Smart Synch was the "feature" that finally had me sit down one weekend afternoon and gradually shift the vast majority of my files from Dropbox to another cloud storage solution as my primary and preferred tool.
The promise of Dropbox: A folder that's always got the same files, on all of my computers. This was was magical and all I ever wanted. It was the first cloud service I was willing to pay for, and I've had an account for a long time.
Various little additions came and went - Carousel for example - but these were adjacent to the product and even though I liked Carousel, it did not change the basic idea: a folder that's always got the same files, on all of my computers.
Paper came along. I tried it. It made a formatting mess of the documents I tried to edit, it rendered others horribly or not at all and nobody I sent an invitation to use paper to collaborate on a document even tried it. I've never gotten an invitation to collabarate on a document via "Paper". Enough with "Paper." I get what paper is trying to do. But I have so many other good choices for collabaration. So I ignored Paper. Because I still had a folder that's always got the same files, on all of my computers, which is just want I wanted. Prices went up. Storage went up. I piled more files in. I came to rely on Dropbox when I was in airplanes, in hotels with terrible connectivity, when I was at a client site and we could not get on the Wifi. Becuase I paid for Dropbox, I had a folder that's always got the same files, on all of my computers. Selective synch came along, which was a good idea. I tried it, and it worked as I expected, selectively synching folders, as I specified, and leaving the rest alone. I still had a folder that's always got the same files, on all of my computers (excepting those I specifically and deliberately did not want).
Along comes Selective Synch and...well....it made decisions for me when I moved files around, especially when I uploaded a large set of files over the course of a weekend. My new 2TB limit was the ideal time to push a 161 GB libary of photos I use for my work up to Dropbox. I left a laptop at the office for a weekend, connected to nice fast fiber internet for better upload speed than I can get at home...the files successfuly copy from an external hard drive to a folder in my Dropbox. Synching begins. Synching completes. Days pass..
Maybe I should have RTFM or one of the of marketing emails that came out. Maybe there should have been a HUGE BLINKING WARNING THAT YOU ARE NOT ACTUALLY SYNCHING ALL YOUR FILES ANYMORE NO MATTER WHAT YOUR SELECTIVE SYNCH SETTINGS ARE.
But you see, I pay Dropbox to be a folder that's always got the same files, on all of your computers. So why would I think that could happen?
There I was, I was on an airplane, on my way to The Big Meeting in a far-far away when I remembered that there was this perfect image set...from that time a few years ago...and now I have ALL The Photos on All My Computers and I want to use them as the opening for The Big Presentation....so because I pay for a folder that's always got the same files, on all of mycomputers, I simply navigate to that particular year..then sub-folder....and...the folders have an X on them - the icons are all there, but the actual files are not.
What?? WHAT?? Why?
I check Selective Synch. All folders are supposedly synching. But...but....the old files I just uploaded are "in the cloud" now..they will download as I need them.. I look out the window. The cloud is below me. I don't see my file. I land in another country in 4 hours. I present in 7 hours. There will be taxis and attempts to tether to my phone and bad hotel Wifi ahead when I land. The wifi on the plane isn't working (this is not uncommon). I wonder why I am paying Dropbox.
It is sad that so many great products try to grow by killing the essential thing that makes them great. There is one job Dropbox has to do before anything else. One job that is worth paying for. Give me a folder that's always got the same files, on all of my computers. Make that work, perfectly, always, and without exception, and I don't feel any problem paying for Dropbx. Fail - no, wait, worse than fail - deliberately do not do that one job - then I'm left with nothing worth paying for.
It was a great run, Dropbox, it really was. But this is just inexcuseably bad.
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