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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

#121

Post by lostmsu »

papln wrote: post #114
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…

> Windows by default has cloud sync on Mac and iOS and Linux and Android? > macOS does as well. On Windows and Linux and Android?

If you install OneDrive, you can sync Android photos.

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

#122

Post by IanSanders »

hunter2_ wrote: post #81
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…

Can you expand slightly on the confusion, perhaps give a typical support question or similar?

My guess is people don't organise their folders well and then struggle to navigate and search properly. Which shouldn't mean the rest should get punished, but here we are.

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

#124

Post by [deleted] »

papln wrote: post #114
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…

> Windows by default has cloud sync on Mac and iOS and Linux and Android? > macOS does as well. On Windows and Linux and Android?

[deleted]

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

#125

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

untog wrote: post #96
speeder wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What killed SBlaster was not motherboards having sound cards. It was movie studios convincing microsoft to ban from Windows the best featuresof SBlaster cards (those features are STILL banned by the way) because they were afraid of people using them to pirate movies. It is a reaaaaally long story, but to make it short: MS changed radically how windows drivers worked, and what a driver could do, during the transition…

The vast majority of people didn't buy Sound Blaster cards for their advanced 3D sound rendering, though. They bought them to play sound at a level more advanced than a PC speaker, which is what most had at the time. Once motherboards integrated that there was no need for most people to buy a separate sound card. I know I didn't, especially when working out what you're spending your money on - video cards were far mo…

> Once motherboards integrated that there was no need for most people to buy a separate sound card.

Sure, if you mean a strict majority of people, but what about gamers? There's no reason "most" people need to buy a separate videocard but it is still a huge market. For a time, a good soundcard was with advanced features for 3D sound rendering was looking like it was going to be just as important to PC gaming as good videocards.

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

#126

Post by EpicEng »

aero142 wrote: post #105
bhouston wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Steve Jobs was right and Dropbox is having problems as a result. They are trying to differentiate but it hasn't been working out, it seems to be muddling in various different directions.

This feels like the “we’re all dead in the long run” version of right.

I don't think so. He specifically called out the fact that their entire product is eventually going to be a single feature in every consumer OS. And now it is. That hardly applies to every product/service out there.

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

#127

Post by IanSanders »

Bjartr wrote: post #84
bborud wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So it is a matter of timing. Why would they test something they do not intend to ship?

To find out if they should ship it?

I could have told the answer without testing required. Jokes aside, probably depends on what they are trying to achieve.

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

#128

Post by PascLeRasc »

mrlala wrote: post #91
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…

Dropbox can handle a LOT of files. I haven't seen any other service that doesn't just break. OneDrive cannot handle tons of files. It just doesn't work. It ends up freezing, you have no idea what's going on. Can't speak to macOS related stuff. We finally were able to migrate off of this.. but we had a VERY file hefty folder structure. Instead of databases we chose to keep things in individual files for various reason…

We just had to switch from Box to OneDrive at work, and it's caused massive headaches. Most days no one can log in, and some Excel sheets uploaded have been corrupted or have missing sheets - I don't know how that happens unless Microsoft is scanning our files.

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

#129

Post by chipotle_coyote »

papln wrote: post #114
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…

> Windows by default has cloud sync on Mac and iOS and Linux and Android? > macOS does as well. On Windows and Linux and Android?

Not everyone needs any-platform syncing; you only need a solution that covers the devices you actually have. For instance, the only thing I really need Dropbox for at this point is one shared folder with friends who use both Mac and Windows (which could likely be handled by Google Drive, and might even be able to be handled by iCloud Drive by the end of the year) -- and Scrivener, because its developer apparently can't figure out how to make syncing between Mac and iOS work reliably on anything else. (One can argue he hasn't really figured out how to make it work reliably on Dropbox, actually, but that's a different thread.)

There may be some people for whom Dropbox will always remain the best solution, to be sure, but it feels like Dropbox is going out of their way to reduce that set of people in favor of extracting more money from those that remain.

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

#130

Post by proactivesvcs »

flanbiscuit wrote: post #53

I've been meaning to move off of Dropbox and Google drive, does anyone have any recommendations? I know there are some Torrent related syncs out there. I just want something that is not centralized and controlled by an entity. I want full control of it and I sync between desktop/laptop and Android

Syncthing is open source continuous file syncing software. No account needed, no third-party data storage and can be configured not to use any of the project's discovery or relaying infrastructure.

https://syncthing.net/

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