

Ask HN: Advantages of using dropbox over google apps? - rumpelstiltskin

Considering I can edit multiple file types in google apps and access them from anywhere and share them with anyone, what are the advantages of using dropbox over google apps?
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natabbotts
I'll clarify a few things before I comment, just in case people have
misunderstood things. 1) Google Docs will store any file. 2) Google Docs
allows you to convert pdfs to docs & edit them.

With this in mind, I prefer Google Docs, as Dropbox, to my eye, has no
advantage. Perhaps you would argue that Dropbox syncs automatically. I think
we must consider that GDocs are _only_ stored in the cloud, so don't need to
be synced.

I would also add that you need to have DropBox installed to sync files (though
web access only needs... well... Web Access). So GDocs is just as good in that
respect.

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michael_dorfman
I'm not a Google Apps user, so I'm a bit confused by the question. I thought
Google Apps was all about creating/editing documents. Can one easily upload
random files (say, PDFs and MP3s) to Google Apps? Is this a common use case?

For me, Dropbox is a beautiful way to keep my office desktop computer, my home
computer, and my laptop all in sync with documents I am working on, but also
with random stuff I've downloaded and need to read or otherwise deal with
somehow.

~~~
keefe
[http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answe...](http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=37603)

there are some limits to uploads

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BTBurke
Depends on your use case. If you want to share documents and you don't mind
google's version of the word/excel/ppt, it's a good way to go. For files in
which the application is on your laptop or has complicated directory
structures, dropbox is better. Google has cheaper storage -- 20Gb for $5/yr
last time I checked. I think Dropbox is something like $10/month for 50Gb.
Google Docs is good for simple documents, but the rest of the apps are pretty
bad compared to MS Office. If you're a powerpoint ranger, you aren't going to
want to use Google Apps, you're going to want to put your PPT files in dropbox
and use Office.

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arethuza
I have to say - I don't particularly like Google docs - I'd really like to,
but I find the document editing clumsy enough to put me off.

DropBox works pretty well - I like the fact it syncs files on all of the
machines I have it set up for rather than storing stuff purely in the cloud
and downloading it when I want to look at it (although that is what their
iPhone app does, and I can see why).

The DropBox model of sync'ed local files and local apps just seems to work
better for me than keeping everything (files and apps) in the cloud - YMMV.

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rakkhi
The key advantage is the auto sync - I just install Dropbox on all my
computers and I just save files as normal and they are automatically available
everywhere. Google apps I have to manually upload.

~~~
jackolas
I think someone may have written a google docs FUSE fs. I do know that the FTP
app Cyberduck recently added docs support.

~~~
runjake
I'm going to wager that "all his computers" includes at least one Windows
computer.

~~~
rakkhi
Yeah all on Windows with two running multiboot Ubuntu and Chromium. With
Ubuntu I just mount the Dropbox volume and let it sync when I am back on
Windows

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viraptor
Sometimes Google apps behave just weird for me. Spreadsheet occasionally
doesn't load, it's generally unusable on my mobile, etc.

I don't like Dropbox though - it doesn't really seem to guarantee the safety
of my documents - what actually happens if my connection drops mid-sync?

I went Zoho way and I'm really happy with them. If you go for the business
account (there is a free one), you can get the needed document storage, online
editing, own domain handling, etc. It's pretty cool.

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_corbett
I use dropbox for a full autobackup and sync, with no thought beyond initial
30 sec configuration, across all 6 of the machines I use regularly. The
advantage is that I don't have to think about it-at setup or at use time.

I also find it indispensable as a coder, sure I use version control and save
regularly, but I do make mistakes. Just recently I had worked an hour or so on
a new class for a recent iPhone app, saving and committing merrily along the
way, when I made a mistake and deleted the .m/.h files. Turns out I missed
adding it to the repo. I fired up dropbox and got the backup within seconds.
Other times I've used it to revert back to previous versions of documents not
traditionally kept under version control.

I haven't used Google Apps in the same sense, although I do use Google Docs
for collaborative realtime editing and easy form creation.

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andresmh
Dropbox is good if you want to have local copies of files (perhaps because you
go offline once in a while), or if you want these files to be synced in
different computers, or if those files need to be edited/viewed with software
that does not live in the cloud or if you want to automatically keep the
different versions of files (a new version stored every time you save the
file)

Google Docs is great if you need to synchronously edit documents with other
people. You can upload and download files to Google Apps but as far as I know
there is no cross-platform file syncing client that does what Dropbox does.

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runjake
I'd rather use (YMMV) Dropbox, because:

\- Set & forget install and maintenance \- Select folder syncing. I don't want
my personal files on my work computer.With recent Dropbox version, I can
enable syncing on a particular machine folder by folder. \- It's a real,
native OS folder. I've always had problems with virtual folders and drivers
and the magic they use. \- I can store any type of files in a native folder :)
\- Sharing files via the web is dead simple. \- Posting a photo gallery to the
web is dead simple. \- 50 GB \- My files are available everywhere on every
device I have.

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jessor
I guess dropbox works for most people because it's so easy to use and just
fixes their specific problems (of keeping files in sync, quickly sharing them
via url, etc).

Me, personally, I use Google Apps for emails and documents and so, naturally,
I try to do as much as I can with it. Today i collaboratively worked on
wireframes through it even though mockflow or mockingbird are much better at
that. But they cost a bit more than I can affort right now. Also, it's nice to
have everything in one place.

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AndrewDucker
I use Dropbox to back up my "My Documents" folder, as well as a bunch of other
folders. Can't do that with Google Apps.

