20 ms·

Dropbox silently installed new file manager app on users’ systems

342 points by hbgb 7y ago

scarface74 7y ago
Dropbox is almost as bad as every single third party anti virus product. I won’t install it on any of my personal computers. If I have to share a document, I’ll just upload it via the web.
- nessunodoro 7y ago
  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.
  - zapnuk 7y ago
    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 minutes or so... Whats also annoying was that there are different versions in the Ubuntu software store. Some are deprecated and don't work anymore. Somehow the Appimage from their website didn't work either. I imagine this can be frustrating for new users. This is why I went back to Dropbox. My usecase is exactly what the top rated comment says. I need a folder that syncs. Without any problems. I imagine that icloud would also be a viable option for casual users like me. However, they don't have a linux client..
    - bluedino 7y ago
      Why are there so many versions in the Ubuntu store? On Mac/Windows I just download from Dropbox's site.
    - scarface74 7y ago
      There are so many better options then Dropbox. iCloud once Apple introduces folder sharing in iOS 13. OneDrive - $9.99 a month full Office Suite including on mobile/web and 6TB of storage. There is a third party Linux client (https://www.expandrive.com/onedrive-for-linux/ https://www.expandrive.com/onedrive-for-linux/)
      - deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
    - nessunodoro 7y ago
      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.
- gpvos 7y ago
  It didn't do anything bad to me while I used it. I finally got round to replacing it with Nextcloud though, so now I only use Dropbox very occasionally, and via the web.
  - chiefalchemist 7y ago
    I saw Nextcloud (https://nextcloud.com/ https://nextcloud.com/) mentioned above but I'm not seeing anything that looks like a personal (or SMB) solution. Where should I be looking? What product/page? tia
    - the_pwner224 7y ago
      You can either host it on your own server or find a free public server. I self-host it for just me (one user) and it works. It's PHP so the setup should be pretty easy.
      - inops 7y ago
        I run my Nextcloud instance (for me and family) on a Raspberry Pi 3. The web interface is fairly slow because of the hardware (and likely my configuration :p), but it serves nicely as a Dropbox replacement.
    - the_common_man 7y ago
      Use cloudron.io for a personal solution (it's in digital ocean marketplace as well). Nextcloud is an installable app there
    - markfchapman 7y ago
      https://nextcloud.com/install/#instructions-server https://nextcloud.com/install/#instructions-server https://nextcloud.com/install/#install-clients https://nextcloud.com/install/#install-clients I've installed it for personal use before but now use Hetzner: https://www.hetzner.com/storage/nextcloud https://www.hetzner.com/storage/nextcloud
CPLX 7y ago
This seems like a good time to resurface the worlds best Quora answer, by Michael Wolfe. Answering “Why is Dropbox more popular than other tools with similar functionality?”: Well, let's take a step back and think about the sync problem and what the ideal solution for it would do: There would be a folder. You'd put your stuff in it. It would sync. They built that. Why didn't anyone else build that? I have no idea. "But," you may ask, "so much more you could do! What about task management, calendaring, customized dashboards, virtual white boarding. More than just folders and files!" No, shut up. People don't use that crap. They just want a folder. A folder that syncs. "But," you may say, "this is valuable data...certainly users will feel more comfortable tying their data to Windows Live, Apple Mobile Me, or a name they already know." No, shut up. Not a single person on Earth wakes up in the morning worried about deriving more value from their Windows Live login. People already trust folders. And Dropbox looks just like a folder. One that syncs. "But," you may say, "folders are so 1995. why not leverage the full power of the web? With HTML 5 you can drag and drop files, you can build intergalactic dashboards of stats showing how much storage you are using, you can publish your files as RSS feeds and tweets, and you can add your company logo!" No, shut up. Most of the world doesn't sit in front of their browser all day. If they do, it is IE 6 at work that they are not allowed to upgrade. Browsers suck for these kinds of things. Their stuff is already in folders. They just want a folder. That syncs. That is what it does. http://www.quora.com/Dropbox/Why-is-Dropbox-more-popular-than-other-programs-with-similar-functionality/answer/Michael-Wolfe http://www.quora.com/Dropbox/Why-is-Dropbox-more-popular-tha... Oh well.
- kilroy123 7y ago
  I still think this is 100% true and that's still exactly what I want, as a paying Dropbox customer. What they're trying to build now are all things I'll never use.
  - wmeredith 7y ago
    Same. I bailed when they started shoving their paper thing down my throat.
  - TeMPOraL 7y ago
kristiandupont 7y ago
I use Resilio Sync for some files between two machines but that only works when they are both on at the same time. What are some good alternatives?
- anc84 7y ago
  A third, always-on machine like a 3€ VPS somewhere.
- the-dude 7y ago
  Dropbox
- swinglock 7y ago
  Run it in daemon mode on a server as well. It even has an encryption option so that the server can't read or write to the files, just keep them available for your clients.
mothsonasloth 7y ago
After Dropbox introduced the 3 machine limit to free tier accounts back in March. I decided to migrate to Nextcloud. The migration was easy: 1. Setup a directory on my VPS for storing files 2. Install Nextcloud 3. Configure security 4. Install clients on (Mac/ Windows and Androd phone) 5. Starting adding files
- chiefalchemist 7y ago
  Save some people some typing: https://nextcloud.com/ https://nextcloud.com/
- m_eiman 7y ago
  I've switched to Syncthing, which just syncs files and not all the other that Nextcloud does (which I'm not interested in). https://syncthing.net/ https://syncthing.net/
  - AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y ago
    I have used Syncthing for projects at work and can attest that it is a solid and simple Dropbox replacement. Though I'm not sure they support Android/iOS yet. Edit: it is clear from the comments that there is at least an Android client.
    - PudgePacket 7y ago
      I use the android client. Does the job.
    - dexterdog 7y ago
      I've been using the android client for years
    - okanesen 7y ago
      There is fsync() [0] for iOS. [0]: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fsync/id964427882?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fsync/id964427882?mt=8
- 7y ago
redm 7y ago
I don't think this was a mistake. The mistake is that they were automatically switched but I'm sure they intended to download and install it in the background. I know several people who clicked "try the new dropbox" and it was instantly installed/available. I'm not sure this is a problem because I/they asked to try it, but it still felt a bit odd that it was already installed. Uncanny Valley. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley
- carti 7y ago
  I don't think the uncanny valley concept is really applicable here, unless the file manager resembles a human. It's certainly a departure from the expected behavior, though.
  - redm 7y ago
    I think its fairly widely accepted that the Uncanny Valley principle can be applied to things like usability and design. For example: https://medium.com/s/user-friendly/the-ux-uncanny-valley-cf30df9fb45a https://medium.com/s/user-friendly/the-ux-uncanny-valley-cf3...
  - RobotRidge 7y ago
    Anything that looks almost like what you expect, but is not quite what you expect, can qualify as falling into the uncanny valley. That term doesn't exclude definitions outside of robotics / AI but really applies to any UI. A good example of this is trying to emulate OS UI (like a file manager that looks like Windows or MacOS) in a browser using Java - this used to happen more than it does now. But whenever you interacted with it, it wasn't quite web UI and it wasn't quite OS ui - even though it was trying to be.... It was really terrible UX and has since fallen out of favor and been replaced by UI that is clearly web - Dropbox's website is a great example. That's because it fell into the uncanny valley. TLDR; if it almost does what you expect, but not quite, it could be uncanny valley.
dvfjsdhgfv 7y ago
A file manager... If only they could add this little feature "show folder size"...
noonespecial 7y ago
About the time dropbox limited me to 3 devices and obsoleted itself on half the OS's I needed it to shlep files to anyway, I relegated it to a docker container that also ties into Nextcloud and exports a samba share. Its pretty much empty now, I just needed to maintain it for some folders I share with other users.
dreamcompiler 7y ago
Dropbox is two things: Cheap cloud file storage with an API, and a desktop app. The desktop app used to be a glorified FUSE app that worked well (except on ARM Linux for some reason) and got out of your way. Now Dropbox has decided it's time to ruin the desktop app in an effort to chase conversions. This strategy will fail. Fortunately their cloud storage backend still works (unless it bugs you that they just increased the price a little bit while doubling the storage). There are several third-party clients that seem to work as replacements for the Dropbox client app. I'll probably move to Expandrive, which now supports Linux (it didn't before). Other suggestions welcome.
- skocznymroczny 7y ago
  I just installed Dropbox after few years because I need to sync some folders. The new application is terrible! It took me a long time to find the selective sync options, instead it's showing me some features that I am not interested in at all.
  - erichurkman 7y ago
    My biggest complaint of the new dropbox app (for Windows) is that every other day the tray icon routinely pops up alerts (or warning badges over the icon) that look alarming. But they're just ads for other Dropbox features. I already pay for it — stop pretending my non-use of Paper is an "alert" worth interrupting me for. If you can't sync my folders, yes, alert me! Otherwise, shut up and do your job (sync my folders).
- obituary_latte 7y ago
  As an Apple ecosystem user (not evangelist), I stopped using Dropbox completely in favor of iCloud. I mainly only used DB for syncing 1Password keychains but randomly other stuff too. I do trust apple in terms of security and their offering is affordable, painless and works well for my needs. May not fit well for more power-user types and for people who need cross-platform compatibility but it’s worth a look if you happen to be in the ecosystem and haven’t taken a gander as yet.
blackbrokkoli 7y ago
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 of filetypes, rarely thinking about the whole thing. I always thought of Dropbox quite UNIX-like in a sense, do one thing, but really well. And then things just kept getting worse. "Checking for changes" on my old shitty VAIO running Ubuntu went from taking 5 minutes to taking half an hour to taking 3 hours and never finishing syncing. Time sensitive file accessing got harder and harder because of continuous UI changes. I tried doing stuff with Smart Sync (or Selective Sync?) but got lost in the complex matrix of which feature does what on what OS with what plan. Webapp keeps nagging me about upgrading, even though I'm literally using less than 5% of my (paid) plan. Come on, show me some valuation as customer, or better, nothing at all. This got long, so I guess what I'm saying is: Please go back to being a folder that syncs, and I'll be just be ok with your nonchalant mail that you're randomly raising prices.
- navigatesol 7y ago
  >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?
  - bluedino 7y ago
    Isn't the problem that most Dropbox users just won't pay for it?
    - jvagner 7y ago
      I've paid for Dropbox for years, but recently cancelled, because I'm uncertain of the direction they're heading in. It's like Evernote of yore.. in fact, I sarcastically think Evernote and Dropbox should merge so I can simplify what I nostalgically ignore to just one entity. That said, I get Google Drive File Stream with my G Suite company account, and I get Microsoft OneDrive with my Office 365 subscription, and I get 2TB in iCloud with my iCloud subscription. This supports the "feature" idea. I wasn't thinking about dropping Dropbox until this latest round of product news.
bbmario 7y ago
Guess I'm moving to rclone and S3.
- zymhan 7y ago
  Why?
- dexterdog 7y ago
  That can get insanely expensive especially wrt bandwidth if you are keeping more than one device synced to it.
- fortran77 7y ago
  > For a Linux user, you can already build such a system yourself quite trivially by getting an FTP account, mounting it locally with curlftpfs, and then using SVN or CVS on the mounted filesystem. From Windows or Mac, this FTP account could be accessed through built-in software. (See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863 )
  - m11r 7y ago
    That comment was written in 2007 when the original suggestion would have been somewhat more acceptable. In 2019, please do not use plaintext FTP for anything at all if you can help it, especially for a setup involving personal documents or other data you care about keeping private. Every single syncing solution worth anything today, open or proprietary – including Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Syncthing, et al. – uses TLS or another strong form of transport encryption, and that should also be the absolute minimum bar for anything self-hosted, too. There are many other better ways of building a Dropbox-like system on Linux these days than that advice, including the aforementioned Syncthing[1], but the appropriate update to that comment alone would be "getting a SSH account, mounting it locally with sshfs[2], and then using Git on the mounted filesystem". [1]: https://syncthing.net https://syncthing.net [2]: https://github.com/libfuse/sshfs https://github.com/libfuse/sshfs
novaRom 7y ago
I did use Dropbox almost daily, 5-10 years ago. Then Acrobat reader got its own online storage and I see no reason anymore.
eyeball 7y ago
iCloud Drive it is I guess.
- zymhan 7y ago
  Did you read the link at all?
- mikece 7y ago
  I recently stopped using Dropbox and switched to iCloud Drive as well. I had exceeded the 3 machine limit and was ready to pay for upgraded Dropbox but decided to compare options first. In addition to costing the same as Dropbox, iCloud drive allows me to do full system backups and restores to/from iCloud for iPhone. I don't know if this is unique but I like it and need to figure out how to get my two MacBooks to do the same thing.
zymhan 7y ago
Has anyone clicked the link at all? Dropbox says this was a feature in testing that got accidentally deployed, not an intended update. > Update 4:06pm ET: Dropbox says this was a mistake. "We recently announced a new desktop app experience that is now currently available in Early Access. Due to an error, some users were accidentally exposed to the new app for a short period of time. The issue has been resolved, though there might be a short lag for some users to see resolution. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused."
- bborud 7y ago
  So it is a matter of timing. Why would they test something they do not intend to ship?
  - Bjartr 7y ago
    To find out if they should ship it?
    - IanSanders 7y ago
      I could have told the answer without testing required. Jokes aside, probably depends on what they are trying to achieve.
    - bborud 7y ago
      Is this realistic?
- s09dfhks 7y ago
  "accidentally" deployed........to everyone ah yes, happens all the time
bborud 7y ago
Well, Dropbox have accomplished one thing: I now see it is time to have a look at my use of cloud storage and have another look at where the alternatives are. I actually use several cloud storage services. I should probably stop using one or two of them. If nothing else then to save a bit of money and simplify things. Congratulations Dropbox.
flanbiscuit 7y ago
I've been meaning to move off of Dropbox and Google drive, does anyone have any recommendations? I know there are some Torrent related syncs out there. I just want something that is not centralized and controlled by an entity. I want full control of it and I sync between desktop/laptop and Android
- proactivesvcs 7y ago
  Syncthing is open source continuous file syncing software. No account needed, no third-party data storage and can be configured not to use any of the project's discovery or relaying infrastructure. https://syncthing.net/ https://syncthing.net/
- chacha2 7y ago
  NextCloud, Syncthing or a NAS like Synology.
- ukyrgf 7y ago
  Resilio Sync is the torrent one you're thinking of and it is great. The killer feature for me is the IgnoreList file in the root of the shared folder, so you can tell it not to sync "node_modules" in your source code folder.
izzydata 7y ago
Ever since they killed public folder hosting I've mostly stopped using Dropbox and moved to Imgur. I want to be able to drag pictures into a folder and then right click them and get a url to give to people. It was also nice for various types of small files. I haven't found anything else that has that level of convenience. The windows context menus on right click were very good and now they are gone.
- pestaa 7y ago
  I use NextCloud and it has this feature on the desktop. Though it may be a dialog box first to configure expiration date, and password, I don't fully recall. Agreed about the public folder hosting. I remember memorizing my Dropbox user ID just so I could send people a public URL within seconds.
fortran77 7y ago
I switched to OneDrive and it's great. It works everywhere (iOS, Mac, too) and it's a first-class citizen on Windows. And for the same price as DropBox, I get online Office365, two installable desktop licences of Office, the iOS versions of the office apps, and an Outlook account, in addition to the 1 TB of storage. It would be really, really hard for DropBox to come up with an application suite and bundle it along with their "folder that syncs." So they scramble and try things like their alternate file manager, that nobody in his right mind would use!
gwbas1c 7y ago
I've worked for a major Dropbox competitor for almost a decade. Shenanigans like this don't surprise me. This happens because product managers, developers, designers, ect, like to get creative. They think that they need to invent something new; AND, we (in the industry) see how a certain group of users is constantly confused by the files and folders concept. Usually, cooler heads prevail and remind everyone why our customers use our products: They just want basic file synchronization, sharing, and backup. That's it! Fortunately, in our case, we have very vocal major customers, so it's "easy" for us to plan features and changes that they will like. That being said: An important subset of users is extremely confused by files and folders. Figuring out a UI that works for everyone, (power users, normal users, and non-savy users,) is a bit of a holy grail, and a very important problem to solve.
- your-nanny 7y ago
  Nai e me, but it seems an extension scheme, in which additional features can optionally be added (for $) as desired is way to go.
- hunter2_ 7y ago
  Can you expand slightly on the confusion, perhaps give a typical support question or similar?
  - IanSanders 7y ago
    My guess is people don't organise their folders well and then struggle to navigate and search properly. Which shouldn't mean the rest should get punished, but here we are.
    - josteink 7y ago
      Which effectively mean that a modern iPhone probably has 100x the computing power of a 10 year old laptop and a 100th of the utility, because it’s based on this limited philosophy. What a waste.
    - warty 7y ago
whatever_dude 7y ago
I've been feeling the same as many people in this thread - DropBox keep adding all these weird features I don't want or need (document editor? file manager? notification this and that?) while not doing what I expected (better file masking for sharing, less resources). I've heard of pCloud and have been considering testing them since /I simply want a folder to sync/. Curious if anyone has tried it before and can compare it directly.
- wwarren 7y ago
  Been a self-hosting ownCloud user for quite some time now, and can highly recommend it.
- tmikaeld 7y ago
  I've been using pCloud for about 2 years and am very happy with it.
gekkonier 7y ago
I needed a tool to sync my files across different platforms. I learned that I don't need that. You can say lessions learned. I now use a proper backup tool, and don't spread my digital life through every cloud thats there and not here.
ungzd 7y ago
Does not look so bad. It's similar to web interface on dropbox.com, but packaged as "electron-like" app. Its functionality is related only to Dropbox, and it can be considered a part of main application. If it was third-party crapware, like free-to-play game or antivirus, I might be concerned, but it's just a piece of new bad UI and not worse than that. If I do "apt-get upgrade" and "gnome" metapackage installs me another new picture viewer/calculator/text editor appeared in new version, does it mean "Gnome silently installs unwanted software on users computers"?
- nacs 7y ago
  > If I do "apt-get upgrade" and "gnome" metapackage installs me another new picture viewer/calculator/text editor appeared in new version, does it mean "Gnome silently installs unwanted software on users computers" The difference is that when I choose my operating system (in this example Ubuntu/Debian), I trust it's native package manager and repos to install what they need more than some 3rd party provider shipping new proprietary blobs without my asking for it. Also note that when you do `apt upgrade` it prompts for permission if it sees any new packages/dependencies are being pulled in.
seanieb 7y ago
No one comment about the actual substance of the change or why they don’t like it. Just lots of emotions ! And the author seems to have left out the most critical thing about this update, the main interphase is still the OS and the tiny badge in the system tray. The new file browser thing can remain closed and unused unless you want to use Dropbox search natively or one of their upcoming 3rd party integrations. It’s a very simple file browser that you need to click to open, that you don’t need to use, not a bloody crypto miner or an opt in to sell your data. It would be awesome if folks would actually criticize the design and technical implementation! I really dislike this type of FUD based reporting https://twitter.com/ronamadeo/status/1151947264149131265?s=21 https://twitter.com/ronamadeo/status/1151947264149131265?s=2...
Ensorceled 7y ago
Yeah, I had this new interface popup yesterday at random, same time as I got a notification that a file had been uploaded. I didn't click on the notification, Dropbox seems to have used this as a hook to launch the preloaded new application. WTF, Dropbox? I've recently unsubscribed from Dropbox Pro, in part because I was no longer using it that much and, mostly, because of the non-stop, incessant, annoying pleas for me to upgrade to Dropbox Business. I'm a paying customer, stop advertising upsells to me! I actually get less advertising now that I'm on a free Dropbox account. Anyway, depressing to see a service I once counted on go so far wrong. Reminds me of Evernote and the "Upgrade to business and share your personal notes and journals with co-workers. And we have chat!!! Did we mention we have chat? You should check out chat."
- Gene_Parmesan 7y ago
  I'll never understand this impulse to hard sell your already-paying customers on more shit. It's like once these companies start facing adversity, they just can't help themselves from trying to squeeze things from people who are already giving them money. It lends this sort of 'captive-audience' vibe to the whole affair. Like, sure, publicize your higher tiers, make their value propositions such that I might say, "Huh, actually I could use that stuff." But if that stuff is appropriately displayed at the time I originally signed up, I've generally already completed that value evaluation when I made whatever initial purchase I made. I already went through and decided what features I needed or didn't need, and selected appropriately. If I didn't want the extra upload bandwidth (or whatever) when I originally signed up, I probably don't want it two weeks later. Getting hard sells from a product you already use is almost insulting in a way. I'm already giving you money -- with today's subscription models, I'm probably giving you money every month. But that's not enough for you? It totally changes my opinion of a thing from "useful product that does what I want" to "merely a means for its owners to make money." Those are two very different outlooks. The first is collaborative: they create a product that I find useful and provide it, thereby making my life better in some small way, and I benefit them by paying for it. The second feels almost manipulative, like I have to be on guard for potential marketing tactics that don't actually benefit me in any way. Honestly, the only thing that these sort of 'push-notification upsells' do for me is they act as small prompts for me to reconsider my attachment to the product. Each time I get one, it makes me go, "Wow, this just keeps annoying me more. Do I really use this thing enough to justify this ongoing annoyance?"
seanieb 7y ago
Lots of “why don’t you just use rsync” type answers .
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  Precisely the opposite. Most of them are "you made a perfect file syncing app, would you please stop messing with it?".
  - seanieb 7y ago
    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.
0_gravitas 7y ago
Perhaps I dont fully understand the value of something like DropBox, when it comes to syncing my files the only thing I've ever needed has been github (or other online repo). Among syncing it has all the other version control goodness, and I will likely use it until I can setup some kind of home server
- jcranberry 7y ago
  From the users perspective git is an application which you use to actively maintain a repo. Whereas Dropbox is more or less just a magic folder. Entirely different levels of convenience.
  - 0_gravitas 7y ago
    I definitely understand why "normal" users wouldn't use an online repo (especially if they've never used git itself), but I can't really buy `git add ., git commit -m "sync", git push -u` being too inconvenient, especially when you can just alias all of those. Now if mobile phones are the main reason I can definately understand a bit more, but I do my best to minimize my usage of it anyway, it's mainly a messenger + hn device.
    - jpindar 7y ago
      I use github - for code. But dumping 100 Gigs of movies, music, books, and other random personal stuff there is not its intended use.
      - 0_gravitas 7y ago
        Movies and music I get, but I have all my schoolwork and related stuff, like all my org-mode files, in there, not just code, it 100% beats emailing myself some work I did on my desktop just so I can print it out on a school computer/work on it using a laptop.
    - tsegers 7y ago
      That's still one action more than is required for using a synchronization service. The killer feature is not having to do anything at all. I save my file on one computer, and it's available on all my other machines, my phone and anything with a web browser without a conscious thought at all.
jdlyga 7y ago
I recently moved from Dropbox to OneDrive. I think OneDrive's been moving forward more with tying standard windows user folders into syncing. It works more seamlessly with Windows. If only there was a better Linux client though.
- mrlala 7y ago
  I would have loved to just use OneDrive, but it sucks with a lot of little files. It literally just doesn't work properly. At a few hundred thousand files I found OneDrive just stalls.. sometimes it might work, other times not. Usually it just sits there and you have no idea what it's doing.
krzrak 7y ago
I recommend sync.com as an alternative. It works great, has end-to-end encryption and their support is very responsive (you can't say that about Dropbox's support).
- james_pm 7y ago
  I also just discovered sync.com as an alternative to Dropbox. Seems pretty solid, and delivers on sync without all the additional crap Dropbox keeps layering on. E2E encryption with a good mobile app.
- dreamcompiler 7y ago
  Doesn't support Linux (yet).
spacenick88 7y ago
I deleted my account when they purposefully made their Linux version not launch on any other FS than ext4. I use btrfs and that supports all the features they use, still Dropbox refused to work with it. I complained to their support and then deleted my account. Then again I guess having a private server with NextCloud means I'm pretty privileged.
- manigandham 7y ago
  Linux users are already a tiny fraction to be worth the support costs. Adding multiple filesystems isn't viable.
  - yjftsjthsd-h 7y ago
    It's not added; it used to work and then they removed it.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - manigandham 7y ago
      Same thing, software isn't static and it probably wasn't worth the ongoing engineering and support.
jabl 7y ago
With recent changes like the 5 device limit (for the free edition), refusing to supporting any filesystem on Linux except ext4, and now this, I'm very happy with my decision to switch to syncthing.
- JshWright 7y ago
  Yeah, I dropped Dropbox when they dropped support for my file system.
kasperset 7y ago
Is Delta sync exclusive to Dropbox? I wonder if that is the killer feature of Dropbox or with faster bandwidth it does not matter?
thirdsun 7y ago
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 might as well be an NAS at some point, I‘d need to be able to set the source folder for that backup/sync workflow. Moving my library to a special sync folder, like the Dropbox folder, isn‘t an option. - I‘d also need be able to use that storage to upload and share large files for public download occasionally. S3 could certainly do that but I‘d prefer a simpler approach that allows me to quickly upload and share files from monile and desktop environments alike. Dropbox‘ mobile app and website work quite well in that regard. I don‘t want separate services for my backup and file sharing. - preferably cross-platform, but macOS support and good browser UX is required at the very least. - should be affordable, certainly not more than 10 bucks monthly for at least 1 TB. S3 pricing structure is too variable. It should be a flat fee. Is there any worthwhile alternative to Dropbox that ticks all those boxes? [0] https://www.arqbackup.com/ https://www.arqbackup.com/
- ac29 7y ago
  Google Drive is the only thing that comes to mind that ticks all those boxes. You'd need to use 3rd party tools for some of those tasks, but sounds like you're already doing that with Dropbox.
- sfotm 7y ago
  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.
  - thirdsun 7y ago
    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.
- 7y ago
mike_ivanov 7y ago
The most important Dropbox advantage over OS-integrated solutions is interoperability. I can sync a folder between Mac, Linux, Windows and mobile platforms. There is no other product that does it so smoothly, and neither iCloud nor Window Live will ever do that. This new stuff, however, is irrelevant. I just don't care, all I need from Dropbox is to keep syncing a folder between my devices, that's it. They could have spent money on innovating in their core field of competence: syncing. Hey Dropbox, how about seamless syncing with S3 for one? Remote NAS access? Distributed cross-provider virtual filesystems? But no, instead we have this silly file manager.
awill 7y ago
I moved from Dropbox (when they dropped xfs Linux support) to Google Drive. Fine so far.
pyreal 7y ago
I love the app. I started using it immediately upon seeing it - then went looking for it all over my system when it disappeared. Makes using Dropbox much easier on my Mac - and I love being able to create Google Docs right in Dropbox from it.
slouch 7y ago
I don't care at all what Dropbox adds to their app on my computer, because I don't use it. It runs, and I ignore it.
gumby 7y ago
Poor Dropbox (and poor Dropbox investors). Their core product is really just a feature, and now others offer that...where's the value? With the recent price increase I've moved most of my DB stuff elsewhere and now can get by with the free plan, only for reading things others share with me.
jammygit 7y ago
> Update 4:06pm ET: Dropbox says this was a mistake. "We recently announced a new desktop app experience that is now currently available in Early Access. Due to an error, some users were accidentally exposed to the new app for a short period of time. The issue has been resolved, though there might be a short lag for some users to see resolution. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused." Also, for linux users: > On Linux, well, Dropbox doesn't care enough about Linux to port the file manager app over. Lucky penguins.
veidr 7y ago
I wonder how many Dropbox users are like me. I still pay for it, for one reason only: all the stuff I have shared with a Dropbox link. I set up Syncthing, and it completely and flawlessly replaced the Dropbox folder syncing. (It's actually way better, because the sync part is as reliable, but unlike Dropbox it also supports symlinks, meaning I can sync my active ongoing work, including stuff like git repos with uncommitted changes — no need to commit some unfinished work-in-progress before moving to a new location. Plus, since I'm not sharing my data with Dropbox employees and thus by extension the US government plus whoever hacks them, I can store even private data in the folders I sync.) But the "share with link" feature of Dropbox works really, really well. Want to paste a video into a bug report, but not deal with horridly slow JIRA? Just paste the Dropbox link. Want to share a 500MB cute video of your kids? Dropbox link. Want to paste an image into an HN discussion? You can't, but you can easily paste a Dropbox link. Giving a talk at a conference and want a few friends to critique your delivery beforehand? Record yourself practicing and email/text/whatever them the Dropbox link. I suspect (without evidence) that lots of Dropbox users are like me. I've shared hundreds of things that way over the years, and although it isn't mission-critical or anything, I don't want those links to go dark. So I keep paying. That's why I think their tiny 2GB free plan is important. If the stuff you've shared includes even a handful of videos, you quickly exceed that limit. In my case, if they upped the free limit to 25GB, I would cancel my paid service immediately.
chubs 7y ago
It seems to me that every other month this certain company does something that is anti-their customer base, and maybe there's a market for people considering moving away from them? I've been inspired lately by the people who do Pinboard and Arq - both seem to be doing the one-man-band software thing, making something small and niche yet making a living out of it. Background info: Arq is a one-off purchase app that backs up to your cloud storage account (eg you have an AWS account with an S3 bucket, and Arq backs up to there). I was thinking of making a native Mac app Dropbox clone that would be much like arq (as in, BYO storage account). Eg it does automatic two-way sync of a folder to S3. Eg a company could have an AWS S3 account, and buy a copy of this app for each staff member, and they could all sync to the same S3 account. I'd charge like $30 for it, which is vs $120/year for dropbox, and your S3 / Backblaze B2 pricing would be tiny. Do you think this is crazy? Would you use it if I made it? Do you think it's a good enough idea to put on indiegogo / kickstarter / producthunt and see if there's any traction before starting on this? Thanks peeps

342 points by hbgb 7y ago

Dropbox is almost as bad as every single third party anti virus product. I won’t install it on any of my personal computers. If I have to share a document, I’ll just upload it via the web.

nessunodoro 7y ago
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.
- zapnuk 7y ago
  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 minutes or so... Whats also annoying was that there are different versions in the Ubuntu software store. Some are deprecated and don't work anymore. Somehow the Appimage from their website didn't work either. I imagine this can be frustrating for new users. This is why I went back to Dropbox. My usecase is exactly what the top rated comment says. I need a folder that syncs. Without any problems. I imagine that icloud would also be a viable option for casual users like me. However, they don't have a linux client..
  - bluedino 7y ago
    Why are there so many versions in the Ubuntu store? On Mac/Windows I just download from Dropbox's site.
  - scarface74 7y ago
    There are so many better options then Dropbox. iCloud once Apple introduces folder sharing in iOS 13. OneDrive - $9.99 a month full Office Suite including on mobile/web and 6TB of storage. There is a third party Linux client (https://www.expandrive.com/onedrive-for-linux/ https://www.expandrive.com/onedrive-for-linux/)
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
  - nessunodoro 7y ago
    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.
gpvos 7y ago
It didn't do anything bad to me while I used it. I finally got round to replacing it with Nextcloud though, so now I only use Dropbox very occasionally, and via the web.
- chiefalchemist 7y ago
  I saw Nextcloud (https://nextcloud.com/ https://nextcloud.com/) mentioned above but I'm not seeing anything that looks like a personal (or SMB) solution. Where should I be looking? What product/page? tia
  - the_pwner224 7y ago
    You can either host it on your own server or find a free public server. I self-host it for just me (one user) and it works. It's PHP so the setup should be pretty easy.
    - inops 7y ago
      I run my Nextcloud instance (for me and family) on a Raspberry Pi 3. The web interface is fairly slow because of the hardware (and likely my configuration :p), but it serves nicely as a Dropbox replacement.
  - the_common_man 7y ago
    Use cloudron.io for a personal solution (it's in digital ocean marketplace as well). Nextcloud is an installable app there
  - markfchapman 7y ago
    https://nextcloud.com/install/#instructions-server https://nextcloud.com/install/#instructions-server https://nextcloud.com/install/#install-clients https://nextcloud.com/install/#install-clients I've installed it for personal use before but now use Hetzner: https://www.hetzner.com/storage/nextcloud https://www.hetzner.com/storage/nextcloud

CPLX 7y ago

This seems like a good time to resurface the worlds best Quora answer, by Michael Wolfe. Answering “Why is Dropbox more popular than other tools with similar functionality?”: Well, let's take a step back and think about the sync problem and what the ideal solution for it would do: There would be a folder. You'd put your stuff in it. It would sync. They built that. Why didn't anyone else build that? I have no idea. "But," you may ask, "so much more you could do! What about task management, calendaring, customized dashboards, virtual white boarding. More than just folders and files!" No, shut up. People don't use that crap. They just want a folder. A folder that syncs. "But," you may say, "this is valuable data...certainly users will feel more comfortable tying their data to Windows Live, Apple Mobile Me, or a name they already know." No, shut up. Not a single person on Earth wakes up in the morning worried about deriving more value from their Windows Live login. People already trust folders. And Dropbox looks just like a folder. One that syncs. "But," you may say, "folders are so 1995. why not leverage the full power of the web? With HTML 5 you can drag and drop files, you can build intergalactic dashboards of stats showing how much storage you are using, you can publish your files as RSS feeds and tweets, and you can add your company logo!" No, shut up. Most of the world doesn't sit in front of their browser all day. If they do, it is IE 6 at work that they are not allowed to upgrade. Browsers suck for these kinds of things. Their stuff is already in folders. They just want a folder. That syncs. That is what it does. http://www.quora.com/Dropbox/Why-is-Dropbox-more-popular-than-other-programs-with-similar-functionality/answer/Michael-Wolfe http://www.quora.com/Dropbox/Why-is-Dropbox-more-popular-tha... Oh well.

kilroy123 7y ago
I still think this is 100% true and that's still exactly what I want, as a paying Dropbox customer. What they're trying to build now are all things I'll never use.
- wmeredith 7y ago
  Same. I bailed when they started shoving their paper thing down my throat.
- TeMPOraL 7y ago

kristiandupont 7y ago

I use Resilio Sync for some files between two machines but that only works when they are both on at the same time. What are some good alternatives?

anc84 7y ago
A third, always-on machine like a 3€ VPS somewhere.
the-dude 7y ago
Dropbox
swinglock 7y ago
Run it in daemon mode on a server as well. It even has an encryption option so that the server can't read or write to the files, just keep them available for your clients.

mothsonasloth 7y ago

After Dropbox introduced the 3 machine limit to free tier accounts back in March. I decided to migrate to Nextcloud. The migration was easy: 1. Setup a directory on my VPS for storing files 2. Install Nextcloud 3. Configure security 4. Install clients on (Mac/ Windows and Androd phone) 5. Starting adding files

chiefalchemist 7y ago
Save some people some typing: https://nextcloud.com/ https://nextcloud.com/
m_eiman 7y ago
I've switched to Syncthing, which just syncs files and not all the other that Nextcloud does (which I'm not interested in). https://syncthing.net/ https://syncthing.net/
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y ago
  I have used Syncthing for projects at work and can attest that it is a solid and simple Dropbox replacement. Though I'm not sure they support Android/iOS yet. Edit: it is clear from the comments that there is at least an Android client.
  - PudgePacket 7y ago
    I use the android client. Does the job.
  - dexterdog 7y ago
    I've been using the android client for years
  - okanesen 7y ago
    There is fsync() [0] for iOS. [0]: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fsync/id964427882?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fsync/id964427882?mt=8
7y ago

redm 7y ago

I don't think this was a mistake. The mistake is that they were automatically switched but I'm sure they intended to download and install it in the background. I know several people who clicked "try the new dropbox" and it was instantly installed/available. I'm not sure this is a problem because I/they asked to try it, but it still felt a bit odd that it was already installed. Uncanny Valley. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley

carti 7y ago
I don't think the uncanny valley concept is really applicable here, unless the file manager resembles a human. It's certainly a departure from the expected behavior, though.
- redm 7y ago
  I think its fairly widely accepted that the Uncanny Valley principle can be applied to things like usability and design. For example: https://medium.com/s/user-friendly/the-ux-uncanny-valley-cf30df9fb45a https://medium.com/s/user-friendly/the-ux-uncanny-valley-cf3...
- RobotRidge 7y ago
  Anything that looks almost like what you expect, but is not quite what you expect, can qualify as falling into the uncanny valley. That term doesn't exclude definitions outside of robotics / AI but really applies to any UI. A good example of this is trying to emulate OS UI (like a file manager that looks like Windows or MacOS) in a browser using Java - this used to happen more than it does now. But whenever you interacted with it, it wasn't quite web UI and it wasn't quite OS ui - even though it was trying to be.... It was really terrible UX and has since fallen out of favor and been replaced by UI that is clearly web - Dropbox's website is a great example. That's because it fell into the uncanny valley. TLDR; if it almost does what you expect, but not quite, it could be uncanny valley.

dvfjsdhgfv 7y ago

A file manager... If only they could add this little feature "show folder size"...

noonespecial 7y ago

About the time dropbox limited me to 3 devices and obsoleted itself on half the OS's I needed it to shlep files to anyway, I relegated it to a docker container that also ties into Nextcloud and exports a samba share. Its pretty much empty now, I just needed to maintain it for some folders I share with other users.

dreamcompiler 7y ago

Dropbox is two things: Cheap cloud file storage with an API, and a desktop app. The desktop app used to be a glorified FUSE app that worked well (except on ARM Linux for some reason) and got out of your way. Now Dropbox has decided it's time to ruin the desktop app in an effort to chase conversions. This strategy will fail. Fortunately their cloud storage backend still works (unless it bugs you that they just increased the price a little bit while doubling the storage). There are several third-party clients that seem to work as replacements for the Dropbox client app. I'll probably move to Expandrive, which now supports Linux (it didn't before). Other suggestions welcome.

skocznymroczny 7y ago
I just installed Dropbox after few years because I need to sync some folders. The new application is terrible! It took me a long time to find the selective sync options, instead it's showing me some features that I am not interested in at all.
- erichurkman 7y ago
  My biggest complaint of the new dropbox app (for Windows) is that every other day the tray icon routinely pops up alerts (or warning badges over the icon) that look alarming. But they're just ads for other Dropbox features. I already pay for it — stop pretending my non-use of Paper is an "alert" worth interrupting me for. If you can't sync my folders, yes, alert me! Otherwise, shut up and do your job (sync my folders).
obituary_latte 7y ago
As an Apple ecosystem user (not evangelist), I stopped using Dropbox completely in favor of iCloud. I mainly only used DB for syncing 1Password keychains but randomly other stuff too. I do trust apple in terms of security and their offering is affordable, painless and works well for my needs. May not fit well for more power-user types and for people who need cross-platform compatibility but it’s worth a look if you happen to be in the ecosystem and haven’t taken a gander as yet.

blackbrokkoli 7y ago

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 of filetypes, rarely thinking about the whole thing. I always thought of Dropbox quite UNIX-like in a sense, do one thing, but really well. And then things just kept getting worse. "Checking for changes" on my old shitty VAIO running Ubuntu went from taking 5 minutes to taking half an hour to taking 3 hours and never finishing syncing. Time sensitive file accessing got harder and harder because of continuous UI changes. I tried doing stuff with Smart Sync (or Selective Sync?) but got lost in the complex matrix of which feature does what on what OS with what plan. Webapp keeps nagging me about upgrading, even though I'm literally using less than 5% of my (paid) plan. Come on, show me some valuation as customer, or better, nothing at all. This got long, so I guess what I'm saying is: Please go back to being a folder that syncs, and I'll be just be ok with your nonchalant mail that you're randomly raising prices.

navigatesol 7y ago
>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?
- bluedino 7y ago
  Isn't the problem that most Dropbox users just won't pay for it?
  - jvagner 7y ago
    I've paid for Dropbox for years, but recently cancelled, because I'm uncertain of the direction they're heading in. It's like Evernote of yore.. in fact, I sarcastically think Evernote and Dropbox should merge so I can simplify what I nostalgically ignore to just one entity. That said, I get Google Drive File Stream with my G Suite company account, and I get Microsoft OneDrive with my Office 365 subscription, and I get 2TB in iCloud with my iCloud subscription. This supports the "feature" idea. I wasn't thinking about dropping Dropbox until this latest round of product news.

bbmario 7y ago

Guess I'm moving to rclone and S3.

zymhan 7y ago
Why?
dexterdog 7y ago
That can get insanely expensive especially wrt bandwidth if you are keeping more than one device synced to it.
fortran77 7y ago
> For a Linux user, you can already build such a system yourself quite trivially by getting an FTP account, mounting it locally with curlftpfs, and then using SVN or CVS on the mounted filesystem. From Windows or Mac, this FTP account could be accessed through built-in software. (See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863 )
- m11r 7y ago
  That comment was written in 2007 when the original suggestion would have been somewhat more acceptable. In 2019, please do not use plaintext FTP for anything at all if you can help it, especially for a setup involving personal documents or other data you care about keeping private. Every single syncing solution worth anything today, open or proprietary – including Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Syncthing, et al. – uses TLS or another strong form of transport encryption, and that should also be the absolute minimum bar for anything self-hosted, too. There are many other better ways of building a Dropbox-like system on Linux these days than that advice, including the aforementioned Syncthing[1], but the appropriate update to that comment alone would be "getting a SSH account, mounting it locally with sshfs[2], and then using Git on the mounted filesystem". [1]: https://syncthing.net https://syncthing.net [2]: https://github.com/libfuse/sshfs https://github.com/libfuse/sshfs

novaRom 7y ago

I did use Dropbox almost daily, 5-10 years ago. Then Acrobat reader got its own online storage and I see no reason anymore.

eyeball 7y ago

iCloud Drive it is I guess.

zymhan 7y ago
Did you read the link at all?
mikece 7y ago
I recently stopped using Dropbox and switched to iCloud Drive as well. I had exceeded the 3 machine limit and was ready to pay for upgraded Dropbox but decided to compare options first. In addition to costing the same as Dropbox, iCloud drive allows me to do full system backups and restores to/from iCloud for iPhone. I don't know if this is unique but I like it and need to figure out how to get my two MacBooks to do the same thing.

zymhan 7y ago

Has anyone clicked the link at all? Dropbox says this was a feature in testing that got accidentally deployed, not an intended update. > Update 4:06pm ET: Dropbox says this was a mistake. "We recently announced a new desktop app experience that is now currently available in Early Access. Due to an error, some users were accidentally exposed to the new app for a short period of time. The issue has been resolved, though there might be a short lag for some users to see resolution. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused."

bborud 7y ago
So it is a matter of timing. Why would they test something they do not intend to ship?
- Bjartr 7y ago
  To find out if they should ship it?
  - IanSanders 7y ago
    I could have told the answer without testing required. Jokes aside, probably depends on what they are trying to achieve.
  - bborud 7y ago
    Is this realistic?
s09dfhks 7y ago
"accidentally" deployed........to everyone ah yes, happens all the time

bborud 7y ago

Well, Dropbox have accomplished one thing: I now see it is time to have a look at my use of cloud storage and have another look at where the alternatives are. I actually use several cloud storage services. I should probably stop using one or two of them. If nothing else then to save a bit of money and simplify things. Congratulations Dropbox.

flanbiscuit 7y ago

I've been meaning to move off of Dropbox and Google drive, does anyone have any recommendations? I know there are some Torrent related syncs out there. I just want something that is not centralized and controlled by an entity. I want full control of it and I sync between desktop/laptop and Android

proactivesvcs 7y ago
Syncthing is open source continuous file syncing software. No account needed, no third-party data storage and can be configured not to use any of the project's discovery or relaying infrastructure. https://syncthing.net/ https://syncthing.net/
chacha2 7y ago
NextCloud, Syncthing or a NAS like Synology.
ukyrgf 7y ago
Resilio Sync is the torrent one you're thinking of and it is great. The killer feature for me is the IgnoreList file in the root of the shared folder, so you can tell it not to sync "node_modules" in your source code folder.

izzydata 7y ago

Ever since they killed public folder hosting I've mostly stopped using Dropbox and moved to Imgur. I want to be able to drag pictures into a folder and then right click them and get a url to give to people. It was also nice for various types of small files. I haven't found anything else that has that level of convenience. The windows context menus on right click were very good and now they are gone.

pestaa 7y ago
I use NextCloud and it has this feature on the desktop. Though it may be a dialog box first to configure expiration date, and password, I don't fully recall. Agreed about the public folder hosting. I remember memorizing my Dropbox user ID just so I could send people a public URL within seconds.

fortran77 7y ago

I switched to OneDrive and it's great. It works everywhere (iOS, Mac, too) and it's a first-class citizen on Windows. And for the same price as DropBox, I get online Office365, two installable desktop licences of Office, the iOS versions of the office apps, and an Outlook account, in addition to the 1 TB of storage. It would be really, really hard for DropBox to come up with an application suite and bundle it along with their "folder that syncs." So they scramble and try things like their alternate file manager, that nobody in his right mind would use!

gwbas1c 7y ago

I've worked for a major Dropbox competitor for almost a decade. Shenanigans like this don't surprise me. This happens because product managers, developers, designers, ect, like to get creative. They think that they need to invent something new; AND, we (in the industry) see how a certain group of users is constantly confused by the files and folders concept. Usually, cooler heads prevail and remind everyone why our customers use our products: They just want basic file synchronization, sharing, and backup. That's it! Fortunately, in our case, we have very vocal major customers, so it's "easy" for us to plan features and changes that they will like. That being said: An important subset of users is extremely confused by files and folders. Figuring out a UI that works for everyone, (power users, normal users, and non-savy users,) is a bit of a holy grail, and a very important problem to solve.

your-nanny 7y ago
Nai e me, but it seems an extension scheme, in which additional features can optionally be added (for $) as desired is way to go.
hunter2_ 7y ago
Can you expand slightly on the confusion, perhaps give a typical support question or similar?
- IanSanders 7y ago
  My guess is people don't organise their folders well and then struggle to navigate and search properly. Which shouldn't mean the rest should get punished, but here we are.
  - josteink 7y ago
    Which effectively mean that a modern iPhone probably has 100x the computing power of a 10 year old laptop and a 100th of the utility, because it’s based on this limited philosophy. What a waste.
  - warty 7y ago

whatever_dude 7y ago

I've been feeling the same as many people in this thread - DropBox keep adding all these weird features I don't want or need (document editor? file manager? notification this and that?) while not doing what I expected (better file masking for sharing, less resources). I've heard of pCloud and have been considering testing them since /I simply want a folder to sync/. Curious if anyone has tried it before and can compare it directly.

wwarren 7y ago
Been a self-hosting ownCloud user for quite some time now, and can highly recommend it.
tmikaeld 7y ago
I've been using pCloud for about 2 years and am very happy with it.

gekkonier 7y ago

I needed a tool to sync my files across different platforms. I learned that I don't need that. You can say lessions learned. I now use a proper backup tool, and don't spread my digital life through every cloud thats there and not here.

ungzd 7y ago

Does not look so bad. It's similar to web interface on dropbox.com, but packaged as "electron-like" app. Its functionality is related only to Dropbox, and it can be considered a part of main application. If it was third-party crapware, like free-to-play game or antivirus, I might be concerned, but it's just a piece of new bad UI and not worse than that. If I do "apt-get upgrade" and "gnome" metapackage installs me another new picture viewer/calculator/text editor appeared in new version, does it mean "Gnome silently installs unwanted software on users computers"?

nacs 7y ago
> If I do "apt-get upgrade" and "gnome" metapackage installs me another new picture viewer/calculator/text editor appeared in new version, does it mean "Gnome silently installs unwanted software on users computers" The difference is that when I choose my operating system (in this example Ubuntu/Debian), I trust it's native package manager and repos to install what they need more than some 3rd party provider shipping new proprietary blobs without my asking for it. Also note that when you do `apt upgrade` it prompts for permission if it sees any new packages/dependencies are being pulled in.

seanieb 7y ago

No one comment about the actual substance of the change or why they don’t like it. Just lots of emotions ! And the author seems to have left out the most critical thing about this update, the main interphase is still the OS and the tiny badge in the system tray. The new file browser thing can remain closed and unused unless you want to use Dropbox search natively or one of their upcoming 3rd party integrations. It’s a very simple file browser that you need to click to open, that you don’t need to use, not a bloody crypto miner or an opt in to sell your data. It would be awesome if folks would actually criticize the design and technical implementation! I really dislike this type of FUD based reporting https://twitter.com/ronamadeo/status/1151947264149131265?s=21 https://twitter.com/ronamadeo/status/1151947264149131265?s=2...

Ensorceled 7y ago

Yeah, I had this new interface popup yesterday at random, same time as I got a notification that a file had been uploaded. I didn't click on the notification, Dropbox seems to have used this as a hook to launch the preloaded new application. WTF, Dropbox? I've recently unsubscribed from Dropbox Pro, in part because I was no longer using it that much and, mostly, because of the non-stop, incessant, annoying pleas for me to upgrade to Dropbox Business. I'm a paying customer, stop advertising upsells to me! I actually get less advertising now that I'm on a free Dropbox account. Anyway, depressing to see a service I once counted on go so far wrong. Reminds me of Evernote and the "Upgrade to business and share your personal notes and journals with co-workers. And we have chat!!! Did we mention we have chat? You should check out chat."

Gene_Parmesan 7y ago
I'll never understand this impulse to hard sell your already-paying customers on more shit. It's like once these companies start facing adversity, they just can't help themselves from trying to squeeze things from people who are already giving them money. It lends this sort of 'captive-audience' vibe to the whole affair. Like, sure, publicize your higher tiers, make their value propositions such that I might say, "Huh, actually I could use that stuff." But if that stuff is appropriately displayed at the time I originally signed up, I've generally already completed that value evaluation when I made whatever initial purchase I made. I already went through and decided what features I needed or didn't need, and selected appropriately. If I didn't want the extra upload bandwidth (or whatever) when I originally signed up, I probably don't want it two weeks later. Getting hard sells from a product you already use is almost insulting in a way. I'm already giving you money -- with today's subscription models, I'm probably giving you money every month. But that's not enough for you? It totally changes my opinion of a thing from "useful product that does what I want" to "merely a means for its owners to make money." Those are two very different outlooks. The first is collaborative: they create a product that I find useful and provide it, thereby making my life better in some small way, and I benefit them by paying for it. The second feels almost manipulative, like I have to be on guard for potential marketing tactics that don't actually benefit me in any way. Honestly, the only thing that these sort of 'push-notification upsells' do for me is they act as small prompts for me to reconsider my attachment to the product. Each time I get one, it makes me go, "Wow, this just keeps annoying me more. Do I really use this thing enough to justify this ongoing annoyance?"

seanieb 7y ago

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

TeMPOraL 7y ago
Precisely the opposite. Most of them are "you made a perfect file syncing app, would you please stop messing with it?".
- seanieb 7y ago
  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.

0_gravitas 7y ago

Perhaps I dont fully understand the value of something like DropBox, when it comes to syncing my files the only thing I've ever needed has been github (or other online repo). Among syncing it has all the other version control goodness, and I will likely use it until I can setup some kind of home server

jcranberry 7y ago
From the users perspective git is an application which you use to actively maintain a repo. Whereas Dropbox is more or less just a magic folder. Entirely different levels of convenience.
- 0_gravitas 7y ago
  I definitely understand why "normal" users wouldn't use an online repo (especially if they've never used git itself), but I can't really buy `git add ., git commit -m "sync", git push -u` being too inconvenient, especially when you can just alias all of those. Now if mobile phones are the main reason I can definately understand a bit more, but I do my best to minimize my usage of it anyway, it's mainly a messenger + hn device.
  - jpindar 7y ago
    I use github - for code. But dumping 100 Gigs of movies, music, books, and other random personal stuff there is not its intended use.
    - 0_gravitas 7y ago
      Movies and music I get, but I have all my schoolwork and related stuff, like all my org-mode files, in there, not just code, it 100% beats emailing myself some work I did on my desktop just so I can print it out on a school computer/work on it using a laptop.
  - tsegers 7y ago
    That's still one action more than is required for using a synchronization service. The killer feature is not having to do anything at all. I save my file on one computer, and it's available on all my other machines, my phone and anything with a web browser without a conscious thought at all.

jdlyga 7y ago

I recently moved from Dropbox to OneDrive. I think OneDrive's been moving forward more with tying standard windows user folders into syncing. It works more seamlessly with Windows. If only there was a better Linux client though.

mrlala 7y ago
I would have loved to just use OneDrive, but it sucks with a lot of little files. It literally just doesn't work properly. At a few hundred thousand files I found OneDrive just stalls.. sometimes it might work, other times not. Usually it just sits there and you have no idea what it's doing.

krzrak 7y ago

I recommend sync.com as an alternative. It works great, has end-to-end encryption and their support is very responsive (you can't say that about Dropbox's support).

james_pm 7y ago
I also just discovered sync.com as an alternative to Dropbox. Seems pretty solid, and delivers on sync without all the additional crap Dropbox keeps layering on. E2E encryption with a good mobile app.
dreamcompiler 7y ago
Doesn't support Linux (yet).

spacenick88 7y ago

I deleted my account when they purposefully made their Linux version not launch on any other FS than ext4. I use btrfs and that supports all the features they use, still Dropbox refused to work with it. I complained to their support and then deleted my account. Then again I guess having a private server with NextCloud means I'm pretty privileged.

manigandham 7y ago
Linux users are already a tiny fraction to be worth the support costs. Adding multiple filesystems isn't viable.
- yjftsjthsd-h 7y ago
  It's not added; it used to work and then they removed it.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - manigandham 7y ago
    Same thing, software isn't static and it probably wasn't worth the ongoing engineering and support.

jabl 7y ago

With recent changes like the 5 device limit (for the free edition), refusing to supporting any filesystem on Linux except ext4, and now this, I'm very happy with my decision to switch to syncthing.

JshWright 7y ago
Yeah, I dropped Dropbox when they dropped support for my file system.

kasperset 7y ago

Is Delta sync exclusive to Dropbox? I wonder if that is the killer feature of Dropbox or with faster bandwidth it does not matter?

thirdsun 7y ago

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 might as well be an NAS at some point, I‘d need to be able to set the source folder for that backup/sync workflow. Moving my library to a special sync folder, like the Dropbox folder, isn‘t an option. - I‘d also need be able to use that storage to upload and share large files for public download occasionally. S3 could certainly do that but I‘d prefer a simpler approach that allows me to quickly upload and share files from monile and desktop environments alike. Dropbox‘ mobile app and website work quite well in that regard. I don‘t want separate services for my backup and file sharing. - preferably cross-platform, but macOS support and good browser UX is required at the very least. - should be affordable, certainly not more than 10 bucks monthly for at least 1 TB. S3 pricing structure is too variable. It should be a flat fee. Is there any worthwhile alternative to Dropbox that ticks all those boxes? [0] https://www.arqbackup.com/ https://www.arqbackup.com/

ac29 7y ago
Google Drive is the only thing that comes to mind that ticks all those boxes. You'd need to use 3rd party tools for some of those tasks, but sounds like you're already doing that with Dropbox.
sfotm 7y ago
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.
- thirdsun 7y ago
  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.
7y ago

mike_ivanov 7y ago

The most important Dropbox advantage over OS-integrated solutions is interoperability. I can sync a folder between Mac, Linux, Windows and mobile platforms. There is no other product that does it so smoothly, and neither iCloud nor Window Live will ever do that. This new stuff, however, is irrelevant. I just don't care, all I need from Dropbox is to keep syncing a folder between my devices, that's it. They could have spent money on innovating in their core field of competence: syncing. Hey Dropbox, how about seamless syncing with S3 for one? Remote NAS access? Distributed cross-provider virtual filesystems? But no, instead we have this silly file manager.

awill 7y ago

I moved from Dropbox (when they dropped xfs Linux support) to Google Drive. Fine so far.

pyreal 7y ago

I love the app. I started using it immediately upon seeing it - then went looking for it all over my system when it disappeared. Makes using Dropbox much easier on my Mac - and I love being able to create Google Docs right in Dropbox from it.

slouch 7y ago

I don't care at all what Dropbox adds to their app on my computer, because I don't use it. It runs, and I ignore it.

gumby 7y ago

Poor Dropbox (and poor Dropbox investors). Their core product is really just a feature, and now others offer that...where's the value? With the recent price increase I've moved most of my DB stuff elsewhere and now can get by with the free plan, only for reading things others share with me.

jammygit 7y ago

> Update 4:06pm ET: Dropbox says this was a mistake. "We recently announced a new desktop app experience that is now currently available in Early Access. Due to an error, some users were accidentally exposed to the new app for a short period of time. The issue has been resolved, though there might be a short lag for some users to see resolution. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused." Also, for linux users: > On Linux, well, Dropbox doesn't care enough about Linux to port the file manager app over. Lucky penguins.

veidr 7y ago

I wonder how many Dropbox users are like me. I still pay for it, for one reason only: all the stuff I have shared with a Dropbox link. I set up Syncthing, and it completely and flawlessly replaced the Dropbox folder syncing. (It's actually way better, because the sync part is as reliable, but unlike Dropbox it also supports symlinks, meaning I can sync my active ongoing work, including stuff like git repos with uncommitted changes — no need to commit some unfinished work-in-progress before moving to a new location. Plus, since I'm not sharing my data with Dropbox employees and thus by extension the US government plus whoever hacks them, I can store even private data in the folders I sync.) But the "share with link" feature of Dropbox works really, really well. Want to paste a video into a bug report, but not deal with horridly slow JIRA? Just paste the Dropbox link. Want to share a 500MB cute video of your kids? Dropbox link. Want to paste an image into an HN discussion? You can't, but you can easily paste a Dropbox link. Giving a talk at a conference and want a few friends to critique your delivery beforehand? Record yourself practicing and email/text/whatever them the Dropbox link. I suspect (without evidence) that lots of Dropbox users are like me. I've shared hundreds of things that way over the years, and although it isn't mission-critical or anything, I don't want those links to go dark. So I keep paying. That's why I think their tiny 2GB free plan is important. If the stuff you've shared includes even a handful of videos, you quickly exceed that limit. In my case, if they upped the free limit to 25GB, I would cancel my paid service immediately.

chubs 7y ago

It seems to me that every other month this certain company does something that is anti-their customer base, and maybe there's a market for people considering moving away from them? I've been inspired lately by the people who do Pinboard and Arq - both seem to be doing the one-man-band software thing, making something small and niche yet making a living out of it. Background info: Arq is a one-off purchase app that backs up to your cloud storage account (eg you have an AWS account with an S3 bucket, and Arq backs up to there). I was thinking of making a native Mac app Dropbox clone that would be much like arq (as in, BYO storage account). Eg it does automatic two-way sync of a folder to S3. Eg a company could have an AWS S3 account, and buy a copy of this app for each staff member, and they could all sync to the same S3 account. I'd charge like $30 for it, which is vs $120/year for dropbox, and your S3 / Backblaze B2 pricing would be tiny. Do you think this is crazy? Would you use it if I made it? Do you think it's a good enough idea to put on indiegogo / kickstarter / producthunt and see if there's any traction before starting on this? Thanks peeps