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The new Dropbox

blog.dropbox.com

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Re: The new Dropbox

#171

Post by joshstrange »

I don't know what I was expecting but it was not this mess, dear god not a SINGLE feature on this "New Dropbox" is even slightly appealing to me. I just want reliable file-syncing. I enjoy smart sync on my MacBook since I have so many pictures and other large files and smart selection (or whatever it was called) wasn't really cutting it for me. Other than that there isn't anything Dropbox has added in the last 5 years that I have cared about.

I have to imagine there are a number of open-source alternatives now that just require a linux server in the cloud. Hell Backblaze B2 storage works out to about $70/yr for 1TB of space with with 100GB of churn (adding 100GB and deleting 100GB) and download each month (way more than I need), couple that with some syncing tool and I think you've got just about everything I need.

Re: The new Dropbox

#172

Post by azinman2 »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #160
pwinnski wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have long thought that one of Steve Jobs' biggest errors was in telling Dropbox "that's a feature, not a company." It sure seemed like he was really wrong, but if Dropbox can't make money, maybe he was right after all.

Well it is now a feature in iCloud. Perhaps those original comments on the DropBox launch people keep referring to were right all along.

And it doesn’t work nearly as well. He underestimated how hard it would be to solve it properly.

Re: The new Dropbox

#173

Post by roel_v »

sciurus wrote: post #15

It looks like Dropbox is completely focused on the business market and not improving the consumer experience anymore. I've stuck with them for years because of the linux support, but am probably going to jump ship soon. My main complaint is the lack of a way to build a shared photo library with my spouse. Both Google and Apple support this.

But switch to where? All.the alternatives don't have the features and/or are even more unreliable (Google).

If only Fastmail would build a product like this, them I would trust...

Re: The new Dropbox

#175

Post by BowBun »

joshstrange wrote: post #171

I don't know what I was expecting but it was not this mess, dear god not a SINGLE feature on this "New Dropbox" is even slightly appealing to me. I just want reliable file-syncing. I enjoy smart sync on my MacBook since I have so many pictures and other large files and smart selection (or whatever it was called) wasn't really cutting it for me. Other than that there isn't anything Dropbox has added in the last 5 year…

I recently stumbled on this project, seems promising: https://syncthing.net/

Re: The new Dropbox

#176

Post by aianus »

CondensedBrain wrote: post #105
herf wrote: post #45

I really love Dropbox Paper, so I get part of the collaboration story. What I don't like is that it's so hard to share a file, or to send an image in a chat -- all paths lead to dropbox links instead. When I get a Dropbox link on mobile chat now, I know it's going to take nearly a minute to see the content. Why?

They probably think of it in terms of control. One of their big upsells is controlling access to shares. They don't see it as a problem that you have to save it to the device then share from that because it's not for you from their perspective. It's for people sending project assets to collaborators.

I think it makes a lot sense for the dropbox link to be the default, especially on mobile.

I almost never want to download the file over LTE to my smartphone and re-upload it to a different web service and waste (2 * filesize) of my limited mobile bandwidth to share a file.

Re: The new Dropbox

#177

Post by usaar333 »

thinkharderdev wrote: post #94
mbreese wrote: post #65

Whatever happened to the philosophy of “do one thing and do it well”? I use Slack and Zoom often, but I have never once thought — gee I really wish I could just open up this presentation in Dropbox directly into my Zoom meeting. I just don’t see the integration working in that direction. Sure, Dropbox should make sure that it’s available as a provider to save/open files for other programs — that make sense. The integ…

They were losing ~$500m a year (and growing) doing one thing and doing it well.

I don't think Dropbox ever lost that much per year. $200M was lost in 2016 (once Dropbox decided to not burn money like crazy); $300M in 2015. Source: S1 (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1467623/000119312518...). In general losses were shrinking, not growing.

(Don't believe the 2018 annual numbers; something like $450M of that "loss" is the result of accounting issues where RSUs converting to stock at IPO is considered an expense)

Re: The new Dropbox

#178

Post by the_af »

I use Dropbox to sync my data between home and work computers, both running Ubuntu. I need this to be transparent, and for Dropbox UX to be invisible. So far this has been the case. If they change this, I'll stop using it. I'm not sure from this announcement if I can simply ignore all these new features and continue using it as always.

Re: The new Dropbox

#179

Post by amacbride »

Do Not Want.

(Seriously, I understand the need for companies to broaden product offerings, explore new markets, etc., but it often leads to the original product that made them successful getting neglected, discontinued, or made terrible in some fashion.)

Re: The new Dropbox

#180

Post by lotsofpulp »

doodpants wrote: post #138
syntheticnature wrote: post #77

Contrast with: https://www.quora.com/Why-is-Dropbox-more-popular-than-other...

I was thinking the same thing. As I read the page, all I could think was, "No, shut up." :-)

I think the situation has changed with mobile devices and mobile OS becoming just as important as desktop. For consumers, they want whatever is easiest, results in better battery life, and secure. Presumably, Apple will be better able to integrate folder syncing due to their ownership of iOS, and so Dropbox is wise to be concerned that they can lose their edge there, since switching vendors is a matter of dragging a folder from one window to another for the consumer.
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