Tubes - a new way to share files

In a previous blog I spoke about a cool new app coming from Adesso Systems called Tubes.  Well, I just got a sneak peak of the soon to be announced public beta of Tubes... and I am impressed!

Tubes from Adesso Systems is a really cool new way to share files with your friends. You simply drag and drop a file onto a Tube icon and it automatically distributes to everyone who is a member of that tube.  Members are added by invitation only...controlled by the owner of the tube...and all you need is their email address.

Tubes can be used to share any type of file (photos, audio, video) and even emails, contacts, URL links, etc.

Setting up a tube is easy...it takes less than 3 minutes. Give the tube a name and invite people to be members by sending a built-in email invitation. The person accepts the invitation and is prompted to download the Tubes application. The application installs in minutes and is instantly populated with all the current files and content in the tube.  The connection made is bi-directional - anyone invited as an author can add to the tube and their content is instantly synchronized to everyone.

Tubes are useful for sharing content with people you know. There are some pictures or files that you don't want to share with everyone who visits your web site or blog...but you do want to share with your friends.

Just "Drag and Drop" files onto the Tube icon and it automatically distributes to every invited member. Likewise, any new or changed content is automatically pushed back to you and all other members keeping everyone in synch with the latest files. Since it is a Windows application, all your content is always available locally; disconnect your laptop from the web, and all your tubes always have all the latest files in them.  Any changes you make to any Tube on your laptop while disconnected from the web (and any changes your friends make in the tube) are instantly synchronized to all users once you get in range of a WiFi connection.

The creator of the tube has control over the files and users. For example, an independent rock band could set up a tube and invite all their fans. The tube could be used to distribute songs, band photos, videos, tour information...anything. The band could distribute a song, keep it on the tube for a week, and then delete the file. The file is automatically deleted from all members local tube.

Tubes keeps everyone up to date with the latest version of a file. Lets say I want to collaborate with eight people on writing a contract or proposal. Anyone with edit or author privileges can make changes to the document and all members will be automatically updated with the latest version of the file. Microsoft Word's track changes feature can be used to track who made changes and when they were done.

Tubes is currently in private beta and is expected to be ready for public beta by the end of December. You can sign up for the Tubes beta now at Adesso Systems web site.

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Comments

[steve]

how is this different from foldershare, other than the GUI differences.

[Don Dodge]

Steve, I haven't done an in-depth analysis of each product but off-line synching appears to be a significant difference. They both use Peer-to-Peer connections to transfer files. I believe that FolderShare requires each device to be online to synch. Tubes employs a relay server so that if a member is off-line all their changes get synched when they come back online.

The Tubes UI is incredibly intuitive and flexible. The Tube icons can be arranged as a "ribbon" on either side of your screen or on top or bottom. You can drag a file from anywhere, even an email message, and just drop it on the Tubes icon. That's it. Simple.

P2P File Sharing has been around a long time. At Napster we popularized the concept but it had been around long before we used it.

The key with any new technology is to make it SIMPLE to use, and require no training. UI design is critically important. Napster's UI was so simple that anyone could use it instantly. I started using Tubes in minutes. Easy download and install, and the the UI was intuitively obvious.

FolderShare is great too. Hey, it is a Microsoft product...of course I like it :-)

[Josh Blake]

This product sounds really cool, but I just can't get over the horrible "Internet is a series of tubes" analogy by Senator Ted Stevens and how this product realizes that analogy. In case you don't know what I'm talking about, watch this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm3Icamb6yM

[David Lewis]

Will a Tube be a separate file space, or can it be somehow integrated with the existing (Windows or whatever) file system? IOW, I'd like to be able to share files, but leave them at their natural place in my file system rather than place them in a special, separate space.

Yes, this put Adesso up agains BeInSync, FolderShare, Allway and Unison. But otherwise, I can't see how Tubes would be better, or even as good as those. In BeInSync, for example, one can just set up a special folder for syncing. How would that differ from a Tube?

[John Landry]

Don... great post and some interesting comments that followed it! The name Tubes came way before the Ted Stevens rant... but we think it's hysterical. You'll probably see it in a promo we'll be doing!

As to David's comments above, given no one but the Tubes beta's have seen it, it's amusing that comparisons already are being made.

All I'd say is watch us closely... Tubes is based on the Adesso platform and can thereby inherit all the powerful fully-distributed WinFS-like capabilities that we pioneered in the enterprise market for years. We will be exposing these capabilities and more in rapid succession in the just the next few months.

We're way beyond basic file sharing already as any of our betas will confirm... but with what's just around the corner, the aforementioned comparisons will be irrelevant. Sign up at tubes.adessonow.com and we'll get you on the beta list and keep you informed of these crazy new ideas. JL

[Don Dodge]

David, Tubes stores files in the normal Windows File system and can be viewed with the normal Explorer UI. Tubes also shows all the files in its own UI, which basically links back to the Windows file system.

There are several companies that provide file sharing. The differences will be in UI, ease of use, and how they handle invitations and security.

I worked at Groove Networks years ago and we had all of this functionality as well. However, Groove used a seperate file system, encrypted all the files, had a totally different UI, and a strong security model. All of these features were valuable to a certain market segment, but of no interest to many others. That is what makes for a competitive marketplace.

[Henry G]

I am looking forward to see how Tubes and similar P2P products will be received: How they will successfully monetize the technology, but also how they will face any future legal challenges. I feel that this is a disruptive technology which may have difficulties in establishing an appropriate level of user empowerment, leading me to truly question how the product will manage to establish necessary limitations while keeping its appeal to users?

[Justin M]

Adesso (and Tubes) appears to have been subsumed by a takeover by DigitalFormz: http://www.digitalformz.com/ .. Tubes appears no longer on their downloads - what a shame!

[Justin M]

TubesNow is officially no more: http://mashable.com/2008/01/15/tubesnow-is-now-tubesthen/