On Dropbox

January 2009. Updated November 2009.

Dropbox allows you to synchronize files between different computers, perform off-site backups, work on shared files with collaborators, publish files by HTTP, and publish photograph albums.

I use Dropbox for:

Sharing files with my wife. We just copy files we wish to share into a special folder on our computers, and they are automatically copied to the corresponding folder on the other’s computer. This does not rely on us being on the same network.
Sharing files with colleagues. I just copy files I wish to share to a different special folder on my computer, and they are automatically copied to Amazon S3 storage, where they can be accessed by a public URL.
Getting files on and off the Windows PC I use once per year to prepare my taxes.

Sure, there other tools that do each of these, but using Dropbox is as simple as copying files into special folders on your computer. This lack of friction reminds me of ExpanDrive, another application I use almost daily. Indeed, that my wife uses Dropbox is a testimony to its ease of use; she has almost no tolerance any friction in computer tools. I recommend taking a few minutes to view their screencast or take their tour.

Dropbox provide free clients for Mac OS, Windows, and Linux. Their free account comes with 2 GB of storage. Upgrading to 50 GB costs $120 per year and to 100 GB costs $240 per year.

Dropbox hold your data on Amazon S3, but offer no guarantees on its integrity and availability; don’t use it a your sole backup.

Notes

Similar Tools

SugarSync and PowerFolder appear to be similar to Dropbox, but I have no direct experience with them.