My concern about Passpack’s image is more generalized, your comment just triggered a concern I already have. We’re growing. And as that happens, we’ll have to keep battling the impression that we’re becoming “one of them”.

I really do appreciate that you came onto the blog to let me know about it too. As we grow, I get busier and busier. It’s hard to keep up with what’s going on outside of the blog, my twitter, etc. So thanks for bringing your concerns here. It helps.

Cheers to you.

I didn’t mean for my post to be an attack of any sort, if it did come across as that. It’s probably a different tone from the rest, that’s why. I was writing with what limited knowledge I have behind the scenes – I wasn’t aware that passpack and clipperz were both Italian companies and the implications that followed.

Firstly, I mean it when I say I wasn’t drawing comparisons to firms that do the impersonal-take-on approach when they grow far too big for their own good. Honest, I simply used that as a strong indication of the end of the scale. I think Passpack has a great offering, more importantly I think it’s fantastic that you do all you can to respond to all feedback from users (cue your last post which was quick!).

It’s a shame that Clipperz hasn’t been able to maintain it’s momentum, and I am not implying in any way that it’s got anything to do with passpack’s position. In fact, way I see it, there’s only 2 main players in this particular area that have been able to make a statement about themselves – clipperz and passpack. This says two things – that both teams have been able to make it this far with their own following, which is great, and that perhaps this market could do with a bit more healthy competition from others. Fingers crossed , as you were saying new ones seem to be popping up =)

You both have a great product going on, and the way I see it, both have different approaches to their offerings, which I think is great – more options for the user.

Once again, please don’t take my last post the wrong way.

Thanks for the effort you guys put in to Passpack and for taking in our feedback !!

I do just want to clarify that this post was written and last updated back when Passpack was also a two-person show (Francesco and I), so the comment you mentioned was likely mine.

When we published this post, we actually sent it to Marco at Clipperz for pre-approval to make sure we weren’t making any false claims. He gave us the go-ahead. Marco, Guilio Cesare, Francesco and I have met up on various occasions and think we all agree that the Clipperz/Passpack dichotomy was good for all around. I’d much prefer to be in a growing market, than one where companies are dropping out. It’s not a good sign … luckily some new competitors are popping up.

Both Passpack and Clipperz are Italian companies – so the competition wasn’t just for users, but for (limited) Italian investment dollars as well. We’ve always teased each other that once one was funded, the other would have likely followed shortly thereafter.

That didn’t happen though. No one knows exactly why, but it didn’t. Since then we’ve stopped competing directly with Clipperz (exception made for the theoretical debate around Zero-knowledge Web Applications…).

Marco’s last post was simply painful to read. It hurts to see a friendly competitor drop out of the race. I hope they make a comeback. Clipperz is a much more worthy product than some of the newer ones that have recently come out.

Sorry for rambling. It’s a rainy Sunday and your perception of a impersonal-take-over-the-world Passpack means one of my bigger fears is coming true: we’re not expressing ourselves correctly.

I’ve got some thinking to do.

It’s all very well that you’re actively monitoring the marketplace for your rivals etc, and having a comparison page such as this, but Clipperz seems to be solely maintained by 2 people as an AGPL offering, looking for investors etc etc, whereas Passpack has gone far beyond that. I have reviewed both services, and like any thing in the world, both has its cons and pros. I do like Passpack’s layout,design and offering in general, but Clipperz in this case appeals to me more in the sense that the people behind the project are humble, they aren’t going all out against their rivals, and hence gives a warmer and friendlier impression to a cautious user, not the MS/Google take on the world approach.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not drawing comparisons of Passpack to the former, my point is, competition is healthy in any environment, and in this case, the user can only benefit from healthy competition between different offerings, instead of just one leading company in this field. Clipperz’s blogs are mentioning that the 2 leaders in the projects are losing resources to maintain the project in the same momentum, and I would hate to see them go down, while passpack maintains its growing positiong. Clipperz do not appear to have the same resources(marketing or otherwise) as passpack, so my final point is, cut them some slack.