Live data from Hacker News

Dropbox Paper

dropbox.com

131–140 of 214 posts

Re: Dropbox Paper

#132
post #129
post #30

Another closed file format. I think we're are in need of a lightweight document format, which is more complex than markdown, but needn't be as complex as docx. A quick google shows some results which look like pet projects of small business which have obviously failed (since I've never heard of them before) All of these new document formats that are pushed by big companies (some are really great I actually love using…

Docx is basically a zipped container for XML + embedded images. What if there was a .mz (zipped markdown) format that markdown editors would treat as a single file for the document + embedded materials?

textbundle.org is an attempt to standardize that. Not sure how much traction it has though.

Re: Dropbox Paper

#133
Man wtf Dropbox. There are literally thousands of smaller updates and increments you can be making to the product. This type of stuff doesn't have a market! Fire your design team and start over. It will keep not working!

Re: Dropbox Paper

#134
post #16

The other notable "Google Docs/Office killer" is Quip. Previous HN discussion of that: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12205855 My gripe with these is that after using Word, these feel rigid and not full featured enough. And only with Google docs do you get what realtime collaboration should feel like.

I have not used Quip. I used to work on Dropbox Paper, and I now work at Google (again) and use Google Docs for work documents (for obvious reasons) while I keep personal stuff in Paper. IMO Paper's realtime collaboration experience is superior to Google Docs. I'm curious to know if you've tried it and what you find better about Google Docs?

Actually, I was thinking of Quip when I wrote that. Quip locks the entire paragraph that is being changed, so others cannot work on the same paragraph. This is less than ideal. I actually do think Dropbox Paper is pretty good for collab, so that wasn't initially fair. My favorite feature is seeing who contributed to which line of the document.

I do find both Quip and Paper more suited to notes than documents, however. Writing a formal doc feels odd when your defaults aren't 12 pt Times New Roman, but maybe that won't be a consideration in five years. After all, there's some dissonance in saying "this is too pretty to use."

Re: Dropbox Paper

#135
post #21

After looking at landing page, it's completely unclear what it is. Powerpoint with comments? Pinterest for enterprise? Google Wave with Material design? "Create, review, organize" — but even Quake level editor is about creating, reviewing and organizing.

> After looking at landing page, it's completely unclear what it is.

It is really really hard to promote a basic text editor as something revolutionary.

Re: Dropbox Paper

#137
post #21

After looking at landing page, it's completely unclear what it is. Powerpoint with comments? Pinterest for enterprise? Google Wave with Material design? "Create, review, organize" — but even Quake level editor is about creating, reviewing and organizing.

It's Google docs but instead of being aimed at producing documents for prints, it is aimed at producing document for online consumption (multimedia) These documents can be used for notes about ideas, documentation, business plans, etc., etc. Kinda like webpages, but with an easy-to-write interface, collaborative chat, and easy user access management. Honestly, I thought the landing page showed that quite well. It did…

This does feel like Google Wave. I hope they succeed at it, rather than drop it.

Re: Dropbox Paper

#138
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google Wave is exactly what I thought of. Like Wave, this is a polished, high-quality, sexy solution for a problem that simply doesn't exist. People are going to ooh and aah over it, and then keep using Slack and Google Docs. s/Wave/Paper in this Wave obituary from 2010: > Wave brought together elements of instant messaging, e-mail, microblogging, and collaborative editing in a single service that strongly emphasized…

The comparison to Wave is actually kind of funny here, since Dropbox Paper came from the acquisition of Hackpad, which was a fork of Etherpad, which was a startup that Google acquired to integrate with Google Wave. It's a small world. :)

This is the clearest explanation in this thread of what Paper actually is.

Re: Dropbox Paper

#139
I love Dropbox Paper. The way I explain it is:

It's like Google Docs if it was designed today instead of a decade ago.

My team uses it instead of Google Docs for Feature Specs, Meeting Notes, etc.

Re: Dropbox Paper

#140
post #21

After looking at landing page, it's completely unclear what it is. Powerpoint with comments? Pinterest for enterprise? Google Wave with Material design? "Create, review, organize" — but even Quake level editor is about creating, reviewing and organizing.

for me it looks like, Medium + Google Docs + Slack

exactly what I was thinking
Post reply on HN