Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 393 posts

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#211

Post by [deleted] »

jjbinx007 wrote: post #89
KingOfCoders wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same with the ads for Amazon videos on Amazon Prime. They are ads and I don't want ads. But they don't see it that way (don't get me started on the forced watching of texts on Blue Rays).

Ads on Amazon Prime are infuriating. And I can't help think how annoying it must be for people with disabilities. My other bugbear are the auto playing videos on Netflix and the use of massive spoilers in episode thumbnails. As a single consumer in a vast ocean I don't think my opinions will ever be listened to. Right now it's worth putting up with this crap as the benefits outweigh the cost but if it gets any worse…

[deleted]

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#212

Post by zerkten »

Ensorceled wrote: post #18

I left dropbox when they changed the full page upsell to "dropbox business" so that I couldn't easily figure out how to skip it and get on with my work. I had a paid pro account at the time. I actually had a conversation with a product manager; I checked the yes you can contact me when I cancelled my account. They simply refused to admit that an upsell was a advertisement and that disrupting my workflow on my paid, p…

> I actually had a conversation with a product manager; I checked the yes you can contact me when I cancelled my account. They simply refused to admit that an upsell was a advertisement and that disrupting my workflow on my paid, professional account for an ad was wrong.

I'm not in the slightest bit surprised. As product management has exploded as a role (look at the number of courses, books, etc.) there has been a huge influx of people with less experience, and most importantly perhaps, less breadth of experience. This is a good thing in the long-term, but there will be growing pains.

I feel like the usual trope for programmers is that "PMs aren't technical enough", but the bigger issue for companies is that they don't have a breadth of experience and develop a narrower set of skills than they historically have. They smart and driven, but cost is what you are seeing with the cognitive dissonance.

This is less noticeable in smaller startups. The problem is exacerbated in more mature products like Dropbox where they are trying to move an existing user base onto a higher profit line of products. You need to have the broader base that PMs at legacy companies (e.g. Microsoft) have to make this shift. Further, it's harder to appear credible with enterprise customers beyond shadow IT.

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#213

Post by frankzander »

beshrkayali wrote: post #91

As an alternative, I recently setup Nextcloud on an Ubuntu running vm using the snap package[1] and it took around 30 minutes in total. 1: https://github.com/nextcloud/nextcloud-snap

Nextcloud works quite well. And you have also a calendar and some other nice features which DropBox not provides. Also the desktop sync client as well as the android client(s) works quite well.

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#214

Post by akvadrako »

Erlich_Bachman wrote: post #32

Syncthing might be a good option for those that wish to migrate. It is a stable open-source solution for syncing a directory in many-to-many clients situation. The syncthing itself provides no servers. But if you wish to have a central server it could be as easy as just installing synchting on your main machine or a cheap VPS. The UI is good enough and it is stable.

I use a Syncthing a little, but the battery usage, especially on Android, is a big problem.

It might work fine for small amounts of files, but it doesn't scale as well as Dropbox does.

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#216

Post by ballenf »

Causality1 wrote: post #135
Ensorceled wrote: post #18

I left dropbox when they changed the full page upsell to "dropbox business" so that I couldn't easily figure out how to skip it and get on with my work. I had a paid pro account at the time. I actually had a conversation with a product manager; I checked the yes you can contact me when I cancelled my account. They simply refused to admit that an upsell was a advertisement and that disrupting my workflow on my paid, p…

I dropped them when they restricted free accounts to three devices and I suddenly got inundated with calls from annoyed family and friends to whom I'd spent five years evangelizing.

They are the only company I know that continuously pulls features from existing tiers while raising prices on all tiers.

They act like a monopoly seemingly oblivious to the many viable alternatives out there today.

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#217

Post by wlesieutre »

dividuum wrote: post #201
wlesieutre wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

iOS does this for photos as of iOS 14: https://www.macrumors.com/2020/06/24/ios-14-users-give-apps-...

I wish there was an easier way to add additional photos quickly. From what I understand the only way is search for the app in settings, open the "Photos" permission and click on "Edit Selected Photos". Is there an easier way I missed? I guess I can't expect a simple click from within the app itself while selecting photos, as it's not aware it's seeing a limited selection.

I think it requires developers to fix that. At least in Slack there's two buttons next to their in-app image picker. One opens the camera to take a photo, the other pops up the iOS photo picker overlay where you can select more images.

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#218

Post by ballenf »

grishka wrote: post #43

I really wish mobile OSes would allow you to grant apps permissions but serve fake data, (that's important!) without giving the app the ability to tell the difference. Just so it appears to the app that you've given the permission, when you in fact have not. This would solve this entire class of problems and then some. So, for example: - App "has" access to contacts, but the system returns that you have none. - App "…

An "easy" implementation would be to allow the user specify which contacts db is shared. User could then have multiple contact lists -- a fake one, a work one, a personal, etc.

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#219

Post by StavrosK »

Daneel_ wrote: post #206
StavrosK wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's because Syncthing is a different beast. If you want something closer to Dropbox, use Nextcloud, which does basically everything Dropbox does (and more) and has the simple sharing UI you're talking about.

I’ve looked at Nextcloud, however it seems to be missing a key feature for me - the ability to store files server-side only. I want a google drive / Dropbox hybrid solution, where I can keep some directories synced and others permanently on the server. Does anyone know a solution that allows me to self-host something like this?

Nextcloud works exactly the way you want, so you may be thinking of something different. Maybe Syncthing?

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#220

Post by princetman »

js2 wrote: post #160
aidos wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you can’t turn off is the bit where they drop you into another trailer when you’ve just finished watching a series after months of investment. A little time to digest would be real nice.

Every single video app I have on my AppleTV: Netflix, Amazon, Criterion, even Apple’s own TV app, shrinks whatever you are watching down to a thumbnail just before the movie or show ends. I fucking hate it. Yes, I’m one of those weirdos who sits through to the end when the copyright rolls past and gets pissed off when the lights come on at a theater during the credits. It is incredibly disrespectful to the film. This…

I get the sentiment for live performance, but in your own home, I can not relate to this. Vast majority of people in credits are doing a job and getting paid for it, just like any other profession or trade.

We don't pay "respect" to delivery drivers, or to designers and engineers who brings us our gadgets and services in same way. Why should I spend my time and attention on credit rolls? It's not like anyone noticing it.

Post reply on HN