Dropbox

[bukowskaii]

Ok, so this wasn't under the "free software" downloads or whatever, so I though I would share this with you.

Dropbox is one of the greatest file management and sharing tools I have ever used. We use it for our projects to keep our files synced, I personally use it to keep my laptop and desktop synced, as well as an online storage flash drive pretty much.

The coolest thing to me about this is that when you install DropBox, you get a DropBox folder on your computer that is linked to your account, and by installing on two or more computers you can have a folder that is always synced, and always updated. You can also share folders with other members on other accounts, and they will also see the most up to date items that are synced in the shared folders. In addition to this folder syncing ability, you can also download files by logging into dropbox.com and browsing files there, so you can get to your files anywhere.

So for those of you who don't have it, and even those of you that do, here are some ways to get additional space really quickly and really easily.

* The basic, free account is 2GB, so right off you have 2GB of space.
* 250 MB Use this to sign up and get an extra 250MB - This is my personal referral link, you get 250MB extra and I get 250MB extra, and once you sign up you can earn up to 8GB of extra space on top of all the other space you gain.
* 250 MB After you sign up, complete 5 of the 6 steps for another 250MB - These are the "quests" you have to do. By completing 5 of them (not hard to do at all) you get another 250MB for free.
* 640 MB After you sign up, connect with twitter and facebook for even more space - A lot of people I know didn't know this was here, but by connecting to your facebook, twitter and leaving feedback about the software you can accumulate another 640MB (120MB per task)

So just by signing up for a free account you imminently have 3.14GB.

I pretty much use it to keep my Desktop and Laptop synced, or to transfer files for classes to my laptop or files I created to my desktop for backup. We also use this in project lab, sharing up to date schematics and circuit designs and easily sending information for presentations to each other.

It's really changed the way that I manage my files and hopefully it can do the same for whoever else needs it.

 

[Rusting In Peace]

Nice overview.

Additionally it is useful for simple hosting. You can put files in the public folder and, at least in Windows, the URL of the hosted file can be found conveniently by right clicking -> Dropbox -> Copy Public Link.

 

[sabysmth]

I have used this extensively when outsourcing work to others. It makes it very easy for everyone collaborate and be on the same page and up to date. I find using dropbox is much easier than using Google Docs and many of the other services out there for this type of business collaboration. Many others use this more for personal use and share pictures, movies, etc. with their friends and family.


outsourcing Ukraine

 

[Rusting In Peace]

It makes it very easy for everyone collaborate and be on the same page and up to date. I find using dropbox is much easier than using Google Docs and many of the other services out there for this type of business collaboration.

Does Dropbox support this collaboration properly? Does it really work as a version control system, i.e. identifies version conflicts and provides tools to merge changes?

I would have thought you would have been safer using a tried and tested version control system like SVN.

But perhaps you're just using it to push work out to people rather than multiple people working on the same file?