Google Drive: Is the Dropbox Party Over? • Hacker News Board

Re: Google Drive: Is the Dropbox Party Over?

#41

Post by sho_hn » Tue, Sep 27, 2011, 2:00 PM UTC

brlewis wrote: post #33

bradleyland wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"They provide a user friendly synchronization service for files between all your devices." .... And users! For a small company who has a geographically dispersed user population, Dropbox is a great tool. The key is the dead simple setup and operation. 1) Install software 2) Use tool Sharing folders is about three clicks from logging in to the website, and you can get there directly through shell (Explorer, Finder) in…

That's (Explorer, Finder, Nautilus) in (Windows, Mac, Linux)

That's (Explorer, Finder, Dolphin, Nautilus) in (Windows, OS X, KDE, Gnome).

Or you could go with (Seafood) for (Linux) ;).

Re: Google Drive: Is the Dropbox Party Over?

#42

Post by DanBC » Tue, Sep 27, 2011, 2:00 PM UTC

artursapek wrote: post #23

miles_matthias wrote: post #18

Two thoughts: - I don't think the Dropbox party is over, and won't be for a while, because of non-techies. Dropbox is drop dead simple and non-technical people have gravitate to it and won't see much of a reason to switch. Also, Google has so many different products now, sometimes when you mention Google to non-technical people they get an overwhelming deer-in-the-headlights look. - As a technical person, I am excite…

sometimes when you mention Google to non-technical people they get an overwhelming deer-in-the-headlights look. That's interesting, I've never seen that. I always thought Google was the most beginner-friendly corner of the internet.

Bing tv adverts suggested that Google wasn't providing user friendly search results. So maybe there is some huddle of people who just can't cope with Google?

Re: Google Drive: Is the Dropbox Party Over?

#43

Post by crocowhile » Tue, Sep 27, 2011, 2:00 PM UTC

I keep having problems with Dropbox lately, with files that aren't synced and lots of conflicted copies. Not sure why but made me realize that Dropbox has been offering pretty much the same service for years now. Granted, the service was great from the beginning but: are they improving enough to remain competitive?

Re: Google Drive: Is the Dropbox Party Over?

#44

Post by 3pt14159 » Tue, Sep 27, 2011, 2:01 PM UTC

tomelders wrote: post #30

It's in areas like this that Google sometimes oversteps the mark and veers dangerously close to "being evil" territory... in MY opinion. As I see it: Dropbox innovated, and they innovated well. It's inevitable that competition would arise, but competition on the scale Google can offer could well mean total annihilation for Dropbox, if annihilation is what Google pursues. Google doesn't "need" to enter this market. An…

Nope. Bad logic.

I love Dropbox, but welcome to capitalism. Dropbox could exit to Google in an instant. They could have for years. The only reason they haven't is because they want to maximize the risk adjusted returns for their shareholders.

Since Google can't aquire Dropbox at a reasonable price, yet finds it necessary to have this type of service built into their offering, they are more than ok to compete.

Re: Google Drive: Is the Dropbox Party Over?

#45

Post by executive » Tue, Sep 27, 2011, 2:02 PM UTC

tomelders wrote: post #30

It's in areas like this that Google sometimes oversteps the mark and veers dangerously close to "being evil" territory... in MY opinion. As I see it: Dropbox innovated, and they innovated well. It's inevitable that competition would arise, but competition on the scale Google can offer could well mean total annihilation for Dropbox, if annihilation is what Google pursues. Google doesn't "need" to enter this market. An…

oh yeah Dropbox innovated. Allowing anyone to login to any account without a password? Novel!

Re: Google Drive: Is the Dropbox Party Over?

#46

Post by mhoofman » Tue, Sep 27, 2011, 2:03 PM UTC

Google needs to provide very simple native syncing apps that are equivalent to or better then Dropbox's and at the same time support several different platforms out of the gate to draw people away from Dropbox.

Re: Google Drive: Is the Dropbox Party Over?

#47

Post by shahidhussain » Tue, Sep 27, 2011, 2:05 PM UTC

tomelders wrote: post #30

It's in areas like this that Google sometimes oversteps the mark and veers dangerously close to "being evil" territory... in MY opinion. As I see it: Dropbox innovated, and they innovated well. It's inevitable that competition would arise, but competition on the scale Google can offer could well mean total annihilation for Dropbox, if annihilation is what Google pursues. Google doesn't "need" to enter this market. An…

Any company - big or small - is going to enter markets where they think they can make an impact. I don't think it's about being nice to smaller companies (and BTW, Dropbox isn't that small any more). It's about what's the best fit for users, and having the market decide the winner. If Google make a product that can't compete with Dropbox's ease of use, they'll flounder, as have many Google products in the past (Buzz, Notebook, Dodgeball, Lively, Answers and so on). Sure - big companies have advantages of scale and cross-promotion, but small companies have advantages of speed and lack of bureaucracy.

Competition is good for users, and arguably good for companies too. Nice just doesn't come into it.

Re: Google Drive: Is the Dropbox Party Over?

#48

Post by reidbenj » Tue, Sep 27, 2011, 2:05 PM UTC

Google doesn't necessarily squeeze out all competitors in any industry they enter, but they do raise awareness. In some sense this is great for Dropbox because I would guess well under 50% of computer users even know cloud storage services like this exist...but many more will if Google enters the market.

The problem, of course, is if they all learn about it through gmail and Google captures them all, but I think that underestimates Dropbox's ability to counter.

Lastly, don't discount human laziness aiding Dropbox customer retention - time is a switching cost here.

Re: Google Drive: Is the Dropbox Party Over?

#49

Post by petenixey » Tue, Sep 27, 2011, 2:06 PM UTC

wladimir wrote: post #20

petenixey wrote: post #16

Dropbox is a brilliant piece of software however it's hard to justify more than $10/month for backup as a consumer. Since 50Gb only now covers my photos and docs, doesn't cover my music and even my photo collection's needs trimming to fit I would move to GDrive very quickly rather than double that spend to get to the next tier. I've long hoped that Dropbox would segment their pricing plans more. It's unsettling havin…

It is not "simply backup". They provide a user friendly synchronization service for files between all your devices. Sure, for simply stashing files there are much cheaper options such as Amazon S3 or simply a friend's linux box in his basement... but it is not entirely a fair comparison.

I completely agree -it's not and that's what makes it magic.

However it's only not "simply backup" for about 10Gb of your files. For files you don't sync onto other machines it is by definition simply backup. Moreover it's the backup service that you're considering in your mind when weighing the buying decision of whether to spend an extra $100/year on it. It's not $100/year more of seamless multi-machine syncing.

I can only speak from my own experience but while, as a consumer it was the usability of the software that hooked me, it's the backup I pay for. That may not be the case for a business but it is for me.

Re: Google Drive: Is the Dropbox Party Over?

#50

Post by MatthewPhillips » Tue, Sep 27, 2011, 2:09 PM UTC

tomelders wrote: post #30

It's in areas like this that Google sometimes oversteps the mark and veers dangerously close to "being evil" territory... in MY opinion. As I see it: Dropbox innovated, and they innovated well. It's inevitable that competition would arise, but competition on the scale Google can offer could well mean total annihilation for Dropbox, if annihilation is what Google pursues. Google doesn't "need" to enter this market. An…

Google isn't entering this market though; they're already in it. This is merely rebranding a feature of Docs as its own product. Which makes sense, because files are not a subset of documents, documents are a subset of files. This probably has more to do with Larry Page's emphasis on product focus.

And I don't think this kills Dropbox at all. This is classic capitalism. Dropbox's competitive advantage is that they can completely focus on cloud storage, whereas the Google team is likely working on a half dozen or more other projects simultaneously. Dropbox is already tied into many apps, and has excellent features such as the ability to run your website from it. This does mean that Dropbox has to improve their efficiency to drop prices; they don't have to match GDrive but they have to come close.