Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well this isn't suitable for "normal" users but I use SyncThing to sync a folder on my computer to a server running Apache.
What is the server running Apache? :)
It's a Digital Ocean droplet.
Dropbox accounts created after Oct. 2012 won't have a public folder
21–30 of 133 posts
Re: Dropbox accounts created after Oct. 2012 won't have a public folder
#22I relied on this "light" publishing for a few things and I'm quite pissed off. I did not notice any notification on this. To me, this should be done very very visibly and with tons of warnings. I used it to communicate screenshots with details, etc. Now all links are broken and I'm SOL with no viable solution to changing those links from documents, bugs, etc., etc. Very very very bad!
I received a notification 3 to 4 months ago and then a reminder about 2 weeks ago. Maybe a spam filter ate it. :(
Re: Dropbox accounts created after Oct. 2012 won't have a public folder
#23Unless I'm mistaken, this won't affect services such as Site44.com [0], which lets you create up to 10 Web sites by syncing with specified Dropbox folders for $4.95 per month. I use the service for a side project and to publish a site for my students with the materials for the law-school course I teach; it works quite well. (EDIT: And that's my only connection with the company.)
Re: Dropbox accounts created after Oct. 2012 won't have a public folder
#24This feels like a step backwards. DB has struggled to figure out something beyond being a really great cloud-share drive thing, and sorta kinda messed around with using your DB to host media like photos (which would then make users desire to upgrade their space) and automagically supply some interface sugar around a pile of photos. But they could have kept going in that direction and competed with all of the photosha…
I'm guessing they can't go that route because youtube (google), and twitch (amazon) are the only 600lbs gorillas that can do /something/ to stave off the insane 100lbs gorilla that goes for the jugular (MPAA/RIAA and the like).
Photo-gallery, as you've noted opens them to competing with other such providers... who all seem to eventually race towards throwing ads on everything to try and make some profit.
Freely accessible areas also equate to more consumers (not users), and I don't know if DB's business model charges any kind of fee for access to that data.
This mostly sounds like DB is out of areas they want to / feel they can succeed in tapping for new customers and thus they attempt to cut back on costs with the hope of inertia retaining the existing users.
Re: Dropbox accounts created after Oct. 2012 won't have a public folder
#25I relied on this "light" publishing for a few things and I'm quite pissed off. I did not notice any notification on this. To me, this should be done very very visibly and with tons of warnings. I used it to communicate screenshots with details, etc. Now all links are broken and I'm SOL with no viable solution to changing those links from documents, bugs, etc., etc. Very very very bad!
-edited to remove wrong info-
Re: Dropbox accounts created after Oct. 2012 won't have a public folder
#26This feels like a step backwards. DB has struggled to figure out something beyond being a really great cloud-share drive thing, and sorta kinda messed around with using your DB to host media like photos (which would then make users desire to upgrade their space) and automagically supply some interface sugar around a pile of photos. But they could have kept going in that direction and competed with all of the photosha…
I suspect they just want to focus on their core benefit so that they don't stretch too thin.
Re: Dropbox accounts created after Oct. 2012 won't have a public folder
#27I relied on this "light" publishing for a few things and I'm quite pissed off. I did not notice any notification on this. To me, this should be done very very visibly and with tons of warnings. I used it to communicate screenshots with details, etc. Now all links are broken and I'm SOL with no viable solution to changing those links from documents, bugs, etc., etc. Very very very bad!
I have an email notification from Dropbox in December of last year saying this will be disabled.
Yes, I probably missed the notifications somehow.
They probably should have had some warning on the app itself when putting or sharing files from that folder.
It's a free service, so my bad for using it without a good backup, but I had used programs for a long long time that produce screenshots with one keystroke and copy the URL to the clipboard, saving time.
I figured this was relatively low overhead for them and a popular feature, so they would keep it. Lesson learned ..
Re: Dropbox accounts created after Oct. 2012 won't have a public folder
#28What's wrong with the "shared link" functionality they are offering?
Re: Dropbox accounts created after Oct. 2012 won't have a public folder
#29This feels like a step backwards. DB has struggled to figure out something beyond being a really great cloud-share drive thing, and sorta kinda messed around with using your DB to host media like photos (which would then make users desire to upgrade their space) and automagically supply some interface sugar around a pile of photos. But they could have kept going in that direction and competed with all of the photosha…
I'm guessing they can't go that route because youtube (google), and twitch (amazon) are the only 600lbs gorillas that can do /something/ to stave off the insane 100lbs gorilla that goes for the jugular (MPAA/RIAA and the like). Photo-gallery, as you've noted opens them to competing with other such providers... who all seem to eventually race towards throwing ads on everything to try and make some profit. Freely acces…
> This mostly sounds like DB is out of areas they want to / feel they can succeed in tapping for new customers and thus they attempt to cut back on costs with the hope of inertia retaining the existing users.
I'm okay with how Dropbox as-is as a Pro user, and have no problem giving them $100/year in perpetuity.
A product must not constantly evolve/improve for it to succeed (I'm looking at you Github with your damn dark bar at the top nav now!). "Good enough" can carry the day. Sync always works. My files are always there. That's what I'm paying for.
Re: Dropbox accounts created after Oct. 2012 won't have a public folder
#30I relied on this "light" publishing for a few things and I'm quite pissed off. I did not notice any notification on this. To me, this should be done very very visibly and with tons of warnings. I used it to communicate screenshots with details, etc. Now all links are broken and I'm SOL with no viable solution to changing those links from documents, bugs, etc., etc. Very very very bad!
Oh, they definitely notified their users. There were emails and warnings in the UI, it was very visible. Really, you can't blame Dropbox there. However, one can still blame Dropbox for the change itself. I used this on several occasions, including hosting archives for academic publications. No way in hell I can change those links. Maybe that wasn't a wise choice, but at that time it looked like a good way: The link d…
I do not see any emails from them. Maybe I read them over quickly and deleted them :-(