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BitTorrent Sync Is A Dropbox Killer, Or Maybe Much More Than That

forbes.com

11–20 of 97 posts

Re: BitTorrent Sync Is A Dropbox Killer, Or Maybe Much More Than That

#11

I would love to see something like this that allows you to serve a website on localhost to specific people. The browser control could be embedded so you could control how resources are loaded (through torrent instead of normal URL).

$ cd /home/somedir $ python -m SimpleHTTPServer

You'd still have to open up ports on any firewall you're running, and there's no user access control, but it's a quick way to serve up a directory over a LAN.

Re: BitTorrent Sync Is A Dropbox Killer, Or Maybe Much More Than That

#12
post #5

I'd say it could be troubling for dropbox. It's probably game over for https://aerofs.com though unless AeroFS drastically changes/pivots. For dropbox, they do have some advantages. Bittorrent brings up thoughts of piracy. Dropbox doesn't have that reputation and would be much more acceptable in corporate environments. Additionally, Dropbox has integration with a lot of apps and I don't see that happening with BT Syn…

1. A service with the word "torrent" in it will never be adopted by a corporate entity. (edit: "typical" corporation. Technology companies don't count)

2. You may be overestimating how much the average person cares about file storage size, 3rd party servers, or transferring large files.

Re: BitTorrent Sync Is A Dropbox Killer, Or Maybe Much More Than That

#14
post #6

Hilarious article. "there is no need to route through the cloud which can slow things down " wtf, no editorial oversight of tech material at Forbes? The rest is shit too.

I didn't read the article but my first thoughts on seeing the headline on HN were "Linkbait!... Wait, why is a Forbes article being promoted on HN?"

I do not get it nowadays. Such articles from Forbes and other sites are mindlessly promoted over here and they don't follow any HN guidelines! Just there to get traffic and increase page views.

Re: BitTorrent Sync Is A Dropbox Killer, Or Maybe Much More Than That

#15
post #9

I pay for dropbox for dedicated storage. it will be there. How long until the first stories of people not being able to get their files back out of BT Sync. Also they don't talk about the hidden cost, that I assume you have to use a lot more of your HD to store other people's stuff and a load of your bandwidth. Remember this system works by using all the clients as the server farm. And for that kind of system you nee…

[deleted]

Re: BitTorrent Sync Is A Dropbox Killer, Or Maybe Much More Than That

#17
post #6

Hilarious article. "there is no need to route through the cloud which can slow things down " wtf, no editorial oversight of tech material at Forbes? The rest is shit too.

When you put a file into a Dropbox-synced folder/directory, Dropbox first syncs the file to their cloud storage in AWS. Once that sync is completed, Dropbox starts to sync to other devices. If you want to sync a large file, you must wait for the cloud sync to complete before it will start to copy it to other devices, which could take longer than copying with a flash drive.

I assumed that was the meaning behind the statement you selected.

Re: BitTorrent Sync Is A Dropbox Killer, Or Maybe Much More Than That

#19
post #6

Hilarious article. "there is no need to route through the cloud which can slow things down " wtf, no editorial oversight of tech material at Forbes? The rest is shit too.

This is not a Forbes article, it is an article by a Forbes "contributor" which is a barely-vetted blogger given permission to publish articles.

Re: BitTorrent Sync Is A Dropbox Killer, Or Maybe Much More Than That

#20
post #5

I'd say it could be troubling for dropbox. It's probably game over for https://aerofs.com though unless AeroFS drastically changes/pivots. For dropbox, they do have some advantages. Bittorrent brings up thoughts of piracy. Dropbox doesn't have that reputation and would be much more acceptable in corporate environments. Additionally, Dropbox has integration with a lot of apps and I don't see that happening with BT Syn…

1. A service with the word "torrent" in it will never be adopted by a corporate entity. (edit: "typical" corporation. Technology companies don't count) 2. You may be overestimating how much the average person cares about file storage size, 3rd party servers, or transferring large files.

@1. You might have missed how many game companies distribute the patches nowadays.

@2. Indeed. To find broader adoption by private users it MUST be click and go. But I don't see a reason why BTSynch can't achieve that in the short term even.

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