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We're in a different era, but the issue is still the same. Lots of competitors have popped up in file syncing, but they all want to link in with additional ser

We're in a different era, but the issue is still the same. Lots of competitors have popped up in file syncing, but they all want to link in with additional services and other crap that people don't want. There's still a lot of value to be had in providing a folder that syncs quickly and effortlessly.

TeMPOraL 7y ago
Strongly agreed. "A folder that syncs" is the only thing I ever wanted from Dropbox, it's still the only thing that I want, and it's the only reason I pay them. Everything they've been adding for the past years is pure, useless bloat to me. (Well, what I really want is a folder that syncs and which lets me get URLs to raw files in the cloud to share. They used to have this, then they dropped it for some silly business reasons. Tough luck, I learned to live without it. Still, throughout the decade or so I've been using their service, they added exactly zero useful things for me, and managed to lose one feature I cared about.)
UncleMeat 7y ago
But is that value people will pay for? Clearly Dropbox doesn't think so.
- Spivak 7y ago
  This is 100% anecdata but it seems like among my friends, family, coworkers Google Drive has eaten Dropbox's lunch for casual file syncing and remote storage. I mean it used to be that everyone had a Dropbox account, it was basically synonymous with file storage, but now people talk about their "Drive". "A folder that syncs" was never the killer feature, it was the ability to download and upload files from any machine connected to the internet and get sharing links.
josteink 7y ago
> There's still a lot of value to be had in providing a folder that syncs quickly and effortlessly. I gave up on Dropbox for many of the reasons mentioned in this thread (and lacking ZFS on Linux being the final straw). Nextcloud fills this niche for me now. And it offers practically unlimited storage, is free and even open-source. I’m not coming back, Dropbox.

TeMPOraL 7y ago

Strongly agreed. "A folder that syncs" is the only thing I ever wanted from Dropbox, it's still the only thing that I want, and it's the only reason I pay them. Everything they've been adding for the past years is pure, useless bloat to me. (Well, what I really want is a folder that syncs and which lets me get URLs to raw files in the cloud to share. They used to have this, then they dropped it for some silly business reasons. Tough luck, I learned to live without it. Still, throughout the decade or so I've been using their service, they added exactly zero useful things for me, and managed to lose one feature I cared about.)

UncleMeat 7y ago

But is that value people will pay for? Clearly Dropbox doesn't think so.

Spivak 7y ago
This is 100% anecdata but it seems like among my friends, family, coworkers Google Drive has eaten Dropbox's lunch for casual file syncing and remote storage. I mean it used to be that everyone had a Dropbox account, it was basically synonymous with file storage, but now people talk about their "Drive". "A folder that syncs" was never the killer feature, it was the ability to download and upload files from any machine connected to the internet and get sharing links.

josteink 7y ago

> There's still a lot of value to be had in providing a folder that syncs quickly and effortlessly. I gave up on Dropbox for many of the reasons mentioned in this thread (and lacking ZFS on Linux being the final straw). Nextcloud fills this niche for me now. And it offers practically unlimited storage, is free and even open-source. I’m not coming back, Dropbox.