The First Screenshots of Mega, MegaUpload's Successor

Dotcom's upcoming MegaUpload revival, dubbed simply Mega is taking some small steps from being pure vaporware to something that may actually exist.

The entrepreneur has posted the first screenshots of the upcoming cloud service, showing off some of the key aspects.

The shots show the login page, the encryption key page and the web-based file manager. They are just static images so it's hard to tell anything from them, but it looks to be a solid cloud storage service.

The encryption part is the most interesting one, though Mega won't be the only such service to offer client-side encryption, there are a few alternatives already. None of them has Mega's buzz though.

Client-side encryption means that only you can access your files, Mega won't have any idea of what it's storing and any government taking a peek will be similarly stumped.

The 2048-bit RSA encryption should be fairly solid and should be considered uncrackable, with the usual caveat that, in time, computers become more powerful and attacks more sophisticated.

What's interesting about Mega is that it enables users to share files publicly, something that most cloud storage providers discourage, partly because of bandwidth concerns, partly because of piracy.

Dropbox for example allows users to share files with anyone via a simple link, but it does enforce a daily traffic limit ensuring that you'll only be using the feature to share with friends or just a few people. Mega won't have the same limitations.

The final piece of the puzzle, the file manager looks modern and practical enough, but until it's actually live, there's no way to know how well it works.

On paper, the new Mega has a few things going for it, Dotcom's and MegaUpload's notoriety on the one hand, and a unique mixture of features on the other. The problem will be translating these things into an actual solid product. Mega is slated for launch on January 19 next year, the one-year anniversary of the raid on Dotcom's mansion.