.webchicklet.com/cool-web-sites/my-vote-for-best-a...

Ideally they find a way to word the home page in terms like what is used there.

Zarathu• 17 years ago

Yeah, I'm still clueless in regards to what its actual functionality is.

codemechanic15• 17 years ago

it allows you to share, sync files, photos, music and media with your friends and family members without relying on public online services

endtwist• 17 years ago

That is exactly what it should say in the large blue text at the top of the page, instead of the vague sentence that is currently there. ("Tonido is an open personal web application platform that runs on your desktop which safeguards your privacy and online freedom")

codemechanic15• 17 years ago

actually tonido is also a platform. it comes with a set of applications currently. can build apps on top of it. thats why we are not sure what message is appropriate (platform or functionality or apps)

rw• 17 years ago

Your pitch is good enough that I was really annoyed when I realized that it is closed-source. I do not expect the crypto/privacy aficionados to help you out with this product.

codemechanic15• 17 years ago

the platform is open source

tptacek4• 17 years ago

So... uh... where's the source code?

michaelawill• 17 years ago

I'm not sure I expected the site to look that amazing. Awesome job!

I really like the idea behind the software to. I can't wait to hear about you in the news down the road :)

codemechanic15• 17 years ago

should the key message target functionality or underlying philosophy of the product?

ruchi• 17 years ago

Both. You should use the philosophy behind the product to distinguish yourself from the other similar apps out there.

mstjern• 17 years ago

Love the product, but yes, the site could use some work. Target functionality in big bold, philosophy on the about page.

graphene3• 17 years ago

the philosophy would be the main drawing point for me; it's precisely the reason I still keep all my photos, calndar information, files, etc. on my local machine, even though web-based access would be very nice to have. With you app, I can have both, wich is very appealing, although I'm slightly worried about bandwidth consumption if several people start streaming from my music collection, for example. Related to this (possibly), what exactly about the functionality of your app is p2p (that wasn't clear to me)?

Nice job altogether; I will definitely check into using this...

codemechanic15• 17 years ago

the p2p functionality is used in sharing photos and workspaces (similar to backpack app). P2P is not used for jukebox (more like ur own personal music station).

caffeine• 17 years ago

Clearly it should be both. Your business is Freedom, privacy and convenience. Sooo:

"Your stuff. Safely on your computer. Get to it from anywhere, just like a website. Share it, just like a social network."

Your pitch is the "best of both worlds."

codemechanic15• 17 years ago

Hi Caffeine,

I have used your byline in Tonido Site. Thanks a lot

stuff4ben• 17 years ago

It took a while for the page to load, look into YSlow or that new Google PageSpeed to optimize it. Also took a couple minutes to grok what it does. Once I did, I immediately wanted to get it but was hesitant about how much it cost. I didn't see any mention of price anywhere. If it's free, be sure to mention that somewhere (preferably in big bold letters).

All in all, it looks like you guys have done quite a good job. Good work and I'll be one of your users soon enough (once I get home and can open port forwarding).

anigbrowl• 17 years ago

Giant graphic obscures your info. I didn't really want to scroll down to find out what. Otherwise home page is good.

I'm not sure what it is you're offering that I can't do with, say, OpenOffice. What makes your apps different from/better than existing desktop software?

codemechanic15• 17 years ago

You can access the apps from anywhere. It has a p2p built in capability that allows you to sync your workspace, files and photos

icey• 17 years ago

Has anything changed since the last time you posted this?

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=537576

huhtenberg• 17 years ago

Who's your target userbase and how do you plan to make money (assuming this is a business venture and not a non-profit) ?

In other words, are you being realistic by hoping to sell "no server dependency" to an average Joe, the Flickr user ?

codemechanic15• 17 years ago

plan to sell premium applications. differentiate business and personal apps.

aik• 17 years ago

Great idea, beautiful site, and the software looks great (haven't tried it yet). What's your business model if you don't mind me asking?

codemechanic15• 17 years ago

freemium. but we need to get traction first. plan to sell the domain server for enterprises and create new business apps for SOHO segment.

tonetheman• 17 years ago

looks nice but i dont know what it does. i read pretty much the entire front page and i cannot tell exactly what it is. looks like a professional site though!

GotToStartup• 17 years ago

looks very nice. Who designed the site? Graphics? Logo?

tptacek4• 17 years ago

http://www.tonido.com/how.html

You forgot the "Systems Analyst".

tptacek4• 17 years ago

Sketchiness quotient increasing:

http://www.tonido.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=44

It doesn't look like you mean the same thing that everyone else means when you say "open source". You want to update this?

paul9290• 17 years ago

Nice graphics but when I load the page the graphics take up my viewer (1280 by 800) and there is no copy to tell me what it is? I have to scroll down. I would suggest integrate short description into nice design right at the top so when page loads ppl get it right away!

linux-reviewer• 17 years ago

I have no issues with the Music, files or other documents. Setup has been super easy thus far. I look forward to testing it out on my WinDoze machine next.

A userful review may be found at: http://www.linux-magazine.com/issues/2009/105/cloud_9

I agree the tonido website content does the toolset a 'huge' disservice. Tonido is a great environment which is unclearly under-communicated, under-stated, and unclear.

Where it does appear there is no mention of its use for small business; which is huge.

I was not even able to find mention of it on the Ubuntu Forums site... on the main Ubuntu site it appears once: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/P2PHowTo#Tonido%20-%20Peer...

Ask HN: Review our startup: Tonido

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