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The Dropbox Foundation

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Re: The Dropbox Foundation

#71

Post by matt4077 »

mful wrote: post #54

> A big part of our mission has always been helping our users achieve their missions. Do these types of PR lines from companies that make productivity tools actually resonate with folks? At Dropbox’s scale, they probably materially increase economic productivity, which is great. Why push some narrative about helping aid workers achieve their mission? This sort of language seems especially strange to me when announcin…

The corporate language is off-putting, indeed. But what they're (trying to) say actually makes sense: Dropbox has seen some of its greatest success from people using it in ways they have not specifically foreseen. People used it for photo sharing, even though it wasn't advertised as a "photo-sharing tool".

That ties in well with their policy of making unrestricted grants, which similarly aims to delegate decision-making downstream.

Re: The Dropbox Foundation

#72

Post by humanrebar »

jxub wrote: post #28

Looks like a PR stunt to jack up the hype before going public.

I've always felt strange metaphorically waving the flag of my employer while doing charity work. I don't help people because of my paycheck, so it seems inaccurate, at least, to brand my humanity with the name on my paycheck.

Re: The Dropbox Foundation

#73

Post by rb666 »

koolba wrote: post #59
ktpsns wrote: post #31

A foundation with 20M$ and these ambitious goals is a gift for the society. However, it is also the typical American way of company-society interaction. The actually intended way is called "paxing taxes". Dropbox, like a good part of the US tech companies, has it's European site in Ireland, a country known for its low tax rates [1]. [1] https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/business-spectator...

> A foundation with 20M$ and these ambitious goals is a gift for the society. However, it is also the typical American way of company-society interaction. The actually intended way is called "paxing taxes". Not really. It depends on what you think taxes should be paying for. If you think they should cover essential services that can't be taken care of by the private sector (ex: roads, police, national defense) then l…

All the things you mentioned can also be handled by the private sector. Not a good idea, however. Also very typical American, not considering healthcare an essential service, lol.

Re: The Dropbox Foundation

#74

Post by fiatjaf »

mmjaa wrote: post #70
gpvos wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what Steve Jobs said. He can be wrong.

Dropbox should've been a feature of the operating system, but it isn't, because OS vendors have convinced themselves there's nothing left to do since the Internet is just going to solve all the hard problems now. Seriously, I rue the day someone decided not to build-in such features as Internet-wide file sharing into my operating system, giving me full control over my content - subjugating me, instead, to the whims o…

Dropbox is a company that hosts your files.

If it was a feature of the operating system, who would host the files?

Re: The Dropbox Foundation

#75

Post by megous »

I'm glad they chose to support warchild. It will not stop Russian and Syrian governments from murdering and maiming ~50-100 children daily these days, while trying to replay Grozny scenario in Ghouta, but anything that helps at least those that manage to run away south to Jordan and not freeze to death on their way is great.

Re: The Dropbox Foundation

#77

Post by glenneroo »

fiatjaf wrote: post #74
mmjaa wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dropbox should've been a feature of the operating system, but it isn't, because OS vendors have convinced themselves there's nothing left to do since the Internet is just going to solve all the hard problems now. Seriously, I rue the day someone decided not to build-in such features as Internet-wide file sharing into my operating system, giving me full control over my content - subjugating me, instead, to the whims o…

Dropbox is a company that hosts your files. If it was a feature of the operating system, who would host the files?

Microsoft, Apple and Google (among others) all offer cloud-based hosting.

Re: The Dropbox Foundation

#78

Post by muninn_ »

rb666 wrote: post #73
koolba wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A foundation with 20M$ and these ambitious goals is a gift for the society. However, it is also the typical American way of company-society interaction. The actually intended way is called "paxing taxes". Not really. It depends on what you think taxes should be paying for. If you think they should cover essential services that can't be taken care of by the private sector (ex: roads, police, national defense) then l…

All the things you mentioned can also be handled by the private sector. Not a good idea, however. Also very typical American, not considering healthcare an essential service, lol.

Sorry but this is completely ridiculous and disingenuously undermines the OP's very good point.

First, even if some Americans don't support universal healthcare, that doesn't mean that all Americans don't support it. Even if they do, there are arguments to be made both for and against universal healthcare. I happen to fall on the pro-universal healthcare side, but it's certainly not without drawbacks.

Second, the OP wasn't suggesting that we should have privately funded militaries and private roads, but that one possible government outcome is the government paying for such things while leaving other items (maybe donations to scientific foundations as an example) up to private sector interests. If you're Dropbox, and you strongly believe in a cause and you want to support that cause, it makes far more sense to withhold taxes (so far as it is legal to do so) that you have no control over and set up a foundation to pursue the cause that you're aiming for. Not only can you ensure that money goes toward that cause, but you're nearly guaranteed to do a better job than the government which is, by it's very nature, subject to the whims and opinions of people who may not share your view on the use of your money and less efficient in the handling of your money.

I have a big problem with American companies not paying their fair share of taxes, and even more so with the obscene wealth inequality that has come to dominate the last few decades, but your post here is a drive-by at a reasonable discussion point, followed by a trite comment about Americans for no reason other than to stir up trouble.

Re: The Dropbox Foundation

#79

Post by frabbit »

mful wrote: post #54

> A big part of our mission has always been helping our users achieve their missions. Do these types of PR lines from companies that make productivity tools actually resonate with folks? At Dropbox’s scale, they probably materially increase economic productivity, which is great. Why push some narrative about helping aid workers achieve their mission? This sort of language seems especially strange to me when announcin…

> Do these types of PR lines from companies that make productivity tools actually resonate with folks?

In the case of Dropbox, for me, it comes across as cynical virtue signalling.

If Dropbox were funding the EFF or the FSF or even dropping some funding to CCC or FOSDEM then I could start to overlook their ties with the sort of people¹ that create clients for Warchild.

As it is this stuff comes across as pretty horrible, and I keep on thinking about Dropbox as being part of a network of businesses closely tied to the military that create the problems that they now care about.

I realize I am not their target audience, but this PR has the effect of making me dislike them more than ever.

1. http://www.drop-dropbox.com/

Re: The Dropbox Foundation

#80

Post by koolba »

rb666 wrote: post #73
koolba wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A foundation with 20M$ and these ambitious goals is a gift for the society. However, it is also the typical American way of company-society interaction. The actually intended way is called "paxing taxes". Not really. It depends on what you think taxes should be paying for. If you think they should cover essential services that can't be taken care of by the private sector (ex: roads, police, national defense) then l…

All the things you mentioned can also be handled by the private sector. Not a good idea, however. Also very typical American, not considering healthcare an essential service, lol.

> All the things you mentioned can also be handled by the private sector. Not a good idea, however.

Private sector military defense or police force has a lot of issues. It's a non starter.

> Also very typical American, not considering healthcare an essential service, lol.

Just because I didn't list something doesn't mean I don't consider it a service that should be provided as a public service. I picked the simplest examples to make a point. If I were king for a day my list would include a basic form of universal healthcare services (think Medicaid, not Medicare) and public education as well.

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