Cross-Platform File Syncing . . . Finally
Category Administration Linux
[Follow up: The more I use DropBox, the more I'm impressed with its cross-platform support and overall usability. Sometime, I'll try and give a comparison with JungleDisk ]
Weird, but true: Lotus Notes has spoiled me with full client support on Macintosh, Windows and Linux clients. Keeping Notes data synced up is easy, because that's what Notes does best. Trying to do the same with my documents across three different operating systems has been much more difficult . . . until Dropbox.
Of course, the idea for cross-platform deployment is to be able to meet the needs of distinct computing populations. The premium-product-crowd of Apple Macintosh, the mainstream use of Windows, and the up-and-coming presence of Linux desktops. I'm not a typical customer, but I am a perfect test case. My home systems are Linux and Windows, my office systems are Macintosh, Windows and Linux.
I could store the date on the web with a wiki or something like Zoho, but I'm frequently disconnected. I really need to be able to have immediate access to the same set of documents across my different clients. I could create my own hosted NAS and run rsync scripts, but I prefer working with choices that I can encourage others to adopt. There have been several recent forays into off-line storage, especially with Amazon's S3.
Amazon S3 has been a tremendous commercial success, and the darling of cloud computing. There have been only a few consumer tie-ins to S3's remote data capabilities, unfortunately none of them have been completely cross-platform. Ars Technica just published an article on Dropbox, which relies on S3 for document syncing with the full range of clients: Windows, Apple and Linux. Finally.
I've already set it up on several systems, and I'm giving Dropbox a two-thumbs-up review. In order to set up your Linux system, you'll need to access the beta page for downloads. Or, if you are using Ubuntu, you can choose to simply add their repository:
This is a good business model, and I'm expecting to be hearing more about Dropbox.
Technorati Tags: DropBox, Linux
[Follow up: The more I use DropBox, the more I'm impressed with its cross-platform support and overall usability. Sometime, I'll try and give a comparison with JungleDisk ]
Weird, but true: Lotus Notes has spoiled me with full client support on Macintosh, Windows and Linux clients. Keeping Notes data synced up is easy, because that's what Notes does best. Trying to do the same with my documents across three different operating systems has been much more difficult . . . until Dropbox.
Of course, the idea for cross-platform deployment is to be able to meet the needs of distinct computing populations. The premium-product-crowd of Apple Macintosh, the mainstream use of Windows, and the up-and-coming presence of Linux desktops. I'm not a typical customer, but I am a perfect test case. My home systems are Linux and Windows, my office systems are Macintosh, Windows and Linux.
I could store the date on the web with a wiki or something like Zoho, but I'm frequently disconnected. I really need to be able to have immediate access to the same set of documents across my different clients. I could create my own hosted NAS and run rsync scripts, but I prefer working with choices that I can encourage others to adopt. There have been several recent forays into off-line storage, especially with Amazon's S3.
Amazon S3 has been a tremendous commercial success, and the darling of cloud computing. There have been only a few consumer tie-ins to S3's remote data capabilities, unfortunately none of them have been completely cross-platform. Ars Technica just published an article on Dropbox, which relies on S3 for document syncing with the full range of clients: Windows, Apple and Linux. Finally.
I've already set it up on several systems, and I'm giving Dropbox a two-thumbs-up review. In order to set up your Linux system, you'll need to access the beta page for downloads. Or, if you are using Ubuntu, you can choose to simply add their repository:
deb http://www.getdropbox.com/static/ubuntu hardy maindeb-src http://www.getdropbox.com/static/ubuntu hardy main
This is a good business model, and I'm expecting to be hearing more about Dropbox.
Technorati Tags: DropBox, Linux
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