Unethical Strava

[tuxbailey]

I didn't even know about relive and I found out by reading this article. Now consider me a user after uploading a ride.

Pretty cool I say

[denapista]

Relive is only relevant because of Strava. Also Strava became popular because of the social media aspect (Following friends, KOM's, etc). Strava is a pretty big fish in this "Upload your ride" platform. I tried ridewithgps, and the garmin apps. They both look cumbersome in comparison to the simplicity of strava.

[simonov]

If Garmin knew how to create software (as a long time user, it's clear they don't), Connect could be awesome. But, as it is, they've made it progressively worse without adding any valuable new features. I don't care for the social aspect of Strava nor the segments/KOMs/etc, but for logging miles and tracking rides, it works great.

[unterhausen]

as Garmin's main business (car guidance) disappears, they must be looking at Strava with some regret. But then again, they have only recently started working harder on their firmware for cycling products, so maybe in 10 years they'll do something like strava.

[MattTuck]

Originally Posted by tuxbailey

I didn't even know about relive and I found out by reading this article. Now consider me a user after uploading a ride.

Pretty cool I say

The best app ever (that I can no longer find) is the one that converted your ride into a profile that looked like a tour de france stage profile. (with the correct fonts, colors, etc.) It was a tres cool app.

[joosttx]

Originally Posted by simonov

The part in bold is spot on and like Strava or not, they're not a public utility. They clearly aren't great at PR either and definitely could/should have handled things differently (at least in the court of public opinion). Hell, even a little bit of self-reflection would have helped them realize the irony of themselves being partially dependent on other systems like Garmin/Wahoo to get much of their data. But, they owe Relieve nothing. And if Relieve was adding features that encroached on Strava's features, Relieve shouldn't have been surprised to get cut off. Competition would have been Relieve standing independently as a service to track and visualize activity data. But that's not what it is. If anything, it's more like a remora than a challenger/competitor. So, yeah, Strava sucks, but that's the way it goes in the world of software.

All you say it is correct and the world of business. What you missed which is the most important part of the story is STRAVA when they cut their relationship with Relive sent a memo to all their customers suggesting that Relive was doing something unethical with the users data.

[Bostic]

I remember when I first started using Strava in 2009. Without a paid subscription you could upload a max of 5 rides. That's it. There is no way the company could have taken off with such a low threshold before a pay gate.

[simonov]

Originally Posted by joosttx

All you say it is correct and the world of business. What you missed which is the most important part of the story is STRAVA when they cut their relationship with Relive sent a memo to all their customers suggesting that Relive was doing something unethical with the users data.

For sure. Totally boneheaded move that otherwise puts a negative spin on what is just standard tech business practices. The only slight caveat is that we have a he said/she said type situation here and it's entirely possible that Relive was actually mishandling user data or violating the terms of service, though probably not. I work in this industry (web tech) and there's a lot of gray area that leaves things open to interpretation. What's not open to interpretation is Strava airing dirty, and potentially or even likely false, laundry is a jerk move.

[madsciencenow]

I agree it's a jerk move and moreover, it's not Strava's data, it's my data or your data or whoever, and if we want to give someone else access to do something cool with it that Strava currently isn't doing then we should be able to do this.

It sounds like, from what I'm hearing, that there really isn't a better mousetrap beyond Strava? I use it but if there was another platform that would keep all my data from multiple sources (garmin tracking devices and zwift) I'd probably give it a go. Suggestions?

[redir]

I didn't know about Relive either. It looks kind of cool but pretty gimmicky too. I mean do people really want to make a movie of every ride they go on? Perhaps. Idunno.

Call me a cheapskate but I've been using Strava since it came out and have not paid a dime.

I guess it all comes down to who's story you believe, Relive or Strava.

[dbnm]

I dont make a movie of every ride, just the really impressive mountain rides.

[benb]

Originally Posted by simonov

If Garmin knew how to create software (as a long time user, it's clear they don't), Connect could be awesome. But, as it is, they've made it progressively worse without adding any valuable new features. I don't care for the social aspect of Strava nor the segments/KOMs/etc, but for logging miles and tracking rides, it works great.

Both companies have put out a lot of good stuff but both are running into the same problems... all software gets a lot harder to build & maintain as it grows.

Strava's innovation/changes have slowed to a crawl as time has gone on, they are hitting the same pain points in the life cycle that Garmin hit a long time ago AFAICT.

Garmin has different priorities because they make so much stuff. What always blows me away is Garmin can get anything done at all when they have HQ in Kansas or wherever they are... the engineering talent pool there cannot possibly be as deep as Silicon Valley/Boston/NYC/Austin/whatever...

[MattTuck]

To add to this...

talent pool may not be as deep, but competition for talent is also probably much lower -- enabling them to retain talent they do have.

On the topic of strava, there is a youtube video of the founders talking about the motivation for starting the company. A big part of it is the shared athletic experience (their original idea was a virtual locker room) of training, performing and feeling the camaraderie of a team.

I think they've done pretty well with that original vision. They've probably pushed it as far as they can with the technology that they built the system on (namely, uploaded GPS files).

To me, the bigger threat to them is Zwift. Zwift truly does what they set out to do and creates a social athletic experience when you are riding alone.

They have missed so many great potential features to their product, that I kind of gave up on them being innovative. I see it now as a great way to catalogue my riding and keep track of my performance over time using some segments, and keep tabs on my friends' riding.

They must have figured out a long time ago that if you have a segment leaderboard with 10 top guys and 10 top ladies, and 900 other folks, that the appeal of the leader boards is pretty limited. And outside of that, there isn't much else to their service other than some mapping features, ways to explore hills in a given area, and the chance to give/receive kudos (aka validation).

[fkelly]

Just use ride with gps. Premium account with all features is $80 per year. Basic is $60.

I've recently switched to using the Android App with my cell phone. I come in from the garage, click finish ride, give it a name, save it. It's on my computer by the time I can climb a flight of stairs. 2111 rides recorded, 50k miles, dozens of "segments" (KOM's) I can track over the years, backup, CSV export to a spreadsheet if I want, hundreds of routes created including 300 or so my club stores in a common area (bike club account) to reduce duplication.

It's a small company of bike friendly programmers where you can still talk to someone involved in development of the product if you are halfway diplomatic.

[denapista]

Originally Posted by MattTuck

The best app ever (that I can no longer find) is the one that converted your ride into a profile that looked like a tour de france stage profile. (with the correct fonts, colors, etc.) It was a tres cool app.

Are you talking about Relive, because that's exactly what the app does.. It creates a ride video like the TDF stage preview. I even think the font is the same... Unless you're talking about side profile views, the show you the elevation of climbs, etc..