April 30, 2009, 1:36 PM — BeInSync was a small company from Israel, a real hotbed of technology innovation for decades. They were bought by Phoenix Technologies to add file synchronization, backup, and sharing to an admittedly hardware-centric product line. Yet as happens too often, a big company buys an interesting small company, loses interest, and the interesting technology disappears. BeInSync is in danger of becoming like one of those TV shows that promises to come back but never does (hello, Middleman, are you coming back?).
When I was checking on BeInSync for a customer project, the Buy button took me to a screen that didn't ask for money, but said, “BeInSync is not accepting new orders at this time. We apologize for any inconvenience.” So I sent two messages to the PR contact I had for them and got the following response.
“During this time of economic uncertainty we need to focus our attention and resources. BeInSync was in the early stages of deployment at Phoenix and as such would have required significant resources to make it successful. We have made the decision to suspend direct sales of this product for the time being. We will likely resume sales when we are ready with a new value-added sync and backup product. Thank you for your interest in Phoenix products.”
What a shame for a big company to buy an interesting small company, then turn its fate over to an idiot vice president who knows nothing about the technology or the innovation that made the small company interesting in the first place. Shame on you, Phoenix Technologies, for ruining a good product.
If you make a combination folder synchronization and backup product or service, feel free to post a link in the comments. I'm looking for a good one I can recommend with a clear conscience.
