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This is just some speculation as to why I think Dropbox is going to be something awesome (it's good right now, but not awesome). I'm not really in any position
by Jarred 15y ago
This is just some speculation as to why I think Dropbox is going to be something awesome (it's good right now, but not awesome). I'm not really in any position to make these suggestions (or expect them to be followed), so I'm going to more than likely sound crazy.
I don't really know what the vision behind Dropbox is, but (in my own opinion) it should be the place where people's personal files are stored. From there, people build cross-platform apps making it more useful. They are already doing this, but they need to take the "next step", which is probably what they want to do with their incoming 400 employees.
Generally, people store all their files on their home computer, and to solve the problem of "I can't access my files on the go" people started using laptops as their primary computer. That's not really a good solution because then you have to carry a computer around. Smartphones and tablets are sort of solving this, but they bring the same overall issue of "My stuff on here is different from my stuff on there". What Dropbox could do is host people's actual "computers", where computer is defined as software, files, and settings. So when you load up your smartphone or you friends smartphone you can access the smartphone version of your computer, and the tablet version of your computer on tablets, and the desktop version of your computer on desktops.
It wouldn't feel like you're using "your laptop" or "your friends tablet" or "your iPhone" because the only difference between any kind of computer is whose signed in right now. Dropbox is in a favorable position to do this, but so is Apple, Google, and Microsoft.
It's a pretty crazy (and unlikely) notion, but how else will Dropbox grow?
- danenania 15y agoIt definitely seems to be the direction things are converging, but what you are talking about is much more than file storage, it's a full scale cutting edge multi-platform cloud OS. While it is definitely conceivable, if you look at how far the various single-platform client-based OSes still have to go, it sheds some light on how monumentally complex the task truly is. Especially considering that these OSes have companies many, many times larger and more experienced than dropbox backing them. File storage is certainly a critical piece of the puzzle and I could see them making some major inroads towards standardizing the cloud, but I think the full breadth of your vision is still pretty far off. Fun to speculate on though for sure.
- doctoboggan 15y agoThose large single-platform client-based OSes have not produced a cloud OS because it would be too radical of a change for their current business model. Some company with the explicit goal of developing a cloud based OS could do it today if they wanted to. Monetizing it might be a different question though.