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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

#141

Post by tsegers »

0_gravitas wrote: post #103
jcranberry wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the users perspective git is an application which you use to actively maintain a repo. Whereas Dropbox is more or less just a magic folder. Entirely different levels of convenience.

I definitely understand why "normal" users wouldn't use an online repo (especially if they've never used git itself), but I can't really buy `git add ., git commit -m "sync", git push -u` being too inconvenient, especially when you can just alias all of those. Now if mobile phones are the main reason I can definately understand a bit more, but I do my best to minimize my usage of it anyway, it's mainly a messenger +…

That's still one action more than is required for using a synchronization service. The killer feature is not having to do anything at all. I save my file on one computer, and it's available on all my other machines, my phone and anything with a web browser without a conscious thought at all.

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

#142

Post by bhouston »

mrlala wrote: post #91
bhouston wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "But," you may ask, "so much more you could do! What about task management, calendaring, customized dashboards, virtual white boarding. More than just folders and files!" > > No, shut up. People don't use that crap. They just want a folder. A folder that syncs. This argument is a good one but it only covers the rise of Dropbox. We are now in a different era. Dropbox's functionality is now table stakes and not somet…

Dropbox can handle a LOT of files. I haven't seen any other service that doesn't just break. OneDrive cannot handle tons of files. It just doesn't work. It ends up freezing, you have no idea what's going on. Can't speak to macOS related stuff. We finally were able to migrate off of this.. but we had a VERY file hefty folder structure. Instead of databases we chose to keep things in individual files for various reason…

Google File Stream (https://support.google.com/drive/answer/7329379?hl=en) is the bomb - many TBs of files in it, can not even count how many and it is fast and adaptive.

If you haven't tried it, you do not know what you are missing.

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

#143

Post by [deleted] »

scarface74 wrote: post #92
zapnuk wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just switched back to dropbox after switching to Nextcloud. For some reason I constantly got a'... could not be downloaded because of a local file clash' error with 6 files. 2*3 files have the same name but are in different subfolders. I've searched for this error, deleted the filed locally and in the cloud. Every time I add them again, I get the same error. Not to mention that I get reminded of this error every 30…

There are so many better options then Dropbox. iCloud once Apple introduces folder sharing in iOS 13. OneDrive - $9.99 a month full Office Suite including on mobile/web and 6TB of storage. There is a third party Linux client ( https://www.expandrive.com/onedrive-for-linux/ )

[deleted]

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

#144

Post by 0_gravitas »

jpindar wrote: post #132
0_gravitas wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I definitely understand why "normal" users wouldn't use an online repo (especially if they've never used git itself), but I can't really buy `git add ., git commit -m "sync", git push -u` being too inconvenient, especially when you can just alias all of those. Now if mobile phones are the main reason I can definately understand a bit more, but I do my best to minimize my usage of it anyway, it's mainly a messenger +…

I use github - for code. But dumping 100 Gigs of movies, music, books, and other random personal stuff there is not its intended use.

Movies and music I get, but I have all my schoolwork and related stuff, like all my org-mode files, in there, not just code, it 100% beats emailing myself some work I did on my desktop just so I can print it out on a school computer/work on it using a laptop.

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

#145

Post by nacs »

ungzd wrote: post #76

Does not look so bad. It's similar to web interface on dropbox.com, but packaged as "electron-like" app. Its functionality is related only to Dropbox, and it can be considered a part of main application. If it was third-party crapware, like free-to-play game or antivirus, I might be concerned, but it's just a piece of new bad UI and not worse than that. If I do "apt-get upgrade" and "gnome" metapackage installs me an…

> If I do "apt-get upgrade" and "gnome" metapackage installs me another new picture viewer/calculator/text editor appeared in new version, does it mean "Gnome silently installs unwanted software on users computers"

The difference is that when I choose my operating system (in this example Ubuntu/Debian), I trust it's native package manager and repos to install what they need more than some 3rd party provider shipping new proprietary blobs without my asking for it.

Also note that when you do `apt upgrade` it prompts for permission if it sees any new packages/dependencies are being pulled in.

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

#146

Post by james_pm »

krzrak wrote: post #104

I recommend sync.com as an alternative. It works great, has end-to-end encryption and their support is very responsive (you can't say that about Dropbox's support).

I also just discovered sync.com as an alternative to Dropbox. Seems pretty solid, and delivers on sync without all the additional crap Dropbox keeps layering on. E2E encryption with a good mobile app.

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

#147

Post by snackematician »

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?

I've been using a Google cloud free-tier VPS with Syncthing and it works great; I imagine Nextcloud would be similar. I do backup my instance with snapshots, which aren't free, but so far cost me about $.01 per month. Note, Syncthing doesn't actually require a server, but I still find it useful for offsite backup.

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

#148

Post by lowlevel »

bhouston wrote: post #142
mrlala wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dropbox can handle a LOT of files. I haven't seen any other service that doesn't just break. OneDrive cannot handle tons of files. It just doesn't work. It ends up freezing, you have no idea what's going on. Can't speak to macOS related stuff. We finally were able to migrate off of this.. but we had a VERY file hefty folder structure. Instead of databases we chose to keep things in individual files for various reason…

Google File Stream ( https://support.google.com/drive/answer/7329379?hl=en ) is the bomb - many TBs of files in it, can not even count how many and it is fast and adaptive. If you haven't tried it, you do not know what you are missing.

Gonna try it... tried OneDrive but oddly enough, Microsoft Office documents and files are a complete pain in the rear to open/save there because the microsoft apps treats it differently than just a storage device.

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

#149

Post by TeMPOraL »

ChrisRR wrote: post #87
bhouston wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "But," you may ask, "so much more you could do! What about task management, calendaring, customized dashboards, virtual white boarding. More than just folders and files!" > > No, shut up. People don't use that crap. They just want a folder. A folder that syncs. This argument is a good one but it only covers the rise of Dropbox. We are now in a different era. Dropbox's functionality is now table stakes and not somet…

We're in a different era, but the issue is still the same. Lots of competitors have popped up in file syncing, but they all want to link in with additional services and other crap that people don't want. There's still a lot of value to be had in providing a folder that syncs quickly and effortlessly.

Strongly agreed. "A folder that syncs" is the only thing I ever wanted from Dropbox, it's still the only thing that I want, and it's the only reason I pay them. Everything they've been adding for the past years is pure, useless bloat to me.

(Well, what I really want is a folder that syncs and which lets me get URLs to raw files in the cloud to share. They used to have this, then they dropped it for some silly business reasons. Tough luck, I learned to live without it. Still, throughout the decade or so I've been using their service, they added exactly zero useful things for me, and managed to lose one feature I cared about.)

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

#150

Post by ohnope »

hylaride wrote: post #93
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 had the same experience with dropbox. I first started to balk at them when the agent kept sucking more and more memory as updates came, then everything you describe. I ultimately just went all-in with icloud. The pricing is (now) better than dropbox, but I'm also all-in on the Apple ecosystem.

I would be all in on iCloud for sync if it had selective sync. What do you do for that?
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