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Dropbox silently installed new file manager app on users’ systems

arstechnica.com

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Re: Dropbox silently installed new file manager app on users’ systems

#41

Post by criddell »

CPLX wrote: post #3

This seems like a good time to resurface the worlds best Quora answer, by Michael Wolfe. Answering “Why is Dropbox more popular than other tools with similar functionality?”: Well, let's take a step back and think about the sync problem and what the ideal solution for it would do: There would be a folder. You'd put your stuff in it. It would sync. They built that. Why didn't anyone else build that? I have no idea. "B…

Steve Jobs may have been right when he said something to the effect of Dropbox isn't a product, it's a feature. If all you want is a folder that syncs, then don't we get that from every commercial operating system?

Re: Dropbox silently installed new file manager app on users’ systems

#44

Post by mikece »

eyeball wrote: post #32

iCloud Drive it is I guess.

I recently stopped using Dropbox and switched to iCloud Drive as well. I had exceeded the 3 machine limit and was ready to pay for upgraded Dropbox but decided to compare options first. In addition to costing the same as Dropbox, iCloud drive allows me to do full system backups and restores to/from iCloud for iPhone. I don't know if this is unique but I like it and need to figure out how to get my two MacBooks to do the same thing.

Re: Dropbox silently installed new file manager app on users’ systems

#45

Post by tmikaeld »

blackbrokkoli wrote: post #24

Dropbox current direction just makes me sad. I struggled with file management for a long time - balancing accessibility from phone, highly effective programming environments, backing up large quantities of not-small photos, that stuff. So I sat down one afternoon, drafted a directory structure, subbed to Dropbox and...it worked so well. Synced my configs between machines, got an Android app which could preview lot's…

I've found pCloud to do just that, focus on sync, encryption, security and performance (consistent ~10MB/s up/down for me).

They even do automatic backups of other cloud providers like OneDrive, Dropbox, Facebook, Instagram and Google Drive.

Lately there's a plugin to backup an entire Wordpress site, directly to pCloud.

Re: Dropbox silently installed new file manager app on users’ systems

#46

Post by AstralStorm »

criddell wrote: post #41
CPLX wrote: post #3

This seems like a good time to resurface the worlds best Quora answer, by Michael Wolfe. Answering “Why is Dropbox more popular than other tools with similar functionality?”: Well, let's take a step back and think about the sync problem and what the ideal solution for it would do: There would be a folder. You'd put your stuff in it. It would sync. They built that. Why didn't anyone else build that? I have no idea. "B…

Steve Jobs may have been right when he said something to the effect of Dropbox isn't a product, it's a feature . If all you want is a folder that syncs, then don't we get that from every commercial operating system?

The remote storage and availability combined with the feature is the product.

They sell this and it is important for it to be seamless as well. (Unlike say current iteration of Google Drive which sells both of the above but is not seamless.)

Note that it is very easy to compete with them for any of the big players.

Re: Dropbox silently installed new file manager app on users’ systems

#47

Post by criddell »

nerdponx wrote: post #28
dreamcompiler wrote: post #17

Dropbox is two things: Cheap cloud file storage with an API, and a desktop app. The desktop app used to be a glorified FUSE app that worked well (except on ARM Linux for some reason) and got out of your way. Now Dropbox has decided it's time to ruin the desktop app in an effort to chase conversions. This strategy will fail. Fortunately their cloud storage backend still works (unless it bugs you that they just increas…

I use Mega and MegaSync. It "just works" and stays out of your way. I guess they have a couple useless features (encrypted proprietary chat? do people in NZ use this?), but you don't really have to deal with them as part of the user experience. Maybe the NZ government is spying on me that way, but the US government is probably spying on me through Dropbox. So I went with the one that offered the better user experienc…

What other services like Mega are missing is third party developer support. I use a bunch of apps that work with Dropbox, Google Drive, or iCloud but I've never seen an option to link to a MegaSync account.

Re: Dropbox silently installed new file manager app on users’ systems

#48

Post by bhouston »

criddell wrote: post #41
CPLX wrote: post #3

This seems like a good time to resurface the worlds best Quora answer, by Michael Wolfe. Answering “Why is Dropbox more popular than other tools with similar functionality?”: Well, let's take a step back and think about the sync problem and what the ideal solution for it would do: There would be a folder. You'd put your stuff in it. It would sync. They built that. Why didn't anyone else build that? I have no idea. "B…

Steve Jobs may have been right when he said something to the effect of Dropbox isn't a product, it's a feature . If all you want is a folder that syncs, then don't we get that from every commercial operating system?

Steve Jobs was right and Dropbox is having problems as a result. They are trying to differentiate but it hasn't been working out, it seems to be muddling in various different directions.

Re: Dropbox silently installed new file manager app on users’ systems

#49

Post by bhouston »

AstralStorm wrote: post #46
criddell wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Steve Jobs may have been right when he said something to the effect of Dropbox isn't a product, it's a feature . If all you want is a folder that syncs, then don't we get that from every commercial operating system?

The remote storage and availability combined with the feature is the product. They sell this and it is important for it to be seamless as well. (Unlike say current iteration of Google Drive which sells both of the above but is not seamless.) Note that it is very easy to compete with them for any of the big players.

SoundBlaster sold sound cards as well, but then sound cards got integrated into the motherboards and now only <0.01% of people buy sound cards.

Re: Dropbox silently installed new file manager app on users’ systems

#50

Post by bborud »

zymhan wrote: post #39

Has anyone clicked the link at all? Dropbox says this was a feature in testing that got accidentally deployed, not an intended update. > Update 4:06pm ET: Dropbox says this was a mistake. "We recently announced a new desktop app experience that is now currently available in Early Access. Due to an error, some users were accidentally exposed to the new app for a short period of time. The issue has been resolved, thoug…

So it is a matter of timing. Why would they test something they do not intend to ship?
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