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Dropbox on Mac now updates itself with a process in background

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Re: Dropbox on Mac now updates itself with a process in background

#41

Post by natch »

victorhooi wrote: post #39
eps wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both of them doing that in mandatory fashion is unacceptable. I might be OK with running this bit of their code on my computer, but it's not an open bar for dropping anything executable onto my machine at will.

If it's unacceptable, why would you use the Google Chrome browser? It's open-source (Chromium project) - just compile it yourself? Once you've run somebody else's binary, you're already conferring significant trust on them. And I might be biased, but the Chrome team has shown themselves to be very vigilant with security, and generally on-the-ball on all of these things. (Memory issues aside...although I'm not going t…

>Once you've run somebody else's binary, you're already conferring significant trust on them.

This is the "you agreed to a date, that means you agreed to go all the way" argument.

Even when a someone extends trust or tentative trust, that doesn't mean they should be expected to give up the right to maintain control of that choice at each successive moment in time.

EFF strongly discourages auto updates that can't be turned off, because they can be used for enabling DRM and curtailing freedom.

Re: Dropbox on Mac now updates itself with a process in background

#42

Post by microtonal »

victorhooi wrote: post #36
eps wrote: post #18

This is NOT about keeping everyone updated and reducing the pool of older clients. This can be done by simply denying service to outdated versions. It worked very well for AOL Messenger 20 years ago, no reason why it won't work just as well today. This is strictly about being able to install anything on users' machines at will and having a formal consent to do that. The fact that Chrome and others do that doesn't mak…

You do realise that would probably increase the amount of customer support cases raised, from confused/angry users - which is the exactly the opposite effect that Dropbox wants. For the majority of typical users of Dropbox (and HN certainly doesn't count as typical), this is a net win in every way. They get the latest bugfixes, and they don't need to worry about all this downloading installers rubbish that seems so l…

They get the latest bugfixes, and they don't need to worry about all this downloading installers rubbish that seems so last decade.

They could also distribute Dropbox through the Mac App Store, then they wouldn't have to sneak in SUID binaries and run background processes with launchd. As an added bonus, Dropbox would be sandboxed.

Before someone says it can't be done: the OneDrive app is installed via the Mac App Store, is sandboxed and provides Finder integration. (Yes, the Office badge would probably be a problem, but that is a hack now anyway.)

Edit: that sounded too negative. I agree that this benefits a lot of users, I just wanted to point out that an App Store version would be even better.

Re: Dropbox on Mac now updates itself with a process in background

#43

Post by pacificleo11 »

victorhooi wrote: post #36
eps wrote: post #18

This is NOT about keeping everyone updated and reducing the pool of older clients. This can be done by simply denying service to outdated versions. It worked very well for AOL Messenger 20 years ago, no reason why it won't work just as well today. This is strictly about being able to install anything on users' machines at will and having a formal consent to do that. The fact that Chrome and others do that doesn't mak…

You do realise that would probably increase the amount of customer support cases raised, from confused/angry users - which is the exactly the opposite effect that Dropbox wants. For the majority of typical users of Dropbox (and HN certainly doesn't count as typical), this is a net win in every way. They get the latest bugfixes, and they don't need to worry about all this downloading installers rubbish that seems so l…

"You talk about "losing control" - why not spin your own Dropbox?"

I agree that auto update is a net positive and most people will be fine with the arrangement. But your line of argument is flawed . by this logic anyone who wants to enquire and wantto have an informed discussion on health he /she should go study medicine ? Right !

Re: Dropbox on Mac now updates itself with a process in background

#44

Post by pacificleo11 »

victorhooi wrote: post #36
eps wrote: post #18

This is NOT about keeping everyone updated and reducing the pool of older clients. This can be done by simply denying service to outdated versions. It worked very well for AOL Messenger 20 years ago, no reason why it won't work just as well today. This is strictly about being able to install anything on users' machines at will and having a formal consent to do that. The fact that Chrome and others do that doesn't mak…

You do realise that would probably increase the amount of customer support cases raised, from confused/angry users - which is the exactly the opposite effect that Dropbox wants. For the majority of typical users of Dropbox (and HN certainly doesn't count as typical), this is a net win in every way. They get the latest bugfixes, and they don't need to worry about all this downloading installers rubbish that seems so l…

"You talk about "losing control" - why not spin your own Dropbox?"

I agree that auto update is a net positive and most people will be fine with the arrangement. But your line of argument is flawed . by this logic anyone who wants to enquire and wantto have an informed discussion on health he /she should go study medicine ? Right !

Re: Dropbox on Mac now updates itself with a process in background

#45

Post by microtonal »

jhasse wrote: post #33
eps wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both of them doing that in mandatory fashion is unacceptable. I might be OK with running this bit of their code on my computer, but it's not an open bar for dropping anything executable onto my machine at will.

> Both of them doing that in mandatory fashion is unacceptable. Don't install their apps then. There are lots of alternatives out there.

So, what is a good alternative to Dropbox that supports LAN sync, block-level uploads [1], revisions, and that most of my colleagues, friends and friends have or can set up?

If you actually look at the competition, most of them do not have LAN sync or block sync (OneDrive, Google Drive), they do not have proper support for revisions (Resilio Sync), or are hard to set up for most people (Syncthing).

[1] So that if I change a small piece of a large file, it does not upload the complete file again.

Re: Dropbox on Mac now updates itself with a process in background

#46

Post by jk563 »

pacificleo11 wrote: post #43
victorhooi wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do realise that would probably increase the amount of customer support cases raised, from confused/angry users - which is the exactly the opposite effect that Dropbox wants. For the majority of typical users of Dropbox (and HN certainly doesn't count as typical), this is a net win in every way. They get the latest bugfixes, and they don't need to worry about all this downloading installers rubbish that seems so l…

"You talk about "losing control" - why not spin your own Dropbox?" I agree that auto update is a net positive and most people will be fine with the arrangement. But your line of argument is flawed . by this logic anyone who wants to enquire and wantto have an informed discussion on health he /she should go study medicine ? Right !

Well, if you haven't done some form of studying, formal or informal, you can't really claim to be informed.

Re: Dropbox on Mac now updates itself with a process in background

#47

Post by cprecioso »

samastur wrote: post #21
threeseed wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or Office, Creative Suite or dozens of other major applications.

Microsoft Office does not autoupdate. It notifies you of an update, but you have to confirm the transfer and installation. At least that's how it works on my Mac.

On Windows, it updates through Windows Update (which you can moderately control) or through their own App-V/Click-To-Run thing, that updates transparently

Re: Dropbox on Mac now updates itself with a process in background

#48

Post by cprecioso »

derefr wrote: post #24
libeclipse wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In chrome you have the option to disable the auto update feature - an option that is noticeably missing here.

Chrome is a program that has standalone functionality where the program would still do useful work without updating. The Dropbox sync service, on the other hand, is literally just the client half of Dropbox's own proprietary backend. If Dropbox makes an ABI-incompatible change to their sync protocol on the server side, the non-updated client will just break until you update. Wanting to disable updates to such a servi…

Webapps don't install kernel extensions.

Re: Dropbox on Mac now updates itself with a process in background

#49

Post by tajen »

Gaelan wrote: post #11

Ugh. I'm all for calling out Dropbox (or anyone else) when they actually do something wrong, but this is getting ridiculous.

I think the concern might be that we are more and more granting ownership of our machines: If NSA wants to install a spyware on targetted systems, they have a dozen autoupdate channels to do it through now.

Which is good because we do nothing wrong. Apart from Youporn, where only one underage model that you didn't know about could lead you to jail. You know, accusations do wonders for your career.

Apart from this catastrophic scenario, I don't either see what's wrong. How many people per year are accused of pedophilia, that could be due to conflicting work/nation interests?

Re: Dropbox on Mac now updates itself with a process in background

#50

Post by rainforest »

MrQuincle wrote: post #38
brador wrote: post #30

What are some good alternatives to Dropbox that don"t do this?

You can remove the executable bit from the update process probably. Disclaimer: I run Ubuntu.

I could be mistaken but on install the Dropbox app adds a few SetUID binaries that probably allow them to put the bit back.
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