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Intuit to Retire Docstoc

doctstoc-02Quickbooks maker Intuit has announced plans to retire its Docstoc service, effective December 1, 2015. If you currently use the service to present and/or access documents, you’ll have to seek an alternative solution.

Originally launched by by co-founders Jason Nazar (CEO) and Alon Shwartz (CTO) in October 2007, Doctstoc is an online document repository and storefront. Using the service, users can upload, give away, or sell their documents. Granted, Doctstoc isn’t the first online service to provide document sharing and sales capabilities, but it’s quickly grew into one of the most popular services.

This begs the question: why is Intuit pulling the plug on Doctstoc? According to VentureBeat, a spokesperson for Docstoc simply said the decision to shut down was made by Intuit, and that it plays to support the site’s existing customers but will not allow any new registrations or subscriptions.

Docstoc was acquired by Intuit back in December 2013 for a rumored price of $50 million. Just one year prior to this acquisition, Doctstoc had launched a service called License123, which helped small business owners obtain licenses and permits in the United States. The service was meant to be a referral service, but License123 quickly adapted its own internal methods for connecting business owners to their needed licenses and permits.

With Doctstoc closing its doors in just a couple months, you might be wondering what alternatives are available. Well, the good news is that there are several different services which offer similar document uploading and sharing capabilities, one of which is Scribd. Scribd is the brainchild of former Harvard student Trip Adler. It functions in a manner similar to that of Doctstoc, allowing users to upload documents, as well as audio clips. According to the company’s Wikipedia page, it now hosts more than 60 million documents.

Of course, you can also publish your documents to the cloud via Google Docs or Microsoft OneDrive. Keep in mind, however, that cloud-based data storage services such as this are not public, meaning you won’t be able to distribute and/or sell your documents on a large-scale level.

What do you think of Intuit’s decision to shut down Doctstoc? Let us know in the comments section below!

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