Legal Commentary

Dropbox Goes to 1.x

By Michael Froomkin

Dropbox just announced a major new version: 1.0.10. Get it while it’s hot.

Actually, if you already have Dropbox, it will auto-upload in the fullness of time. Mine, however, never does it very fast. So if you are impatient, you can download it and install it yourself, and it will load over your older copy pretty seamlessly. One small warning: I found that it took a lot of CPU to “update” the database for a minute or two when I first ran it, but it then settled down nicely. Here’s some PR about the changes in the new version; Faster syncing is always welcome. Selective upload sounds like it will be useful for some, although I’m not sure I have a use for it myself. Mac users will apparently find Dropbox much easier to use.

If you have never used Dropbox before, and you regularly use more than one computer (e.g. home/office) it will likely make your life a lot better. Dropbox creates a shared folder on every machine you install it to, and it updates and syncs that folder automatically every time you close a file (it doesn’t sync open files, so some programs, like calendar programs, do need to be closed down before you switch machines). Dropbox keeps a backup copy of all the files in this folder, and has revisions going back 30 days, which is a useful backup tool but also has certain privacy implications that you should be aware of. Encryption is your friend.

Dropbox gives you 2GB of storage free, and charges you if you want more. The other way to get more space is to refer new users to Dropbox (If you want me to have the 250MB bonus for your signup, download Dropbox from here.) Dropbox is one of my major productivity apps: No more forgetting my USB key at home in the morning! It’s the best thing I’ve downloaded since Pandora.

Full post as published by Discourse.net on December 17, 2010 (boomark / email).