Dropbox seems to use up a lot of resources on my laptop. I keep it turned off until I need to suck down or upload some recent files. I turn it right off again after using it.
Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled
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Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled
#92Many times on HN, commenters have mocked those who questioned why someone would use Dropbox instead of a method controlled by the user. I guess becausse someone made lots of money from it or it became popular or something. I always found this perplexing because I look at solutions from the perspective of the user, namely, me, not from the perspective of a third party "tech" startup founder. It's insensitive to the pe…
> I confess I have never used it. I still rely on USB sticks
Phew boy. You really should try dropbox or a competing service.*
Picture this:
1. Double click a file 2. Type some words 3. Save the file
That's it. There is no step 4. Your file is now synced to all your other computers and to any colleagues who also need that file.
Seriously you shouldn't be using USB sticks these days. Also - I'm guessing you haven't started the transition to USB-C yet? USB sticks are going to get really painful when you do.
(* I use a competing service - more than one actually, but I have used dropbox in the past and it worked well. I just didn't like the direction the company was taking it. This story is yet another example of that)
Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled
#93I finally got off of Dropbox recently in favor of the iCloud with "Advanced Data Protection", i.e. end-to-end encryption. People tend to think that "Tech Independence" [1] and "The Cloud" are at odds with each other. But, end-to-end encrypted services that sync via the cloud really are the best of both worlds - convenient and secure. [1] https://sive.rs/ti
I run Boxcryptor (the unpaid version with local keys) on top of Dropbox. They have recently been acquired by Dropbox, so I’m hoping that Dropbox will be integrating E2EE as well.
(Of course that doesn’t solve the telemetry issue.)
Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled
#94We use Dropbox business, anyone recommend a good replacement. Main features I want is version history and easy recovery.
NextCloud is probably the closest thing.
Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled
#95Wouldn't get this with a FTP account, mounting it locally with curlftpfs, and then using SVN or CVS on the mounted filesystem.
Or use an open source client without telemetry such as https://maestral.app ㋡
This. Recently came back to macOS after a decade on the other side, and one surprise was how terrible the official Dropbox client was. Installed Maestral instead and it just works -- just like Dropbox used to.
I see Dropbox as one of the biggest failures of the VC model. If only they had been bootstrapped, they would probably have stuck with their initial sync offering: A perfectly executed solution to a problem everybody has. And a small team could have made a good living here -- even with reasonably priced non-free options. Instead I imagine some VC partner convinced them to "grow their market" (or maybe "prepare for cloud"), and now they are descending into irrelevance.
Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled
#96[dead]
Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled
#97I was a very early user of Dropbox but I’ve fallen out of love with the product over the years, and while I still have an account, I’ve avoided installing the clients for awhile now.
I’ve been migrating things over to Synology Drive hosted in my closet, and the UX for this is a lot like Dropbox (in a good way).
Combined with Tailscale, I get all of the convenience without the ick, and a hell of a lot more storage for that matter.
Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled
#98Many times on HN, commenters have mocked those who questioned why someone would use Dropbox instead of a method controlled by the user. I guess becausse someone made lots of money from it or it became popular or something. I always found this perplexing because I look at solutions from the perspective of the user, namely, me, not from the perspective of a third party "tech" startup founder. It's insensitive to the pe…
I have a Dropbox account, since eternity, but used it very rarely. Until I decided to remove my desktop computer from my life, and live with my Office PC and a laptop.
Suddenly I have ripped myself out of a lot of stationary storage space, and access to a lot of files in the process. Moreover, this change was also compounded by lifestyle changes, which reduced my computer time at evenings a lot.
Then, I realized that I used these files a lot, and I needed them where I am, regardless of the device I have with me. After that, I understood what Dropbox is about. I have all my files, everywhere I need, anytime I need.
Moreover, many of the bookstores and merchants deliver things I buy directly into my Dropbox. That's great. Even updates to these items arrive automatically.
I backup the whole thing weekly via rclone to a disk, and I'm happy.
Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled
#99I switched away from Dropbox to Syncthing https://syncthing.net/ a few years ago. Running it on Windows, Mac and Linux (I don't use it on mobile) to keep all manner of files in sync across a bunch of machines. While it doesn't have all the shell integration and end-user friendliness of Dropbox, it also doesn't have the pitfalls like (non-optional) telemetry and constant up-sell.
The essential feature that Syncthing as a Dropbox replacement lacks is public sharing. Although requested by many users throughout the years, the maintainers never considered it seriously.
This is probably better done via a different app.
I sometimes use croc to do one time file sending.
Re: Dropbox telemetry can't be disabled
#100I get that for some classes of "local-only" apps like compilers (famous from a recent discussion on the same topic), network communication can be surprising and therefore feel unnecessary. But for an app whose sole purpose is sending and receiving lots of sensitive private data to Dropbox servers, who has the energy to be outraged that there is also some other anonymous data sent such as program crash info? I mean Dr…
For any local program, I can block its access to the network and still use it. For a program whose functionality requires internet access, I can either inspect every outgoing packet for exfiltrated data, or I can choose to trust some programs to be non-malicious based on their reputation. That trust is incredibly fragile, and unannounced spying/telemetry breaks it.