SkyDrive is a threat to Dropbox • Hacker News Board

Re: SkyDrive is a threat to Dropbox

#21

Post by huggyface » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 8:55 PM UTC

gouranga wrote: post #14

Probably against the grain here, but agree. Not so much SkyDrive but more the integration between Mesh Skydrive, windows, mac, free office web apps and windows phone 7. It's a seriously impressive, well integrated platform that costs nothing and doesn't tie you into keeping the data in the cloud. There's a copy always on your machines. no-one is doing it as well as Microsoft if you ask me. Outside the mainstream tech…

trendy Microsoft bashing

I've noticed an uptick of the "poor maligned Microsoft" angle lately. It is a boorish tactic to neuter counterpoints (essentially the yang of the "fanboy!" rallying cry). I would argue that many Microsoft products get a pass they would not get from any other company.

I tried Skydrive with OneNote, imagining a world of integration and usability. It was a horrible failure, not least because Skydrive has a comical latency for changes to propagate, rendering it useless for many purposes. Add the terrible, terrible UI. Further the "bundled" angle is a tactic that most consumers and businesses are rightly wary of now, and it gives Microsoft little advantage.

Dropbox has nothing to be afraid of from Microsoft. And eventually Microsoft will simply abandon SkyDrive (after various rebrandings) and leave adopters in the lurch.

I know a lot of people who are switching back to Live and Office 365

Sure....

Re: SkyDrive is a threat to Dropbox

#22

Post by ph0rque » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 9:00 PM UTC

Microsoft has an app for Windows and for Mac OS X that integrates SkyDrive with the local OS

So, no Linux? Then SkyDrive is no threat to Dropbox, at least to my household.

Re: SkyDrive is a threat to Dropbox

#23

Post by mih » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 9:10 PM UTC

Lack of Android and Linux support is still a concern. MS has to address this or enable third party apps access to these platforms in order for it to be a real threat to Dropbox. Especially Android since it's one of the fastest growing OS out there.

Re: SkyDrive is a threat to Dropbox

#24

Post by epikur » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 9:18 PM UTC

ctdonath wrote: post #9

Anyone coming up with a personal equivalent to Dropbox? as in same simple interface, but storage is a multi-terabyte box at your home/office (instead of a few gigabytes "out there")?

I haven't used it, but there's Pogoplug and/or its software: https://pogoplug.com/

Re: SkyDrive is a threat to Dropbox

#25

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 9:24 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: SkyDrive is a threat to Dropbox

#26

Post by loverobots » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 9:25 PM UTC

ph0rque wrote: post #22

Microsoft has an app for Windows and for Mac OS X that integrates SkyDrive with the local OS So, no Linux? Then SkyDrive is no threat to Dropbox, at least to my household.

Ah the good old "How come [add name here] won, no one I know voted for him."

What % of people use Linux?

Re: SkyDrive is a threat to Dropbox

#27

Post by tlogan » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 9:25 PM UTC

I don't think amount of free space is a great competitive advantage. If that is the case Sugarsync should be at least 2x bigger than Dropbox (since they are give 2x more free space than Dropbox).

I believe amount of free space only become competitive advantage after services have the same service quality as competition and the same level of integration with applications using the cloud storage (editing, collaboration, project management, photo sharing, etc.).

As of now Dropbox has way more applications supporting it than SkyDrive so it seems Dropbox is still ahead.

Re: SkyDrive is a threat to Dropbox

#28

Post by gouranga » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 9:26 PM UTC

huggyface wrote: post #21

gouranga wrote: post #14

Probably against the grain here, but agree. Not so much SkyDrive but more the integration between Mesh Skydrive, windows, mac, free office web apps and windows phone 7. It's a seriously impressive, well integrated platform that costs nothing and doesn't tie you into keeping the data in the cloud. There's a copy always on your machines. no-one is doing it as well as Microsoft if you ask me. Outside the mainstream tech…

trendy Microsoft bashing I've noticed an uptick of the "poor maligned Microsoft" angle lately. It is a boorish tactic to neuter counterpoints (essentially the yang of the "fanboy!" rallying cry). I would argue that many Microsoft products get a pass they would not get from any other company. I tried Skydrive with OneNote, imagining a world of integration and usability. It was a horrible failure, not least because Sky…

In the real world, their products do real work. Why not praise that? Fuck consumers - who cares! Business is where they make a killing because their products fill all the gaps.

OneNote works fine for me. Latency is usually in the seconds range which is fine. I don't think you'll be switching devices every 5 seconds. Even on a shitty O2 GPRS connection it's fine for me.

Re: SkyDrive is a threat to Dropbox

#29

Post by loverobots » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 9:28 PM UTC

We need a plugin that automatically encrypts everything before it goes to the cloud and then decrypts it when we download. So when the subpoena start to rain our data is safe regardless of what Microsoft or Dropbox are forced to do by the gov

Re: SkyDrive is a threat to Dropbox

#30

Post by taude » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 9:29 PM UTC

bunnyhero wrote: post #13

mey wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is traction to changing away from Facebook. How social/networked is your dropbox experience?

I rely on Dropbox shared folders for exchanging files with some clients. I also use the Dropbox integration of a few essential iOS apps quite regularly. For me, switching would mean having my clients install Skydrive, as well updates to those iOS apps for Skydrive support.

Everyone here is talking as if it's a all/nothing game. I'm using both DropBox (to continue to share with existing people) and SkyDrive for my larger, private stuff. I was able to move several gigs off of DropBox (with no effects with current people I share with) and then downgraded my account. A 2 Gig should be enough for me to share with the people I already share with, and I moved several gigs to MSFT.

Personally, I think DropBox should have had a smaller, paid plan than the $10/50 gigs. I only needed about 5 -7 total.

Problem solved for now, though.

Edit: I should add that my gigs of stuff I uploaded to SkyDrive today took a fraction of the time that my DropBox uploads take (not entirely sure why, but I've always felt DB throttles large files when uploading).