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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

#171

Post by snowwrestler »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #152
bhouston wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

What's up with them? They now have three applications to do file syncing? Google Drive, Backup & Sync, and Drive File Stream? I've kept using Dropbox for all these years because they never confused people like this. There was a single app that gave you a folder that synced.

Also, Dropbox is not going to drop file syncing; it is who they are.

Google might drop any of their file syncing solutions, possibly even all three!

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

#172

Post by TeMPOraL »

gwbas1c wrote: post #59

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 c…

> This happens because product managers, developers, designers, ect, like to get creative. They think that they need to invent something new

Capitalism is supposed to be about efficient allocation of resources. Cutting down the fat. Taking away materiel and capital from people who squander it and giving it to people who can put it to good work.

How come that those product managers, developers, designers, etc. all have jobs? Why weren't they trimmed away as the fat they are? Why does this keep happening to almost every SaaS company out there?

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

#173

Post by UncleMeat »

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.

But is that value people will pay for? Clearly Dropbox doesn't think so.

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

#174

Post by tarsinge »

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…

That was maybe true before, but in that era for me it's pretty clear that they are chasing the bulk of new internet users for which the folder/files metaphor is not intuitive. They use social media websites and apps and have photos/videos that they access through an app, not from a file explorer (desktop OS are moving in the same direction of abstracting the filesystem too). That's why they (and Google Drive and others) are moving from "a folder that sync" to "let's auto detect and sync media".

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

#175

Post by UncleMeat »

technofiend wrote: post #108
navigatesol wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Please go back to being a folder that syncs A simple, effective utility can't support a multi-billion valuation. Where else will the VC Ponzi dollars go?

>A simple, effective utility can't support a multi-billion valuation. This is the real issue: everyone wants to be a unicorn and no one wants to be a utility.

Well duh.

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

#176

Post by mlthoughts2018 »

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…

That quoted Quora answer sounds comically tone deaf and deeply inconsistent with the way users of even very simplistic products like this demand features of growing complexity, let alone how companies make money off this by cost effectively reaching use cases in the long, weird tail not addressed by the basic version (especially when eventually selling to enterprise).

What a monumental lack of imagination.

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

#177

Post by TeMPOraL »

dangus wrote: post #120
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

Step 6: Maintain your server in perpetuity constantly patching and acting as a one-person security team while not getting paid for it. (This is my not-stealthy way of saying that Nextcloud is a rather impossible alternative to Dropbox for its typical user)

How this should look like, in a more perfect world:

- The "unobtrusive folder-that-sync app" is produced by multiple parties following a standardized protocol.

- The cloud storage server is handled and secured by different businesses, all following a standardized protocol.

- The user buys an app, and a cloud storage service, and they talk together.

I wonder what are the steps - cultural, technological, perhaps legal - to force SaaS vendors to cut their bullshit, unbundle distinct features, and start competing on merit instead of marketing budgets and control over user data?

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

#178

Post by jbverschoor »

tarsinge wrote: post #174
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…

That was maybe true before, but in that era for me it's pretty clear that they are chasing the bulk of new internet users for which the folder/files metaphor is not intuitive. They use social media websites and apps and have photos/videos that they access through an app, not from a file explorer (desktop OS are moving in the same direction of abstracting the filesystem too). That's why they (and Google Drive and othe…

Good luck organizing. “Search” is not an archiving mechanism. And I don’t like containers per app. It makes no sense. You have something, could be a project, event, a library and there is data associated with this. The data are files.

If I’m looking at scans of of receipts, I do not want and currently I’m not able to search for all receipts in a given period.

I don’t want my photos to be in one big folder. I have my own mental model of how it should be organized.

There’s a reason gmail supports “folders” these days

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

#179

Post by jbverschoor »

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?

iCloud Drive?

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

#180

Post by plopz »

pandalicious wrote: post #134
dunnevens wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there’s a strong case to be made for companies that do one thing and do it extremely well. A feature can be cut. It can be abandoned. It can be the thing no one wants to work with because it gets the reputation of being the department where careers go to die. Whereas a feature as product means it’s more likely to stick around. They have nothing to do but build and maintain this feature. They have the luxury o…

Spotify vs Google Play Music is the perfect showcase for this. They both get the job done but Spotify is better in so many small ways. Meanwhile, instead of being improved, GPM is in the process of being abandoned for the new shiny thing, Youtube Music.

I've been looking for an alternative to Google Play Music. I only use it to sync my albums from my pc to my phone and play them offline in the car. Does Spotify have a feature like that?

Edit: It looks like you have to pay for it and the music has to be in playlists. Not quite what I'd like.

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