Web-enabled 'intelligent' storage sharing?

Filed in archive Vendor on April 19, 2008

The bullet points for 'What makes Dropbox different?' make me want to question a few things:

• Super fast - don't why I needed to wait so so so long for my beta sign-up. Just makes me wonder about how well this will actually work.
  


• Works like you do - I am always a bit cautious to use anything that 'seamlessly integrates with my desktop'. You know, I have enough running on my systems that I don't need something else to be integrated 'into'. Heaven knows my machines are taxed enough already.
  


• Share the love - This is always good, a local place where everyone can get access to common files. There is no talk about a check-in check-out system, which would be nice, just in case two people are working on the same file. Will have to wait till my sign-on credentials come around.
  


• Effortless sync - While I like this, I am wondering what 'hooks' will be placed on my system. Personally I like to use plain 'ol XCOPY (for Windows) or diff (for Unix) and a simple script to sync myself.
  


• Don't worry about it - undelete, hm...sort of like that. Wonder what guarantees are behind this when they come out of beta.
  

I may have knocked this a bit, BUT I really do like the 'idea' of centralized storage for those of us on the run, need to jump between computers, and also need to share information. I am just cautious of giving someone else control of my personal and business data when I can easily send an email or place a file on a common ftp server.

OH!...15 minutes and still waiting for a sign-on.
If you would like to give it a try...try Dropbox here