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Dropbox silently installed new file manager app on users’ systems

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

#241

Post by wyclif »

technofiend wrote: post #108
navigatesol wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Please go back to being a folder that syncs A simple, effective utility can't support a multi-billion valuation. Where else will the VC Ponzi dollars go?

>A simple, effective utility can't support a multi-billion valuation. This is the real issue: everyone wants to be a unicorn and no one wants to be a utility.

That is the real issue, but the symptom of it for Dropbox is that in order for the economics to scale, they have to break out of the commodity space. And cloud storage is now a commodity. That's why they're now willing to risk ruining what used to be a perfectly good app.

Somewhere, Steve Jobs is smiling.

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

#242

Post by thirdsun »

sfotm wrote: post #218
thirdsun wrote: post #155

While I’m not liking the direction Dropbox is taking I still haven’t found anything that rivals it as general purpose online storage and meets the following requirements: - can be used as cloud backup destination - I use Arq[0] to backup a huge music library close to 1TB in daily intervals to my Dropbox. I have never used Dropbox‘ official app. - since my music is located in a place of my , an external drive which mi…

If you were OK with S3, then I'd recommend backblaze. Very affordable object storage. I used rclone to back up my home server to it every night.

Sure, Backblaze covers the backup duties, but does it allow me to upload any files and get an easily shareable link? As far as I know Backblaze focuses on backups exclusively.

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

#243

Post by thirdsun »

GordonS wrote: post #223
thirdsun wrote: post #155

While I’m not liking the direction Dropbox is taking I still haven’t found anything that rivals it as general purpose online storage and meets the following requirements: - can be used as cloud backup destination - I use Arq[0] to backup a huge music library close to 1TB in daily intervals to my Dropbox. I have never used Dropbox‘ official app. - since my music is located in a place of my , an external drive which mi…

If you're willing to put in a little work, Seafile fits the bill. For less than 5 users, you can access the "professional" version for free. I run it on a cheap Azure VM, backed with with Azure blob storage. It's $15/m for "cool" tier storage (not too far off your target), or $1/m for the "archive" tier. Unlike Dropbox etc, you can also sync files from anywhere on any disk - you're not limited to a single "Dropbox" f…

Thanks, while it looks interesting they seem to use a bring your own storage approach - that sounds like more work than I‘d like to put into it. I‘d prefer to avoid managing servers and VMs.

Due to using Arq I‘m not limited to using the special Dropbox folder. I just tell Arq which folder to backup to Dropbox. I don‘t use the official client at all.

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

#244

Post by chipotle_coyote »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #164
chipotle_coyote wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> Not everyone needs any-platform syncing; you only need a solution that covers the devices you actually have. Not if you want to sync with other people, or with work. There are three major types of desktop OSes and two mobile ones; even if you just one of each, you probably know and interact with people using a different set.

Well, that was intended to be implied by the "not everyone" part, but re-reading, I should have say "you may only need a solution that covers the devices you actually have."

Personally, I only need Dropbox for Scrivener syncing at this point, because my current workplace (and my previous one, IIRC) is standardized on Google Drive for document sharing -- and I don't share work documents to my personal devices.

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

#245

Post by seanieb »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #182
seanieb wrote: post #89

Lots of “why don’t you just use rsync” type answers .

Precisely the opposite. Most of them are "you made a perfect file syncing app, would you please stop messing with it ?".

They’re building a new tool to complement they base offering. Nothing has changed about that or the way you can use it. You can close this new app and forget it exists. You want rsync and they’re building a UI for it.

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

#246

Post by rsync »

stirfrykitty wrote: post #188
TeMPOraL wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's up with them? They now have three applications to do file syncing? Google Drive, Backup & Sync, and Drive File Stream? I've kept using Dropbox for all these years because they never confused people like this. There was a single app that gave you a folder that synced.

Personally, I think rsync.net is the best if you're in IT, particularly if you're a *nix user. Nothing better yet unless you wanted to roll your own. And the fact they use ZFS makes it great. You can choose where your data resides and it's fairly inexpensive all things considered. And to the best of my knowledge, I don't recall them being involved in anything overtly political. I like tech companies doing what they d…

Thank you for your kind words - appreciated.

I hope that it will be useful and interesting to note that we have added 'rclone'[1] to our platform[2] which means that your rsync.net account is truly a swiss army knife for cloud storage organization.

This is very much like our 'borg' support - we actually have the binary executable installed on our end so you can run it properly. There is also a discounted signup for these two use-cases.[3][4]

[1] https://rclone.org/

[2] https://github.com/ncw/rclone/issues/3254

[3] https://www.rsync.net/products/borg.html

[4] https://www.rsync.net/products/rclone.html

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

#247

Post by rsync »

blackbrokkoli wrote: post #24

Dropbox current direction just makes me sad. I struggled with file management for a long time - balancing accessibility from phone, highly effective programming environments, backing up large quantities of not-small photos, that stuff. So I sat down one afternoon, drafted a directory structure, subbed to Dropbox and...it worked so well. Synced my configs between machines, got an Android app which could preview lot's…

"I always thought of Dropbox quite UNIX-like in a sense, do one thing, but really well."

From our platform page[1]:

"We believe in the UNIX philosophy and we want rsync.net to be a simple primitive that you can quickly plug into your workflow."

We would be very happy to have you.

[1] https://www.rsync.net/platform.html

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

#248

Post by nessunodoro »

zapnuk wrote: post #30
nessunodoro wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love my Nextcloud so much. I use it all day every day and it just works. It's missing a few tiny things on my wish list, but it's crazy to me how I don't miss Dropbox at all. I can't speak for what it's like to administer Nextcloud for a large org, but for my personal work sync it is a godsend. Easily my favorite software of the last three years.

I just switched back to dropbox after switching to Nextcloud. For some reason I constantly got a'... could not be downloaded because of a local file clash' error with 6 files. 2*3 files have the same name but are in different subfolders. I've searched for this error, deleted the filed locally and in the cloud. Every time I add them again, I get the same error. Not to mention that I get reminded of this error every 30…

In my own experience, mysterious conflicts were either caused by unusual filenames or case-sensitivity conflicts between Windows and Linux. In every case they were resolved by renaming the file, deselecting the parent folder in the sync config (removing it from the local synced files) and then adding it again for a fresh sync. It's only happened for me a few time, with moderate to heavy daily use. I'm not sure if your conflicts were unresolvable for some other reason, but the "deselect/select for sync" method always worked for me.

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

#250

Post by techslave »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #167
ohnope wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would be all in on iCloud for sync if it had selective sync. What do you do for that?

https://github.com/Obbut/iCloud-Control

> you are not permitted and will not get permission to list iCloud Control or any derivative work on software catalogue websites like Mac Informer or MacUpdate.

that’s not a legal or enforceable license restriction.

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