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

Dropbox introduces new API features

blog.dropbox.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 38 posts

Re: Dropbox introduces new API features

#11

Post by smackfu »

minimaxir wrote: post #10
smackfu wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does 6 seem high or low to you?

If a user is using Dropbox as backup/sync as opposed to free long-term storage, 6 seems unbelieveably low. I store my IM logs in my Dropbox. Every time a message is sent, 2 files are changed (the message log and the overall database). One conversation alone can fire 100 sync events. And if you're like me and are a Ctrl+S addict when working on important papers or code, each Ctrl+S is a sync event.

Yeah, but OTOH, a lot of people will use it just like a documents folder. So maybe there is a single Word or Excel doc that is updated at a time, once or twice a week. That's the other end of the curve.

Re: Dropbox introduces new API features

#12

Post by foobarqux »

andrewmunsell wrote: post #3
joshuaellinger wrote: post #2

Can anyone who uses the Dropbox API tell me if these features are significant? From my .Net developer's point of view, I am not seeing why these aren't just weak versions of the Azure storage capabilities or Amazon's S3. It's nice to be able to target DropBox as a storage location but that's a pretty rare use-case for me. Especially since their security store is incomplete.

Well, from a quick look at the Datastore API, they provide conflict resolution and offline support, which are pretty big if you're working on a mobile application.

How do they do actual conflict resolution? The example they give is address changed on one device and e-mail on another. That isn't a conflict.

Re: Dropbox introduces new API features

#13

Post by Selfcommit »

area51org wrote: post #5
joshuaellinger wrote: post #2

Can anyone who uses the Dropbox API tell me if these features are significant? From my .Net developer's point of view, I am not seeing why these aren't just weak versions of the Azure storage capabilities or Amazon's S3. It's nice to be able to target DropBox as a storage location but that's a pretty rare use-case for me. Especially since their security store is incomplete.

It's a step toward evolution: Dropbox becoming a platform and not just a cloudy app. I wonder, though, about the amount of storage available at the free level -- is it enough to support a true platform?

isn't dropbox built on top of amazon?

Isn't it a platform on a platform at that point?

Re: Dropbox introduces new API features

#14

Post by arrrg »

minimaxir wrote: post #10
smackfu wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does 6 seem high or low to you?

If a user is using Dropbox as backup/sync as opposed to free long-term storage, 6 seems unbelieveably low. I store my IM logs in my Dropbox. Every time a message is sent, 2 files are changed (the message log and the overall database). One conversation alone can fire 100 sync events. And if you're like me and are a Ctrl+S addict when working on important papers or code, each Ctrl+S is a sync event.

I think you are definitely the outlier here. Most people I have seen using Dropbox store some documents there, not even all of them. Just those they want to have synced.

That’s also more or less the default for Dropbox, that’s how it’s set up and guides its users. It’s just some folder in your user folder, not even the documents folder. By default you have to actively think to put stuff in there.

I think you might just have a wrong picture of who uses Dropbox. Storing IM conversations or even all of your documents on there is quite esoteric.

Also, if you think of a typical home computer of someone who has a job then there aren’t going to be many files on that thing. A few letters to cancel something or other (but even that is done mostly by email these days), photos, videos and maybe some music (but many people don’t put that in their Dropbox because there is just no space) … that’s not much. You don’t need to create files to go to Facebook or read the news or get weather info or watch the stocks (minus Facebook that’s exactly the stuff my dad does on the family laptop and I installed Dropbox on both PCs in their house to keep their rarely changed documents folder in sync).

Yeah, students probably have more documents but I have even seen those only use Dropbox for collaborative stuff – not all the rest they do.

It’s not that those people don’t get value from Dropbox or don’t use it, they just don’t need it that often.

Re: Dropbox introduces new API features

#15

Post by andrewmunsell »

foobarqux wrote: post #12
andrewmunsell wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, from a quick look at the Datastore API, they provide conflict resolution and offline support, which are pretty big if you're working on a mobile application.

How do they do actual conflict resolution? The example they give is address changed on one device and e-mail on another. That isn't a conflict.

It is if you're storing JSON blobs for contacts and simply send it up to a cloud storage service. It would be last-to-write wins, in this case. Supposedly, Dropbox would handle this sort of scenario.

Of course, this is assuming you weren't using a database (even a NoSQL DB) and simply updating the changed fields, which is probably how you'd realistically handle this situation.

EDIT:

Taking a closer look, it seems like the Datastore API is more of a way to synchronize multiple databases/stores (in essence). One stored locally on a phone (that can be changed, in their example, in airplane mode), one in the cloud, and one on the desktop, or anywhere else your app runs with the Datastore integration. While there are relatively simple ways to locally queue changes made while offline, and then sync them up to a master database in the cloud when the network comes back, Dropbox's Datastore seems to do this for you without you having to worry about it.

Re: Dropbox introduces new API features

#19

Post by danielsiders »

joshuaellinger wrote: post #2

Can anyone who uses the Dropbox API tell me if these features are significant? From my .Net developer's point of view, I am not seeing why these aren't just weak versions of the Azure storage capabilities or Amazon's S3. It's nice to be able to target DropBox as a storage location but that's a pretty rare use-case for me. Especially since their security store is incomplete.

I think fundamentally Dropbox's move away from the filesystem by exposing an API like this and through application acquisitions (music and mail) is about trying to become the Apple of personal data.

Dropbox has done a phenomenal job of taking a complex challenge (file sync) and making an incredibly simple user experience. Extending that strategy into other common tasks with new and purchased apps could be very successful. The big element missing is BaaS (back-end as a service) for data and events that aren't files. Given the poor track record of services like iCloud, you can imagine a lot of developers adopting the Dropbox API and in a few years most iOS devices might be running a combination of official Dropbox apps (replacements for itunes, mail, and maybe calendar) and many other essentially stateless apps that use the Dropbox API for sync and storage.

In the short term this could be very convenient for users and developers, but in the long run it creates another monolithic, centralized platform. This kind of functionality needs to be delivered as a protocol so users can choose service providers who compete on price, features, and privacy instead of being citizens of a particular platform (Facebook, Apple, Google, MSFT, or increasingly Dropbox).

Re: Dropbox introduces new API features

#20

Post by minimaxir »

arrrg wrote: post #14
minimaxir wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If a user is using Dropbox as backup/sync as opposed to free long-term storage, 6 seems unbelieveably low. I store my IM logs in my Dropbox. Every time a message is sent, 2 files are changed (the message log and the overall database). One conversation alone can fire 100 sync events. And if you're like me and are a Ctrl+S addict when working on important papers or code, each Ctrl+S is a sync event.

I think you are definitely the outlier here. Most people I have seen using Dropbox store some documents there, not even all of them. Just those they want to have synced. That’s also more or less the default for Dropbox, that’s how it’s set up and guides its users. It’s just some folder in your user folder, not even the documents folder. By default you have to actively think to put stuff in there. I think you might ju…

Fair enough. I admit I'm paranoid about my file integrity. :P

Although if the behavior that you describe is the typical user behavior, then that's not a good thing for Dropbox's attempts to convert free users to paying users.

Post reply on HN