I got an email explaining I had been selected for the closed Beta tests of Dropbox, what was this, is it something I could use? After some investigation it works like the following:
Have you ever needed to sync files between two or more machines?
Have you wanted to also have an off-site copy of those files?
Have you needed to sync files between Windows and Macintosh machines?
Have you wanted to have a public photo album to share pictures with your friends and family?
Have you needed a shared on-line file repository for collaborating with co-workers?
Well Dropbox can do all this for you. Dropbox is a relatively new service that is currently in beta that allows you to “store and share files online.”
The initial Beta Testers (the first batch) got 5 GIG space, the next Batch got 2GIG and once it goes Live, the Free Users will get 1 GIG space I am told. On the Mac I got an icon on my bar at the top as well as a new location on my sidebar called DropBox
Its a simple case of draggin whatever file you require to this share and depending on your upload speed, the file will be placed on there. If you place something in “Share” you can right click and get the full URL to hand out to people when you want them to access the files over a normal web browser. It does give you a timer on the bar if you click it to show you how fast and how long it will take to get the files up there.
When the service comes out of Beta, I can only image that they will offer a Free Service (1GIG) as well as a paid for space with much bigger sizes. You can install this across multiple computers all linked to one account and be able to share files easily then getting out a USB Key or whatever. Of course you can cheaply buy a 1/2/4/8 GIG Memory stick small enough to fit on your key ring these days and apart from the initial cost – there is no on-going montly cost as there would be with DropBox. You can even get programs to use GMAIL as a means of a virtual Storage.
