I was an early Bitcasa supporter. I jumped on the bandwagon early and I blew my trumpet loud and far:  Bitcasa: Unlimited storage, version history & sync  (Feb 8, 2013)

But consider this shockingly short timeline:

• September 2011: Bitcoin co-founder, Tony Gauda, excites investors with a business model that supports an “Infinite Drive” service.

• Feb 2013: My first year is $49/year for “Infinite” storage. Throughout the year, there are numerous bugs with both uploads, downloads and on both web and PC client. Although the beta had ended, I chalked it up to a learning experience.

• Sept 2013: Bitcasa’s visionary co-founder and charismatic CEO, Tony Gauda, is eased out the door. He is reluctant to explain the reason for his sudden departure, even to his fans and email correspondents.

Listen closely to the first 2 minutes of this interview with Mr. Gauda, and tell me if Bitcasa has executed on plan. “The customer with 10 terabytes of video is ½ of 1%. But we love this type of customer… We don’t care how much data you have. We don’t meter it!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ImZWVxAQ_Q

But don’t blame Tony. Blame the directors, probably influenced by near sighted investors. Tony’s business model was solid. As often happens with visionary entrepreneurs, he was given the bum’s rush. He was shown the exit door practically before he even launched.

• Early 2014: Bitcasa announces a stunning price increase.  For newer users, costs increase 1200% (by twelve times). Early users like me see a staggering 2400% increase (from $49 year to $99 per month). Like many users, I am stunned. I am forced to revisit a history of gushing endorsement: Bitcasa bursts its bubble.

• Feb 2014: Bitcasa charges my credit card without authorization. The cost of my plan has risen from $49/year to $99/month. But in a gesture of magnanimity, the company offers to extend my subscription at my “current rate”  which they consider to be $99/yr (not really my current rate—but I was aware that my actual current rate was a one-time special).

I secure a written promise that my credit card data will not be retained and an explanation of how I can ensure that Bitcasa cannot retain that information. Again, throughout the 2nd subscription year, there are numerous bugs with both uploads, downloads and on both web and PC client. Nothing has improved.

• Nov 2014: The Infinite storage plan is retired (Whaa!?!! We are still in the midst of year #2). Can you imagine how this makes early adopters feel? We were duped into referring other users with incentives and offers related to our Infinite Drive plan.

Bitcasa requires users to migrate data into a new plan with only 5 weeks notice. But wait—there’s more. Let’s get personal…

a) Even though I am in the midst of my year, Bitcasa makes another unauthorized charge to my credit card (Again, and after promising that my card data had been deleted). The hat-in-hand excuse that I receive from the support staff is ludicrous. These schnooks ware fed a line from on high.

b) The migration fails miserably. I am a tiny client. I use only 638 MB, and yet none of my data—whether uploaded or mirrored—can be migrated to the new plan. I have wasted dozens of hours trying the Bitcasa tools and failing to get support. It simply doesn’t work.

c) Perhaps just as alarming, there has never been any progress on the numerous bugs with both uploads, downloads and on both web and PC client.

I could go on. But I think that the writing is on the wall. Fair warning. This one is headed for the abyss.

Oye, Bitcasa! Say it ain’t so! Even if you have contempt for your customers (I don’t think that you do), I doubt that you could have intentionally orchestrated a better demonstration of how to spit in the eye of testers, users, investors, and especially anyone giving their credit card to you in good faith.

Past thoughts on Bitcasa: The good, the bad and the ominous.
~Ellery