Cloud syncing options

jdp

I've been looking at the various threads regarding Dropbox and the recent FTC filing, and many of them seem to dive into religious wars over cipher strength and other technotrivia that most users couldn't give a damn about.



This thread shall avoid that discussion! Dropbox: like it, love it, or hate it, it's under heavy scrutiny. In light of this several other multi-platform cloud storage solutions are getting some recognition. Which ones would you like to see the dev team focus on?



I am not an Agile employee. I'm a satisfied user who wants to help tell the team what we want. So let us know what you like and WHY! We all want to know.

jdp

I am a current Dropbox user, but given current events I am looking into SugarSync and SpiderOak. The other solutions look interesting as well.

khad

Thanks for starting this thread, jdp!



We have been talking about this internally a lot lately (as you might imagine). The truth is that [url="http://blog.agile.ws/2011/05/dropbox-security-revisited-plus-ca-change/"]storing your 1Password data in Dropbox is still very secure[/url]. Nothing has really changed in that regard. <img src='http://forum.agile.ws/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/skype_smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':-)' />



I understand that most folks who are interested in switching to another cloud sync service [i]for the rest of their files[/i] would rather consolidate and not have two such applications running on their machines, but at this time the main issue is not on the desktop at all — [url="http://help.agile.ws/1Password3/sync_solutions.html"]1Password can be synced using nearly any file-based sync solution on your Mac or Windows computer[/url] — the issue is in the mobile apps. Of course, this is also frequently the main problem with syncing services: either the complete lack of a mobile API or one that is subpar.



I don't have anything to announce at this time, but we are paying close attention to the sync landscape as well as the voices of our customers.



Thanks again for your passion in this area. It will be interesting to see the results here!

jdp

Thanks Khad. Yes, I have no qualms about the security of 1PW in light of the Dropbox issue. I was intrigued by the discussions about other services being natively supported, and didn't want to get into another "is 128bit/257bit/2^99999-1bit key GOOD ENOUGH, and WHY DONT YOU SUPPORT IT" never-ending-thread.



I actually found a whole slew of free cloud storage options I was previously unaware of while researching the list; most of them didn't support enough platforms to really fit the 1PW crowd.

khad

[quote]…didn't want to get into another "is 128bit/257bit/2^99999-1bit key GOOD ENOUGH, and WHY DONT YOU SUPPORT IT" never-ending-thread.[/quote]

I love that sentence. <img src='http://forum.agile.ws/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':lol:' />



We can have our tin foil hats on a bit tight sometimes.



[quote]I actually found a whole slew of free cloud storage options I was previously unaware of while researching the list; most of them didn't support enough platforms to really fit the 1PW crowd.[/quote]

There are some in your list that I am only just discovering myself.



Cheers,

Pazzie

I'll probably stick with Dropbox, but I think Wuala would be a good alternative for me.

It uses client-side encryption so, unlike Dropbox, the employees of Wuala are unable to look into your files.



I also like the fact that it is located in Europe, but the the location is probably not an issue for you.

thightower

I am open to other alternatives for users. But Dropbox already syncs so many of the apps I use it would really be hard to go elsewhere. Then there's the fact personally I prefer Dropbox. I didn't prefer sugarsync in my early use spideroak seems interesting. I watched there Vid a few days back.

khad

[quote]I'll probably stick with Dropbox, but I think Wuala would be a good alternative for me.[/quote]

Wuala was actually one of the more interesting ones to me. It is backed by LaCie which is a solid company known to many Mac users. They also have an option that "lets you [url="http://www.wuala.com/en/learn/features/t/7"]exchange unused storage on your computer for more storage on Wuala[/url]."



As Tommy mentioned, though. It would be very hard to leave Dropbox for its integration with so many other applications. Until someone else gets the traction that Dropbox has, it won't be easy to drop 'box. Most likely people will supplement.

LouieNet

I use MobileMe along with Dropbox right now for files. MobileMe was extremely important when I was getting very low on drive space, and I can offload files so someplace that has an integrated UI without having to keep a local copy. But I still use Dropbox, like many other folks, for 1Password and other apps that integrates with it...especially mobile apps.



Dropbox is the FB of cloud sync services. For all its failings, the pros outweigh the cons.



Louie



P.S. I use Evernote to sync information when the content is more important than the storage/file format.