It's dangerous for Dropbox because GDrive will be automatically integrated into all Google services. I can access it anywhere from any Google service or device. No need to think about uploading, downloading, copying, pasting--it's just there. I don't use GDocs because it's the best.
I use it because all my friends use Gmail and sharing docs with them is super easy. I see GDrive having the same benefits. Sharing on Dropbox still isn't as easy as it should be. I've been trying to convince my girlfriend to sign up for a Dropbox accounts since we started dating, but no luck. With Gdrive, she will never need to.
That said, success is still not guaranteed. MS has had SkyDrive for years and I have no idea what the market penetration numbers are, but I'm sure they aren't good. Hotmail is no Gmail. I had no problems convincing a bunch of people to switch to Gmail, but only got one person to sign up for Dropbox.
I love Dropbox and Google Drive would have a hard time getting me to switch. Dropbox seems to "get it" when it comes to simple, easy to use file synchronization.
The one area that GDrive might wiggle into is making it even easier to use Google Docs. I really like GDocs but I don't use them very much because its just not convenient to do so with local files. However, if I can "upload" a file to a directory on my machine and have it available in GDocs, that might turn the tide.
NOTE: One thing that Dropbox doesn't do well is file segregation; some files I want only on some machines. For example, I want me personal finance stuff on all my machines at home but not my work laptop. Or I want large ZIP archives on everything but my phone. Maybe GDrive will tackle this problem...
Genuine question: how much easier is it to share files on Dropbox vs just doing it on GDrive? Is it the fact that the person accessing your files doesn’t need a google account?
I'm considering Google Drive for company filesharing. I've always found shared folders on Dropbox are pretty awkward. Hopefully GD will be a bit easier, but only time will tell. The one thing I can be sure of is it won't need to interfere with peoples personal Dropbox accounts.
As someone who has never used Dropbox and has instead typically used Google Drive for doc sharing, could someone who's a user of Dropbox provide their perspective on how Dropbox is different and why it would make sense as a G Suite user to use dropbox vs Drive?
Google Drive is cheaper, and you can collaborate way easier than dropbox unfortunately. I love dropbox but I can't see myself switching if Google is offering the same thing for a better price.
I dunno. I've been using Dropbox for years now, I've got it set up on all my computers, and as of right now I don't really have a pressing reason to switch. Gdrive would have to offer up something new and amazing before I'd want to change over. (And it would have to be something other than lower prices, because I don't back up enough stuff to have to pay for additional storage.)
Well if you want to compete with Google Drive you should probably look into starting an email service with good integration for file sharing. Don't know if you do it already but since I don't really log in to Dropbox daily and I do to Gmail, haven't really looked into it. And the Gmail + Drive combo works pretty well although I heavily dislike the Drive file user interface (why it can't be more like regular file system interface?)
I use Dropbox only because it's easy to edit/add files from the file system (and I don't like Microsoft or Google enough to give their services a chance).
I agree. I actually use Dropbox, Drive, and OneDrive. I've only used OneDrive once to share some download links once. The only real reason I use Drive is because of Google Docs. For everything else I use DropBox because I trust them more. I've never ever had a problem with it. Also DropBox hasn't had major scandals and for the most part stays out of the news. When a company is basically holding your private stuff for you that's a huge plus.
SkyDrive support, please. I use it since it integrates into Windows so well, and especially Office 2013. It also helps that my account is old enough that I have 25GB free storage.
I don't trust Dropbox security wise. Google does so many product launches/retirements that I don't trust anything beyond search and Chrome to stay around.
Dropbox just works in the way you expect it to. Google Drive has value because of collaboration features and the fact that pretty much everyone has Gmail, but Dropbox is more intuitive to get working as a local filesystem. That's pretty much what it comes down to. Dropbox just works.
I am a fan of Google Drive. It allows for awesome collaboration, and, like the author of this post says, lets you put your storage to work. Reliable storage on its own isn't that cool; but reliable storage that empowers other applications (Docs, Sheets, etc.) is cool and extremely valuable.
The author says: "But as competitors have built elaborate offerings where you can put all that storage to work, Dropbox has kind of stagnated."
Or maybe I and the author are just gaga for Google and blind to what Dropbox truly offers.
Actually this is why I'll likely use GDrive and it's one of the few things that leads to frustation for me with Dropbox.
I use Dropbox for two reasons: backup and sharing. Almost everything I have in Dropbox is documents. I mostly use Google Apps for my document editing needs but I sometimes use Office b/c I prefer Excel for complicated spreadsheets. I also use Word when the folks I'm sharing with aren't hip to Google Apps and/or I need to do a level of formatting that Google Apps doesn't support. I prefer Google Apps to Office because the collab is so good.
Because I use both Office (files) and Google Apps it means that my docs live in two places. Dropbox (my local hard drive) and Google Apps. That drives me crazy. Where does that doc live again? Why doesn't it show up in Spotlight searches? I want them in one place. I could manually import/export but I'm lazy and can't be bothered.
Also GDrive could make for a great leaver to get "normal people" that use Office to start using Google Apps.
I switched to Google Drive a while ago; if you use it in multiple contexts (professional and personal), it's a much saner setup. And if you use Google Docs and Gmail, the integrations make it worth it.
I'm curious: what did you think of Google Drive vs. Dropbox? I precisely felt that Dropbox was doomed when I switched to Google Drive last year because I couldn't see any competitive advantage to it anymore.
The main advantage for Dropbox is that file sync works flawlessly. I've had issues with Onedrive and Google Drive in the past. Maybe they fixed those, but I can't trust them anymore.
Dropbox is simpler, has easier setup, less features, and in my experience a more reliable/quicker on-disk sync client. Google Drive has quite poor UX, which puts a lot of people off.
I use Google Drive, but I can see the appeal of Dropbox for someone who doesn't need Drive's web UI features and extras and just want something that works.
I expect GDrive to compete with Backblaze and Crashplan (cheap + inconvenient compared to Dropbox), but its effect on the Dropbox userbase to be minimal.
Well Dropbox's client is far better than Google's for a start. Google Drive seems to have serious issues with handling conflicts, noticing file changes, renaming files and so on. Dropbox has been pretty flawless for me.
I use it because all my friends use Gmail and sharing docs with them is super easy. I see GDrive having the same benefits. Sharing on Dropbox still isn't as easy as it should be. I've been trying to convince my girlfriend to sign up for a Dropbox accounts since we started dating, but no luck. With Gdrive, she will never need to.
That said, success is still not guaranteed. MS has had SkyDrive for years and I have no idea what the market penetration numbers are, but I'm sure they aren't good. Hotmail is no Gmail. I had no problems convincing a bunch of people to switch to Gmail, but only got one person to sign up for Dropbox.
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