The Cloud Experience: DropBox
No more stress or headache when you forget an important document ……because we have DropBox
Have you ever forget 
something important at home? Or have you ever though you save the important file in your USB and when you realized there is nothing. Well if those things have happened to you, DROBOX is your solution to it.
Why make something complicate if it does not have to be. DropBox is equal to simplicity. I have been using DropBox since last year and the thing I like most about it is how simple it is. The aim of DropBox is to solve the problem that most users have which is keeping in track the files or/and documents. Moreover, you could you dropbox not only in your computer also in your phone and in dropbox website interface. As a result, it is allowing the user to have the access of their files or documents whenever and wherever they need them.
In simple steps your file will be in the cloud and you will able to access them from everywhere:
- Download and install DropBox on the computers (you need to download and install DropBox in both computer that you want to sync files)
- Create an account
- Login to the same account on the computer you want to sync.
- After the installation you will have a folder which is called DropBox.
- All the folders and files that are copied to that folder are synced to all the other computers. Those files are also available over the Internet using the DropBox web interface.
And yeah that is all you need to have your files/documents on the cloud.
Not only that, DropBox also have the option to share and make your files public. If you want to share a particular document with a client or classmate or co-worker the only thing you have to do is save the particular file/document into the subfolder called Public and copy the publicly accessible link and have them download the document.
Overall, if you are the person who email files to yourself, carry your laptop to access your documents or carry your USB drive around to share photos to your friends and family and the most significant files from wherever you then don’t waste more time and have a look to DropBox service. I bet after you use it you will not know how to survive without DropBox….
Dropbox Demo click here
After reading this blog I would ask you a simple question. Isn’t DropBox very simple to use? What else could you ask for?
Paola's Blog 
Dropbox is very simple to use. I use dropbox on a daily basis to share my uni files between my work laptop, my home pc and my ipad. It totally removes the need for a usb key. I’ve started sharing folders as well so that other people can access my content. One question though, which web 2.0 principle do you think dropbox falls into?
About your question Im not very sure where dropbox could fall into. I will have to read a little bit more about web 2.0 principles and give you a response. But you use dropbox what do you think about it? Is there something that you think it should change?
Dropbox is great Web 2.0 application, I am currently using it on all three of computing devices: my desktop computer, laptop and my netbook. It certainly provides better user experience than the old fashion procedure of using a USB to transfer files and other related documents to other computing devices. One of Dropbox’s ‘Rich user experience’ services that it provides for its users is access to personal data online from third party computer (e.g. QUT library computer, friend’s iPad). I simply login of your account on the Dropbox website and all your files should be appear. Unfortunately, once the data storage limit has been reached, the Dropbox services demands a fee (either monthly or yearly) which is understandable considering how highly priced the hard drives are nowadays.
I’m just thinking if it’s possible for Dropbox to consider implementing similar data collecting strategies that Google is currently employing to enhance its marketing strategies for their online advertising…… mmmmm…. interesting….
They do charge an annual fee, but they don’t charge a data transfer fee on uploads and downloads, so depending on your usage, this can make it a lot cheaper than comparable services such as JungleDisk. For example, I transfer 100’s of files per day, sometimes many gigabytes worth, to and from the cloud between 3 computers and also through the web interface. If I was to do this on JungleDisk’s S3 service, I would be paying more to store the same amount of data to start with, plus an arm and a leg in data transfer fees (in saying that, JungleDisk now also works with RackSpace which does not have transfer fees, however, their monthly fees still work out more expensive than Dropbox’s).
Dropbox does have potential to use data for advertising, but where would they advertise? The other thing to note is, if they were, they would likely lose a large number of their customers who store sensitive data with them.
Another Dropbox “Rich User Experience” feature that is worth mentioning is the LAN Synch feature. If two computers are on the same network and one has data that the other one doesn’t, rather than downloading it from the cloud, it will be downloaded over the local network from the other computer. This means a much faster synchronisation, and it doesn’t count towards your internet download quota! Fantastic!
Dropbox is just amazing. It works. I only find one weakness on it, everything you want to upload must ob on your “Dropbox” folder. It would be great if you could “add” other folders on your computer without the need of moving the entire folder. This feature is available in other similar service called Zumodrive (http://www.zumodrive.com/). I still use both but I think Zumodrive has some advantage because of this.
Edgar, You can change the location of the Dropbox folder, I have a 100gb dropbox account and have set the folder I normally use for all my document storage on my Windows computer and the equivalent folder on my Mac Pro and Macbook Pro to be the Dropbox folders. This way, they all synchronise and the data is exactly where I expect it to be on every computer. Adding other folders outside of this would just make it messy. Where would they automatically synch to on my other computers? It would require much more user configuration to handle that and wouldn’t just work nicely the way it does now.
The Service I use to achieve this is live mesh. One advantage of live mesh is that it connects to your skydrive and lets you upload up to 5GB. The second is that even once you have used your 5GB, you can still sync the files between computer when they are both online at the same time.
One member from my group recommended drop box, I know it’s useful but just don’t seems to use it as much as google doc(I understand those two are different things),maybe it’s more convenient for me to have everything in front. When it cames to documents I much prefers google doc,everyone can edit the same document without uploading multiple copies which saves time of merging these docs.
I also love drop box and use it every day on my desktop computer, work laptop, iPhone and iPad. We use it at work to share templates and similar documents between the staff. The team leader can make a change to a template document and within seconds, the change has been replicated to all staff.
The biggest feature I have loved in drop box however, is the ability to get a historical version of a file. I can not tell you how many times someone has open a blank template, made a change to the template and then saved it, overwriting the template. I know this can be fixed by using read only file but these people do need to ba able to make changes.
My only concern about this service is security. Do you or anyone else have this concern?
Hi Dean,
Actually, I have the same concern that you have…security…..
I believe security is a big ‘thing’ when we talk about using any web 2.0 application. I believe, Uploading anything on the net is at your risk.. I see it like giving your house key to anyone… Def every web 2.0 application have their privacy and security policy but we know there are attackers who deliberately attempts to exploit a vulnerability to gain unauthorised access or perform unauthorized action. In other word attackers are those people who are trying to to get into your information.
Overall, we just need to know that nothing is perfect and everything have a dark side. So we just need to use web 2.0 application with careful and watch what information we are giving away.
I like this application especially the way it works so I do not need to carry my USB drive everywhere. In order to answer your question it is very simple to use and it keeps my documents online which keeps them safe and available in any time.
Sorry if I missed that but you haven’t mention the space that DropBox gives to it users. So, my question would be what is the storage size? And is there a way that users can upgrade it?
Dropbox give 2GB of online storage for free, with up to 100GB available to paying customers. for more information have a look to the website… you will love it!!!
wow this dropbox is a amazing web 2.0 application. It removes the needs of a usb drive or hardisk and its really convenient to stores files inside. All you have to do is to install the dropbox service. Regardless where you are, whether ur on ipad ,laptop or desktop, as long as u install the program, the files could be seen from this places as they are sync to each other.It makes sending or receiving of files so much easier and convenient. Just wondering are there any disadvantages of using this Dropbox service?
DropBox advantages:
1. it’s quick
2. allows you to share files with anyone, doesn’t restrict you to a certain type of account such as hotmail
3. files have revision history
4. integrated with the desktop
5. drag and drop
6. nice sharing interface
7. easy and simple to use
8. it can be access to any where aslong you have internet access.
Dropbox disadvantages:
1. only 2GB of space
2. run by a young company (may not be a disadvantage though)
I cant think of any other disadvantage….can you think of any other disadvatange?
Dropbox is so usefull, it´s very easy to share documents and you can have the same documents in all your computers. I allways recommend this because you can eliminate the use of pendrives or another flash drive. Excellent post Paola!
Back to years, I used Yahoo! Briefcase to store my files online. After it was closed down, I use email and ftp. I used to stick with some popular website instead of the others like Dropbox. I was always feeling insecure to me for storing my personal files.
These few months, I always hear of Dropbox everywhere. Maybe this will become one of my popular websites soon 😛
Is there any different between the software and the web interface? Since I have to connect to the internet for the proper functionality. What is the purpose of installing the software onto my laptop?
The Advantage of installing the files is that they are then automatically sync between your computers and the cloud.
I would like to try it more during my further study 🙂