
Dropbox has launched a new password manager in private beta - caution
https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/5/21281392/dropbox-passwords-manager-app-private-beta-android-play-store
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Longhanks
I wish they would return to their "a folder that syncs" model. I feel like
Dropbox has not improved in any point in the last 5 years. Their core sync
engine is truly amazing, but everything else is a mess. They killed that one
Mail app, they have this thing called "Paper" they try to shove onto me on
every occasion, their desktop app is cluttered with information I don't care
about and is now a web app, now they have this limit of 3 maximum number of
devices (which they didn't have the first 5 years I've used the service)...
the list goes on.

I just want a folder. A folder that syncs.

~~~
moviuro
A folder that syncs, period: [https://syncthing.net](https://syncthing.net) .
No web app, no mail, no nothing; just a folder that syncs.

~~~
samdixon
I would use syncthing and totally drop dropbox if they had an iphone app.

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the_bear
Since people are commenting on how they hate Dropbox offering additional
products beyond the basic file syncing, I feel compelled to say that I really
like Paper. I use it for all my personal note-taking, and our company wiki is
in there since they make it really easy to share folders with the whole team.
It's basically Google Docs but waaaay faster (both in terms of the actual page
speed, and the speed with which I can use it due to the more streamlined UI).

It has the best WYSIWYG markdown editor I've ever used which makes note-taking
super simple. Good search, a few nice features like assigning tasks to people
within documents, etc. but otherwise it just gets out of your way.

I hear they're about to move it into the core Dropbox file system which could
be great (it's always been a bit annoying that Dropbox's main offering is
basically just an online file system and yet Paper had a totally different
folder structure) but I'm also worried that it might make the experience a bit
heavier which would negate the main reason I use it.

~~~
slantyyz
The due date feature on the checklist items are pretty awesome too.

Like you said, my only gripe is that Paper documents don't have any type of
local copy, so if your Internet access is out, you're stuck.

~~~
SV_BubbleTime
IDK about JIRA, but Trello allows offline access and that’s been very helpful
at times (works if you have loaded the board while online fairly recently).

So not too small of a nitpick.

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izzydata
I gave up on Dropbox when I could no longer open the context menu of a file in
my Dropbox folder and click the "get link" button and then paste it to
someone.

It used to be a very useful piece of software.

~~~
the_bear
This is still a feature. It's actually "Copy dropbox link" but it's very much
still there. Here's a screenshot of the feature I'm sharing with the feature
itself:
[https://www.dropbox.com/s/w2wju3uzvz2jont/context%20menu.png...](https://www.dropbox.com/s/w2wju3uzvz2jont/context%20menu.png?dl=0)

~~~
izzydata
This isn't a direct link to the image. I'm pretty sure they removed it so that
you couldn't use them as an image host.

~~~
the_bear
Yeah. I'd argue this is quite a bit better. People can comment on the image,
add it to their dropbox, view entire galleries, preview things like word files
that couldn't open natively in the browser. And it doesn't make it any harder
to just look at the image if that's what you want.

It seems very reasonable to me that they're not designing for the use case of
people who are trying to host images for their website directly from their
Dropbox folder. That was never what Dropbox was meant for.

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dangoor
My biggest question when seeing this headline was "why?"

> It does make sense for Dropbox to enter the password manager market,
> considering that many existing passwords already use Dropbox as a cloud
> option to sync data between devices.

I disagree with this. Dropbox is a file syncing service. The statement above
is like "people use Dropbox already to share work-in-progress designs, so it
makes sense for Dropbox to make a Photoshop competitor." Or, stretching it
farther, "People want their email to be available on all devices, so it makes
sense for Dropbox to get into the email service business."

Password managers today are quite good. I'm sure Dropbox is big enough to
create a competitive password manager, but is that really the best bet? Put
another way: I wonder what it is that Dropbox thinks they can bring to this
space?

~~~
mmargerum
Presumably the hardest part of managing passwords is the end to end encryption
which they have already solved. The sync is done too. they can simply use
their sync engine to keep passwords up to date between devices? Would be a
great value add to the service as I pay for 1password currently.

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whatever_dude
Can't shake the feeling this is another "me too" product by Dropbox while the
main product (hosting files) gets jankier and jankier.

~~~
medecau
but that VC money

they'll do email one day

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1123581321
Dropbox is a publicly traded company (DBX) so any desired VC exits have
already occurred.

~~~
mmargerum
I wish they were privately owned. As a publicly traded company, being
profitable is not enough. Grow Grow Grow leads to bad decisions being made.

~~~
toomuchtodo
Don’t use the technology services of public companies whenever possible.
Shareholder interests are not your interests.

~~~
mmargerum
Completely agree and for most things I use open source. Email and File backup
are the only things I pay for. I could even set them up myself but I just dont
have the bandwidth right now

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dexter0
Lots of negativity in here. As a paying Dropbox customer, I am interested to
see what Dropbox can bring to the table. I’ve been stuck on 1Password 6 since
they moved to a subscription model. If Dropbox’s offering works well, I would
switch.

~~~
evanb
I use 1pw 7 and don't pay for a subscription.

~~~
drcongo
I do too, but in almost every way it's a worse product than 1Password 6, so
I'd recommend against upgrading.

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matt_morgan
So here is what my family did for years: a keepass DB in a Dropbox folder
under a shared Dropbox account. Various Keepass clients on all the devices.

We don't pay for Dropbox, so this is broken now with the 3-client limit. And
it was always slightly complicated ... I couldn't get non-techies to try it so
I don't really recommend it to others (rather I recommend the lastpasses).

Anyway, this change makes sense to me. They'll make it a notch more user-
friendly than using keepass, while raising questions about portability and
whether we can trust dropbox with this. Hardly anybody cares about those
issues.

~~~
raziel2p
Making a shared directory and share it between multiple accounts should bypass
the client limit, right?

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ordinaryperson
What I don't understand is why the big browser makers -- Google, Apple,
Mozilla and Microsoft -- makers don't just offer this service.

80% of the plumbing is already there, why not just extend the UI? Generate
unique, high-entropy passwords and store them in a user account.

Or add this in the OSes themselves -- Apple already does a version of this
with keychain. What's preventing them from just copying all the other features
of 1Password and LastPass?

Seems like it would do a lot for web security.

~~~
josefresco
Chrome and Firefox store and sync my passwords across devices.

~~~
jasonv
Personally, I need my passwords across devices and across browsers.

I use Safari for personal browsing and Chrome for all work/business browsing.
As a consultant, when I’m on site at a client location and they give me a
machine I make a Chrome profile and let Chrome sync passwords. But I also work
in highly regulated industries so I don’t carry those accounts and passwords
off site.

But I also share my passwords with a business partner, so I need something
like 1Password to keep, manage and share secrets. And credit card, and
addresses.

It I will say that none of the password managers out there have amazing UI. I
can’t live without certain features I. A password manager, but I’d consider
any new entrant that works better than Lastpass and 1Password. I do intend to
try Bitwarden.. I think my password manager license renews soon (but it’s not
very expensive).

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ErneX
I stopped using 1Password when Dropbox started the max 3 devices rule on the
free accounts, I had my 1P vault in Dropbox.

I switched to self hosted Bitwarden on my own home. Works offline and if I
need to update passwords while out I can reach the server through wireguard.

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butz
And that will probably be added to Dropbox client, making it use even more
RAM.

Any suggestions for Dropbox alternatives? Funny thing is, I don't need more
than 2GBs of encrypted storage, just for some documents to backup off-site and
share them between few devices at home.

