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Out of curiousity, what does Dropbox do for you that they don't? Have you stayed because of price, service, features, laziness to switch? :) I personally don't

Out of curiousity, what does Dropbox do for you that they don't? Have you stayed because of price, service, features, laziness to switch? :) I personally don't have many storage needs so I just email myself important files, back up some things to USB, and sometimes will add things to Google Drive

GeekyBear 8y ago
I used Dropbox in the early days because of the ability to place a file in your public folder and allow others to download a copy of that file using a standard URL. You could share a file with your colleagues by simply emailing a URL to the file. No other service was as straightforward at the time. When that feature was later removed, I stopped using Dropbox.
- rpearl 8y ago
  (Used to work there; haven't in several years.) Such a feature was a pretty bad phishing and social engineering vector, particularly when you could render html out of that folder, but even when html was dropped that there were social engineering attacks a bad actor could pull relying on the user's trust of a dropbox url. You could also guess other files in the public folder based on the url, which was a privacy concern. Multiple years before support was dropped, shared links were added, which fix these concerns. You can set ?dl=1 to get a raw link. `curl/wget` (set to follow redirects) still get you the raw contents even if you don't set ?dl=1.
- xzel 8y ago
  They removed the public folder but you can still share a file(s) via url via their website.
_bxg1 8y ago
I've mainly stayed because I don't want to support the mega-corporations when there's a smaller ($12bn counts as "smaller" these days...) company doing a fine job. That aside, I appreciate that they've mostly stayed focused on the core task of syncing files between computers, that there's no bias in terms of devices or OSes, and that their client software tends to work just a little bit better than the competition.
- anoncoward111 8y ago
  Thank you for your quick and honest reply! I fancy myself as someone who supports "the little guy", and the Dropbox team's story is an example of how "the big guys" totally and completely fell asleep in a pool of their own money while Dropbox built something that people wanted before other bigger players. I therefore find it ironic that I don't support them with even just a little bit of money per month, when a big portion of the pitch for the job I currently work and the small project is "but we're different because we're smaller and therefore client focused!" I hope everyone can reflect on who their money supports. But I'll tell you two large corporations I'm very happy to support: Bozzuto, my apartment company, and Bank of America, my bank. I would never trust a small landlord to take care of me for the right price (I've been burned so many times by private owners). And well, I store my money in a place that is FDIC and regulated... Ok I have a credit union too :)
  - NegativeLatency 8y ago
    Why do you like B of A?
    - anoncoward111 8y ago
      Before they introduced Zelle, it was a free and relatively trustworthy way for me to exchange money with no fee between most of my friends. It just so happened we all had B of A. In addition to that, their fraud resolution department has always been nice to me and their branches are nearby my house if I'm ever required to go in there. Still, right now, I trust my credit union more. But, my credit union wasn't founded by "two dudes" like Dropbox was, is the analogy I'm trying to make here. Corporations I trust with my business - BOA, Google, LG, Walmart Corporations I don't trust with my business - Comcast, Chipotle, McDonalds "Two Guys" I trust with my business- My local mechanic, my local electrician (it took years of searching and relationship building).
- scarface74 8y ago
  I can’t see myself paying $10/month for Dropbox when I can get Office365 for the same price with 1tb apiece for up to five users, plus office for 5 computers, and 5 iPads.
raiyu 8y ago
Having used Dropbox and then switched to Google Drive, what had me coming back to Dropbox was how much Dropbox is used for sharing than Google drive. Because of the rapid growth of Dropbox specifically in regards to sharing it's still used for that so it continues to increase the funnel and reactivate customers, while Google Drive feels more like a personal storage system. That could be one large factor.
rlayton2 8y ago
I use both Dropbox and Google Drive, and the in-OS integration is a killer feature for me. The ability to just drag and drop into a normal folder (or work from a folder) and have those changes sync is great. I use Google Drive mainly for Docs and collaboration on those documents, not really for other files (due to the "manual" upload process, just a little bit more work to do).
_bxg1 8y ago
Google Drive is like "I guess you can use the desktop client instead of the web one". One Drive is like "I guess you can use a Mac". iCloud is like "I guess you can have non-Apple devices". Dropbox just syncs your files from and to anything you have, equally well. I'm pretty sure none of the others even have a Linux client at all, but Dropbox does.
- NegativeLatency 8y ago
  Along with that, there seem to be more useful integrations with dropbox, than with other services.
- trfflhntr 8y ago
  Well said.
- deleted 8y ago
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- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- opnitro 8y ago
  Yeah, this is really it. Dropbox just let's you use it they way you want, because they have no larger agenda than letting you share your files with yourself.
- IronBacon 8y ago
  For Google Drive, even if not an official client I find that Gnome's Nautilus integration works extremely well and without friction (it's treated like an external storage) for the random file I could need to share with another device...
- tbrock 8y ago
  Except smart sync only works on mac and windows. Linux is a second class citizen. I’d sign up for Dropbox if they had feature parity on Linux. Also a plan in the $5 range would be greatly preferred. My threshold for moderately helpful services is usually $5/Mo.
deleted 8y ago
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ggg9990 8y ago
The Dropbox client still syncs files much faster than the competitors.
- arbie 8y ago
  Tell me about it. Google Backup and Sync is a horrendous mess, taking several hours just to start syncing every time the sync engine is relaunched.
  - telchar 8y ago
    Really? And I thought Dropbox was slow. I find myself asking what's the point of gigabit internet when I haven't found a service that users more than 50Mb.
    - ycombinete 8y ago
      Sounds like you're asking the right questions
    - ggg9990 8y ago
      Gigabit Internet is largely pointless for home use. Unless you have a Mormon family all watching different 4K shows at the same time or something.
      - Sohcahtoa82 8y ago
        Seriously. I have a 30 mbit fiber connection. The only time I ever notice is when I'm downloading a new game. Otherwise, my wife can be watching Netflix while I'm gaming and there's no difference in my latency.
    - msh 8y ago
      I had the same Dropbox slowness. On Google drive I see speeds around 400 megabits over my gigabit fiber.
microdrum 8y ago
Good comment. Dropbox is like how companies used to be: offer an amazing service and stay in your lane. These days, I wouldn't be surprised if Google sent me an email that said: Hey Widgetco, become a Certified Ad Partner to join our Managed Preferred Storage Solution or else your files on our legacy system will be deleted when it is deprecated in 24 hours. Also please fill out this Google Form (Google.com Account required; get one, it's easy!) and in this Google Form please tell us more about your company, including: how many employees do you have, what is in your product pipeline. Also would you like an investment from GV? No? You have violated our Terms of Service! (Two weeks later) We're proud to announce Widgety by Google, launching today! (Nine weeks later) Widgetco's website doesn't adhere to Chrome's latest Super Safeweb standards.
- anoncoward111 8y ago
  Haha, this is extremely true. I endeavor to keep my needs so small that I'm never in the crosshairs of BigCo's "PLATINUM PARTNER NETWORK (TM)". That's a Kafka-esque place to be!
throwawayqdhd 8y ago
Google Drive lost some of my files due to syncing errors early on. Dropbox didn't. Google Drive might have improved since (and I do use Google Apps for email and documents), but I haven't been able to forget that experience and trust Dropbox.

GeekyBear 8y ago

I used Dropbox in the early days because of the ability to place a file in your public folder and allow others to download a copy of that file using a standard URL. You could share a file with your colleagues by simply emailing a URL to the file. No other service was as straightforward at the time. When that feature was later removed, I stopped using Dropbox.

rpearl 8y ago
(Used to work there; haven't in several years.) Such a feature was a pretty bad phishing and social engineering vector, particularly when you could render html out of that folder, but even when html was dropped that there were social engineering attacks a bad actor could pull relying on the user's trust of a dropbox url. You could also guess other files in the public folder based on the url, which was a privacy concern. Multiple years before support was dropped, shared links were added, which fix these concerns. You can set ?dl=1 to get a raw link. `curl/wget` (set to follow redirects) still get you the raw contents even if you don't set ?dl=1.
xzel 8y ago
They removed the public folder but you can still share a file(s) via url via their website.

_bxg1 8y ago

I've mainly stayed because I don't want to support the mega-corporations when there's a smaller ($12bn counts as "smaller" these days...) company doing a fine job. That aside, I appreciate that they've mostly stayed focused on the core task of syncing files between computers, that there's no bias in terms of devices or OSes, and that their client software tends to work just a little bit better than the competition.

anoncoward111 8y ago
Thank you for your quick and honest reply! I fancy myself as someone who supports "the little guy", and the Dropbox team's story is an example of how "the big guys" totally and completely fell asleep in a pool of their own money while Dropbox built something that people wanted before other bigger players. I therefore find it ironic that I don't support them with even just a little bit of money per month, when a big portion of the pitch for the job I currently work and the small project is "but we're different because we're smaller and therefore client focused!" I hope everyone can reflect on who their money supports. But I'll tell you two large corporations I'm very happy to support: Bozzuto, my apartment company, and Bank of America, my bank. I would never trust a small landlord to take care of me for the right price (I've been burned so many times by private owners). And well, I store my money in a place that is FDIC and regulated... Ok I have a credit union too :)
- NegativeLatency 8y ago
  Why do you like B of A?
  - anoncoward111 8y ago
    Before they introduced Zelle, it was a free and relatively trustworthy way for me to exchange money with no fee between most of my friends. It just so happened we all had B of A. In addition to that, their fraud resolution department has always been nice to me and their branches are nearby my house if I'm ever required to go in there. Still, right now, I trust my credit union more. But, my credit union wasn't founded by "two dudes" like Dropbox was, is the analogy I'm trying to make here. Corporations I trust with my business - BOA, Google, LG, Walmart Corporations I don't trust with my business - Comcast, Chipotle, McDonalds "Two Guys" I trust with my business- My local mechanic, my local electrician (it took years of searching and relationship building).
scarface74 8y ago
I can’t see myself paying $10/month for Dropbox when I can get Office365 for the same price with 1tb apiece for up to five users, plus office for 5 computers, and 5 iPads.

raiyu 8y ago

Having used Dropbox and then switched to Google Drive, what had me coming back to Dropbox was how much Dropbox is used for sharing than Google drive. Because of the rapid growth of Dropbox specifically in regards to sharing it's still used for that so it continues to increase the funnel and reactivate customers, while Google Drive feels more like a personal storage system. That could be one large factor.

rlayton2 8y ago

I use both Dropbox and Google Drive, and the in-OS integration is a killer feature for me. The ability to just drag and drop into a normal folder (or work from a folder) and have those changes sync is great. I use Google Drive mainly for Docs and collaboration on those documents, not really for other files (due to the "manual" upload process, just a little bit more work to do).

_bxg1 8y ago

Google Drive is like "I guess you can use the desktop client instead of the web one". One Drive is like "I guess you can use a Mac". iCloud is like "I guess you can have non-Apple devices". Dropbox just syncs your files from and to anything you have, equally well. I'm pretty sure none of the others even have a Linux client at all, but Dropbox does.

NegativeLatency 8y ago
Along with that, there seem to be more useful integrations with dropbox, than with other services.
trfflhntr 8y ago
Well said.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
opnitro 8y ago
Yeah, this is really it. Dropbox just let's you use it they way you want, because they have no larger agenda than letting you share your files with yourself.
IronBacon 8y ago
For Google Drive, even if not an official client I find that Gnome's Nautilus integration works extremely well and without friction (it's treated like an external storage) for the random file I could need to share with another device...
tbrock 8y ago
Except smart sync only works on mac and windows. Linux is a second class citizen. I’d sign up for Dropbox if they had feature parity on Linux. Also a plan in the $5 range would be greatly preferred. My threshold for moderately helpful services is usually $5/Mo.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

ggg9990 8y ago

The Dropbox client still syncs files much faster than the competitors.

arbie 8y ago
Tell me about it. Google Backup and Sync is a horrendous mess, taking several hours just to start syncing every time the sync engine is relaunched.
- telchar 8y ago
  Really? And I thought Dropbox was slow. I find myself asking what's the point of gigabit internet when I haven't found a service that users more than 50Mb.
  - ycombinete 8y ago
    Sounds like you're asking the right questions
  - ggg9990 8y ago
    Gigabit Internet is largely pointless for home use. Unless you have a Mormon family all watching different 4K shows at the same time or something.
    - Sohcahtoa82 8y ago
      Seriously. I have a 30 mbit fiber connection. The only time I ever notice is when I'm downloading a new game. Otherwise, my wife can be watching Netflix while I'm gaming and there's no difference in my latency.
  - msh 8y ago
    I had the same Dropbox slowness. On Google drive I see speeds around 400 megabits over my gigabit fiber.

microdrum 8y ago

Good comment. Dropbox is like how companies used to be: offer an amazing service and stay in your lane. These days, I wouldn't be surprised if Google sent me an email that said: Hey Widgetco, become a Certified Ad Partner to join our Managed Preferred Storage Solution or else your files on our legacy system will be deleted when it is deprecated in 24 hours. Also please fill out this Google Form (Google.com Account required; get one, it's easy!) and in this Google Form please tell us more about your company, including: how many employees do you have, what is in your product pipeline. Also would you like an investment from GV? No? You have violated our Terms of Service! (Two weeks later) We're proud to announce Widgety by Google, launching today! (Nine weeks later) Widgetco's website doesn't adhere to Chrome's latest Super Safeweb standards.

anoncoward111 8y ago
Haha, this is extremely true. I endeavor to keep my needs so small that I'm never in the crosshairs of BigCo's "PLATINUM PARTNER NETWORK (TM)". That's a Kafka-esque place to be!

throwawayqdhd 8y ago

Google Drive lost some of my files due to syncing errors early on. Dropbox didn't. Google Drive might have improved since (and I do use Google Apps for email and documents), but I haven't been able to forget that experience and trust Dropbox.