[PlanetStar]

The biggest threat to Dropbox is not Apple buying it. It is that it is a simple file sync service. And not more than that.

I moved to Google Drive because is does the same thing, but a lot more, like sharing media - really large media with no limits like Dropbox.

But most important: Google Drive has all you need for word-processing, spread sheet and presentation built in and in a mature environment now used by a lot of companies.

If Dropbox doen't do something about that part of their service they will loose race because private cloud computing with take over within the next three years.

According to Gartner we have only seen the tip of iceberg in tablet sales. Sales will tripple in 2016 and then we all need the eg the word processor to reside on the net and not in the gadget.

[Jamesthemacfan]

Quote

I wish to correct the writer of this article that his assumption Apple’s devices and toward competitors that retain Dropbox support. Given that Dropbox isn't going to be accepted into the Mac App Store anytime soon" is by all means available through the Apple store because I have it on my IPad touch and it works without problems. Perhaps if the writer of this article was as good at his job and new what he was talking about he might just be good enough to become a trainee for Apple. As it is he he is misleading and pushing false information. Do your homework before writing your column

Please, if you can't do basic homework like making sure your grammar is correct, you spelt knew as new. This was directed for Macs not iOS devices.

[Jamesthemacfan]

I think Apple's approach to iCloud is largely close to what the company did with products like the Macintosh and the MacBook Pro Retina display, sealing off the users from changing the experience. I am sure that iCloud won't ever change.

[jscottk]

Apple taking over Dropbox would also kill Linux support and backwards compatibility for earlier versions of OSX (like its current support of Tiger!).

No thanks.

[RicD]

I have both iCloud and Dropbox. My storage of choice is Pogoplug. With it Pogoplug I can attach TB of data to one device, share folders, files, and much more. Much less expensive than Dropbox; much less.

[sirtekalot]

Ted, slow news day? Feel the need to beat up on Apple? Geez.

[dreyfus]

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Had to reset my password to post a comment… Using Notational Velocity to store passwords is working quite well for me. Type a website into the search field, hit enter and type your email and password. Paste the password into the site's password field. Notational Velocity has an encrypted database, so it's pretty secure, and it's easy to search. This site's gibberish pasword in in there now…

Well. I assume your comment ended up in the wrong thread... (mine are regularly all over the place or disappear completely).

Since this site has been re-"designed" (messed up to the degree possible), nothing really works anymore... Most free WordPress sites do work better than this. On average I have to sign in 5-10 times and then get a blank page loading forever... after clearing Safari's (or Google Chrome's) cache it then works once and the fun starts again. Really makes them look completely incompetent. This used to be a fine site, but the current CMS is the worst of any tech site in existence. I have no doubt that there are programmers that bad, but who authorises this nonsense for live use?

[blecch]

If Apple bought DropBox I wonder if they would fix DropBox's slow upload and download bandwidth? I wonder if they would get rid of DropBox's insidious, molasses-like synchronization?

I miss the days when SkyDrive gave you 25 GB for free.... ;-(

[icerabbit]

If Apple bought dropbox I'm afraid they'd ruin it.

Anyone remember how certain features would vanish, data not carry over and sync fiascos with iTools .mac .me iCloud ...

Dropbox in my (be it somewhat limited) experience just works.

[hmurchison]

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I'm wondering why hasn't anyone else made a product as good as Dropbox? I've tried Sugarsync, Cubby, Box, Google Drive, Skydrive and others. IMO Dropbox is the best hand down and extremely simple to use. Hopefully someone else will match Dropbox just to have another choice in all this cloud stuff that's so popular now. Has anyone found a sync product as good as Dropbox?

iCloud

[davidg2020]

I'm an avid Dropbox user... one of the most useful apps I have on my Mac (and iPhone and iPad).
Having said that, I only started using it when Apple dropped iDisk (I think that's what they called it) where you could save your documents in the cloud and access them anywhere.
Why they dropped that and replaced it with their crippled iCloud is beyond me.

[whitedog]

Given iCloud's severe limitations, I don't see that Dropbox competes with it in any significant way. The only thing they have in common is that they are both cloud based services. There is very little overlap in what they do. Any similarities are superficial at best. ICloud focuses on storing and sharing data between Apple branded devices and Apple branded apps. This is a very constrained and circumscribed mission. Dropbox has a much broader charter that serves every platform on a far more open and global scale.

Indeed, iCloud doesn't really compete with any alternative cloud based document service. It was developed solely to enhance the interoperability of devices within the Apple ecosystem. Dropbox, to the extent it has any big league competition, is more likely to be a takeover target for Microsoft or Google. If we're lucky, they will resist overtures from those predators just as they have with Apple. Any Dropbox takeover will make it's creators rich while killing off the child of their invention. Let's hope they have more pride in their work than to surrender it to such a fate.