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Every time I see Dropbox on the front page of HN I think about this[1] all over again… 1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863 https://news.ycombinator.co

by shocks 13y ago

Every time I see Dropbox on the front page of HN I think about this[1] all over again… 1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863

rfnslyr 13y ago
That thread is hilarious, especially the first reply.
- jbrooksuk 13y ago
  I wonder how the people who replied to that thread feel now?
  - johnchristopher 13y ago
    I have seen "I was wrong then" posts over time.
  - rfnslyr 13y ago
    I remember seeing that "4chan on HN" thread a few days back and they were ripping apart this Dropbox post.
- amit_m 13y ago
  What is so funny about it? I think the first reply is spot on. In fact, one of the best things about Dropbox is that they worked very hard on removing any barriers, including making sure that it can be installed on a windows machine without requiring administrator privileges. I am confident that a large percentage of their users would have been unable to use Dropbox had this issue not been addressed.
dcarmo 13y ago
"The only problem is that you have to install something."
- twic 13y ago
  Eh. I don't use Dropbox, in part because of exactly that. I passed over Spotify for the same reason. Given feature parity, I will choose a browser-based solution over one that requires me to install some random binary blob every time.
  - buttsex 13y ago
    Spotify has since come out with a web player [1] if you are still interested. [1] https://play.spotify.com/ https://play.spotify.com/
    - thejosh 13y ago
      Neat, but I hope they don't drop their Linux client, it really is nice.
  - shootinputin 13y ago
    Mapping your SkyDrive as a network drive in Windows 7+, should fairly work for linux distros if they support webDAV http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57347395-285/how-to-map-your-skydrive-folder-in-windows-7/ http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57347395-285/how-to-map-...
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
teh_klev 13y ago
"For a Linux user, you can already build such a system yourself quite trivially...." That's my other favourite gem. But in all seriousness, I wish I could use Dropbox, but sadly where I live and work my ADSL upstream speed is 448kbit/s rendering it useless for anything other than very small files.
- TomJoad 13y ago
  I've been using ownCLoud (owncloud.org) on a raspberry pi set up on my LAN to solve this type of problem. While I don't have it publicly facing, as soon as I get home, any file I was working on is synced to the rest of my computers and devices. With docker being ported to the rasberry pi recently, I suspect it will be even simpler to set up an ownCloud for $35 + the cost of storage.
marknutter 13y ago
"No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame."
smrtinsert 13y ago
It's amazing how our hindsight is so clear, lets pat ourselves on the back! I used to use dropbox, but after running in on a bunch of devices and having to learn the quirks of each implementation and its sync hassles I left it. SFTP is simple, free, ubiquitous, and the words 'conflict resolution' never come up when I use it.

by shocks 13y ago

Every time I see Dropbox on the front page of HN I think about this[1] all over again… 1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863

rfnslyr 13y ago

That thread is hilarious, especially the first reply.

jbrooksuk 13y ago
I wonder how the people who replied to that thread feel now?
- johnchristopher 13y ago
  I have seen "I was wrong then" posts over time.
- rfnslyr 13y ago
  I remember seeing that "4chan on HN" thread a few days back and they were ripping apart this Dropbox post.
amit_m 13y ago
What is so funny about it? I think the first reply is spot on. In fact, one of the best things about Dropbox is that they worked very hard on removing any barriers, including making sure that it can be installed on a windows machine without requiring administrator privileges. I am confident that a large percentage of their users would have been unable to use Dropbox had this issue not been addressed.

dcarmo 13y ago

"The only problem is that you have to install something."

twic 13y ago
Eh. I don't use Dropbox, in part because of exactly that. I passed over Spotify for the same reason. Given feature parity, I will choose a browser-based solution over one that requires me to install some random binary blob every time.
- buttsex 13y ago
  Spotify has since come out with a web player [1] if you are still interested. [1] https://play.spotify.com/ https://play.spotify.com/
  - thejosh 13y ago
    Neat, but I hope they don't drop their Linux client, it really is nice.
- shootinputin 13y ago
  Mapping your SkyDrive as a network drive in Windows 7+, should fairly work for linux distros if they support webDAV http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57347395-285/how-to-map-your-skydrive-folder-in-windows-7/ http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57347395-285/how-to-map-...
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

teh_klev 13y ago

"For a Linux user, you can already build such a system yourself quite trivially...." That's my other favourite gem. But in all seriousness, I wish I could use Dropbox, but sadly where I live and work my ADSL upstream speed is 448kbit/s rendering it useless for anything other than very small files.

TomJoad 13y ago
I've been using ownCLoud (owncloud.org) on a raspberry pi set up on my LAN to solve this type of problem. While I don't have it publicly facing, as soon as I get home, any file I was working on is synced to the rest of my computers and devices. With docker being ported to the rasberry pi recently, I suspect it will be even simpler to set up an ownCloud for $35 + the cost of storage.

marknutter 13y ago

"No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame."

smrtinsert 13y ago

It's amazing how our hindsight is so clear, lets pat ourselves on the back! I used to use dropbox, but after running in on a bunch of devices and having to learn the quirks of each implementation and its sync hassles I left it. SFTP is simple, free, ubiquitous, and the words 'conflict resolution' never come up when I use it.