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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

#51

Post by tadzik_ »

konart wrote: post #16
mothsonasloth wrote: post #6

After Dropbox introduced the 3 machine limit to free tier accounts back in March. I decided to migrate to Nextcloud. The migration was easy: 1. Setup a directory on my VPS for storing files 2. Install Nextcloud 3. Configure security 4. Install clients on (Mac/ Windows and Androd phone) 5. Starting adding files

>3 machine limit to free tier >on my VPS Well, your VPS is not free I presume?

Dropbox's cheapest plan that I see on their website is €11.99. My VPS costs me $5 per month and runs Nextcloud with no arbitrary usage limits, as well as tons of other shit I need for different things. I assume it's the same for OP.

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

#52

Post by bborud »

Well, Dropbox have accomplished one thing: I now see it is time to have a look at my use of cloud storage and have another look at where the alternatives are.

I actually use several cloud storage services. I should probably stop using one or two of them. If nothing else then to save a bit of money and simplify things.

Congratulations Dropbox.

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

#53

Post by flanbiscuit »

I've been meaning to move off of Dropbox and Google drive, does anyone have any recommendations? I know there are some Torrent related syncs out there. I just want something that is not centralized and controlled by an entity. I want full control of it and I sync between desktop/laptop and Android

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

#54

Post by speeder »

bhouston wrote: post #49
AstralStorm wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

What killed SBlaster was not motherboards having sound cards.

It was movie studios convincing microsoft to ban from Windows the best featuresof SBlaster cards (those features are STILL banned by the way) because they were afraid of people using them to pirate movies.

It is a reaaaaally long story, but to make it short: MS changed radically how windows drivers worked, and what a driver could do, during the transition to DVDs, it killed sound cards (because no more advanced 3D sound rendering that sound blaster could do), CRTs (no more funky resolutions, no more overlay mode, and other fancy CRT features), and initiated the slow death of VGA (that also happened for other reasons but this contributed a lot).

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

#55

Post by izzydata »

Ever since they killed public folder hosting I've mostly stopped using Dropbox and moved to Imgur. I want to be able to drag pictures into a folder and then right click them and get a url to give to people. It was also nice for various types of small files.

I haven't found anything else that has that level of convenience. The windows context menus on right click were very good and now they are gone.

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

#56

Post by fortran77 »

I switched to OneDrive and it's great. It works everywhere (iOS, Mac, too) and it's a first-class citizen on Windows.

And for the same price as DropBox, I get online Office365, two installable desktop licences of Office, the iOS versions of the office apps, and an Outlook account, in addition to the 1 TB of storage.

It would be really, really hard for DropBox to come up with an application suite and bundle it along with their "folder that syncs." So they scramble and try things like their alternate file manager, that nobody in his right mind would use!

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

#57

Post by Iolaum »

soziawa wrote: post #13
mothsonasloth wrote: post #6

After Dropbox introduced the 3 machine limit to free tier accounts back in March. I decided to migrate to Nextcloud. The migration was easy: 1. Setup a directory on my VPS for storing files 2. Install Nextcloud 3. Configure security 4. Install clients on (Mac/ Windows and Androd phone) 5. Starting adding files

How do I configure security and how do I handle backups?

nextcloudpi.com can help you do it with ease

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

#58

Post by dexterdog »

AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #33
m_eiman wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've switched to Syncthing, which just syncs files and not all the other that Nextcloud does (which I'm not interested in). https://syncthing.net/

I have used Syncthing for projects at work and can attest that it is a solid and simple Dropbox replacement. Though I'm not sure they support Android/iOS yet. Edit: it is clear from the comments that there is at least an Android client.

I've been using the android client for years

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

#59

Post by gwbas1c »

I've worked for a major Dropbox competitor for almost a decade. Shenanigans like this don't surprise me.

This happens because product managers, developers, designers, ect, like to get creative. They think that they need to invent something new; AND, we (in the industry) see how a certain group of users is constantly confused by the files and folders concept.

Usually, cooler heads prevail and remind everyone why our customers use our products: They just want basic file synchronization, sharing, and backup. That's it!

Fortunately, in our case, we have very vocal major customers, so it's "easy" for us to plan features and changes that they will like.

That being said: An important subset of users is extremely confused by files and folders. Figuring out a UI that works for everyone, (power users, normal users, and non-savy users,) is a bit of a holy grail, and a very important problem to solve.

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