Dropbox Founder on New Features and Global Expansion • Hacker News Board

Re: Dropbox Founder on New Features and Global Expansion

#11

Post by TheUSMarshall » Mon, Jan 24, 2011, 10:31 PM UTC

pdx wrote: post #9

rst wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, it gives careless users more rope to hang themselves, but I'm not sure it changes anything in principle. The Linux version at least works by running a binary that they ship you, which runs with your uid and communicates with their servers. Short of building from source yourself (if you can get the source!), you already have to trust them to ship code which looks at only the stuff that they're supposed to be loo…

It's not dropbox I'm worried about, so much as the fact that a system that has the ability to make public any file at the owners direction, could be potentially exploited to make public any file without the owners direction. Are non-public files now accessible to third parties who have the correct url? Is there code that maps encoded url's to every file in my dropbox? If so, this is a security vulnerability that is n…

Non-shared files are inaccessible to anyone who isn't logged into that Dropbox account... if it's not shared by the user, it's not accessible.

Re: Dropbox Founder on New Features and Global Expansion

#12

Post by patio11 » Mon, Jan 24, 2011, 10:32 PM UTC

joelhaasnoot wrote: post #7

The one thing that Dropbox fails on, together with just about every other version control system, is that novice users (or your business-type cofounders), easily create conflicts with Word, Excel and other files. There's no easy way to handle it, but the current way is very annoying at best. Most of the time I guess it, and delete the one I think is wrong, but one day that will lead to the loss of some important chan…

Thankfully, if you ever blow away something important, Dropbox gives you an undo. (Create a file, let it sync, delete it, then go check their website.)

Re: Dropbox Founder on New Features and Global Expansion

#13

Post by joelhaasnoot » Mon, Jan 24, 2011, 10:35 PM UTC

patio11 wrote: post #12

joelhaasnoot wrote: post #7

The one thing that Dropbox fails on, together with just about every other version control system, is that novice users (or your business-type cofounders), easily create conflicts with Word, Excel and other files. There's no easy way to handle it, but the current way is very annoying at best. Most of the time I guess it, and delete the one I think is wrong, but one day that will lead to the loss of some important chan…

Thankfully, if you ever blow away something important, Dropbox gives you an undo. (Create a file, let it sync, delete it, then go check their website.)

True, however in a fast moving environment, that's only of little consolation if I have to look back 10 days and 20 versions to find the missing content. It becomes a trade off: do I do the work again or aim for the perfect merge. Unfortunately, the first often wins.

Re: Dropbox Founder on New Features and Global Expansion

#14

Post by cletus » Mon, Jan 24, 2011, 10:44 PM UTC

joelhaasnoot wrote: post #7

The one thing that Dropbox fails on, together with just about every other version control system, is that novice users (or your business-type cofounders), easily create conflicts with Word, Excel and other files. There's no easy way to handle it, but the current way is very annoying at best. Most of the time I guess it, and delete the one I think is wrong, but one day that will lead to the loss of some important chan…

While I don't agree with you that version control doesn't work well for Word, Excel, etc, I'd say the problem there is the format isn't built for version control.

VC works great for source code because it's all line based with (either by convention or required by the grammar) one statement per line. Diffing is pretty trivial in these cases and meaningful.

Binary formats are a whole different ballgame. Even XML-based formats are problematic. My view is that XML documents require a VCS built specifically for diffing that kind of data as line based will run a lot of false positives with white-space.

As another commentor said: you can always get your stuff back with Dropbox. I'm not sure how much better you can do than this without actually changing the program that created the data.

Re: Dropbox Founder on New Features and Global Expansion

#15

Post by joelhaasnoot » Mon, Jan 24, 2011, 10:46 PM UTC

cletus wrote: post #14

joelhaasnoot wrote: post #7

The one thing that Dropbox fails on, together with just about every other version control system, is that novice users (or your business-type cofounders), easily create conflicts with Word, Excel and other files. There's no easy way to handle it, but the current way is very annoying at best. Most of the time I guess it, and delete the one I think is wrong, but one day that will lead to the loss of some important chan…

While I don't agree with you that version control doesn't work well for Word, Excel, etc, I'd say the problem there is the format isn't built for version control. VC works great for source code because it's all line based with (either by convention or required by the grammar) one statement per line. Diffing is pretty trivial in these cases and meaningful . Binary formats are a whole different ballgame. Even XML-based…

True, perfect merging doesn't exist. I just think that replacing one file with two files that have different names isn't the best solution to letting me deal with the problem.

Re: Dropbox Founder on New Features and Global Expansion

#16

Post by jessriedel » Mon, Jan 24, 2011, 11:18 PM UTC

joelhaasnoot wrote: post #15

cletus wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I don't agree with you that version control doesn't work well for Word, Excel, etc, I'd say the problem there is the format isn't built for version control. VC works great for source code because it's all line based with (either by convention or required by the grammar) one statement per line. Diffing is pretty trivial in these cases and meaningful . Binary formats are a whole different ballgame. Even XML-based…

True, perfect merging doesn't exist. I just think that replacing one file with two files that have different names isn't the best solution to letting me deal with the problem.

Well, obviously we want some copy (hopefully, the best copy) of the file to be available at its original name without having to use a Dropbox client or visit the Dropbox website. So I guess what you're looking for is an additional interface (website or client) which would allow easy choosing or even diffing following a conflict? I'd certainly support that, as I've had to diff myself in the past.

Re: Dropbox Founder on New Features and Global Expansion

#17

Post by Florin_Andrei » Mon, Jan 24, 2011, 11:51 PM UTC

Did they add yet that new feature where the software is actually updated when they release a new version? As opposed to manual update, or wait 6 months until the autoupdater decides it's time to wake up.

Re: Dropbox Founder on New Features and Global Expansion

#18

Post by davidmathers » Tue, Jan 25, 2011, 12:02 AM UTC

r00fus wrote: post #2

Hmm... so you can publicly share your mp3s and videos? Haven't we heard of this before (mp3.com)... I wonder how they'll deal with "infringement" cases from the media cartel? As a current dropbox user, I'm a bit concerned about this functionality (since by default public means public but unlisted, it can still be shared). Hope these guys did a bit of homework here.

The answer is on the terms page:

You will only upload, post, submit or otherwise transmit data and/or files: (i) that you have the lawful right to use, copy, distribute, transmit, or display; or (ii) that does not infringe the intellectual property rights or violate the privacy rights of any third party. Dropbox has adopted and implemented a policy that permits the deletion of files that violate this policy, and that permits the termination in appropriate circumstances of the accounts of users who repeatedly infringe or are believed to be or are charged with repeatedly infringing the rights of copyright holders.

Re: Dropbox Founder on New Features and Global Expansion

#19

Post by adambourg » Tue, Jan 25, 2011, 12:16 AM UTC

joelhaasnoot wrote: post #13

patio11 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thankfully, if you ever blow away something important, Dropbox gives you an undo. (Create a file, let it sync, delete it, then go check their website.)

True, however in a fast moving environment, that's only of little consolation if I have to look back 10 days and 20 versions to find the missing content. It becomes a trade off: do I do the work again or aim for the perfect merge. Unfortunately, the first often wins.

... Use Google docs.

Re: Dropbox Founder on New Features and Global Expansion

#20

Post by latch » Tue, Jan 25, 2011, 12:17 AM UTC

Dropbox is great, and it's one of the few companies I don't mind pimping out. However, even I have my limits, and "the best 30 comments on this post explaining why Dropbox is awesome will be given 5GB, of extra storage on their account" crosses the line. It's just ego stroking and obvious advertising at that point.

If you must, why not reward people with the best ideas to improve dropbox or who have unique ways of leveraging it? I'll give you $5 to tell me how great I am...seriously?