Hacker News Reader

Comment by ImprovedSilence | Hacker News Reader

I disagree, I see dropbox files as MY FILES. I don't like when they are obscured behind some application. I don't see those as MY FILES, I like to see my files in my folders and it's nice and I have a sense of ownership. Dropbox is just an extension of my own personal home filesystem. But it's EVERYWHERE. And that my friends, is what makes all the difference. Like Drew said, he wants a filesystem for the internet. I think this is lost on lots of "the cloud" proponents, who are focused just on applications.

View on HN

   I see dropbox files as MY FILES. I don't like when
   they are obscured behind some application

The important thing is that it's YOU (and me), not the average computer user. Apple and Google are successful because they fill average users' needs with simple, intuitive and easy to use products; not by presenting them with an scary concept like 'file system'.

I hate it when I'm on my iPad and have to do all sorts of stupid tricks to move files between applications. It's just stupid. But I'm sure Apple will fix most of the nightmare in iOS 6. But I must side with Steve Jobs when he said "When you try and teach someone to use a Mac, everything is fine, until you show them the file system." Average computer users have extremely cluttered and unorganized folders and desktops. Dropbox does not help that.

I think Apple's strategy will work better for them (in the long term) than that of Dropbox's... “A lot of us have been working for 10 years to get rid of the file system so the user doesn't have to learn about it.” (Jobs, WWDC 2011)

And this is my favorite quote about Dropbox:

   "Dropbox... It's a feature, not a company"! (Steve Jobs)

"scary concept like 'file system'." I find that somewhat ironic considering it was meant to be intuitive and relate to the real world concept of Document,Files and Folders. But when the real world connection begins to be broken I can see how it becomes scary.

The problem is that in the real world managing documents, files and folders is a full time job for some people.

If documents, files and folders were intuitive and efficient, you wouldn't have relatively huge administrative staffs at medical clinics, real estate offices, banks, law offices, government institutions, schools, et cetera.

   "Dropbox... It's a feature, not a company"! (Steve Jobs)

Not only that... but I thought Dropbox was a feature built on top of S3? Not true?

Same could be said of "software" and "operating system" when microsoft was built.

Plus it is not like dropbox has set it's goal to do the one and the only thing that is file sync. That was a good goal to achieve until this point.

you have to admit that you're the minority though. the average user doesn't like files. if you've ever done end-user support, you've seen how foreign the whole concept of a filesystem is to most of them. the goal in an average use case is not to modify a file, as so much software seems designed to do, it is to generate some output. people don't open up microsoft word so they can write a letter and save it on their hard drive, they open up word so they can write a letter and print it out. the fact that it gets saved at all is mostly incidental to them, where it gets saved is totally irrelevant.

The average user doesn't buy an Apple computer either, or own an iPhone. Heck, even the average smartphone user doesn't have an iPhone. Yet Apple does quite well for itself.

You're only technically correct because of how averages work. Novice computer users make up a major part of Apple's demographic, and often times their products are more suitable. More specifically, there are a number of features in Mac OSX which simplify the file system for novice users, including "All My Files", "Date Last Opened"/"Date Added" sorting capabilities, and browsable folders straight from the dock.

To me, the cloud is "Far." My computer is "Near."

http://www.overcomingbias.com/2010/06/near-far-summary.html

I don't think current technology (i.e. actual implementations) comes close to getting past this sort of psychological barrier yet.

Funny, to me, the cloud is "near" and my computer is "far". The cloud follows me wherever I go, which I can't say for my laptop.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com