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Comment by arikrak | Hacker News Reader

Dropbox charges 5x for 100GB/month. Assuming Google Drive works, why would people pick Dropbox?

Google Drive doesn't work, at least for me. It won't reliably stay connected. There is no reconnect option either, so every time it disconnects you have to exit/restart and then it has to re-index all the files.

Sharing is clunkier, when you share a folder with somebody it doesn't appear in their drive. After they accept they still need to go into their options to get it to start syncing.

There are a lot of Apps that have Dropbox built in. They use Dropbox as their storage.

I feel Google isn't putting the effort into their Desktop client that Dropbox is. Google wants people to use the web. They are both cheap enough price isn't an option.

Because the race has already started a while ago. In this space, network effect is quite important as popularity increases usefulness. Also, Drive does not work as well -- no delta sync, no Linux client (that I find incredible, really -- it's OK that there's no Skydrive client for Linux, but Google Drive?). Also, mobile sync is worse with Drive as it tries to direct you to Google+.

What network effects? Its just as easy to share files with someone who has Google Drive as it is Dropbox. In fact probably easier with Google Drive because more people have a Google account (800M ACTIVE gmail users was the last number I read).

As for switching costs, its pretty easy right? Drag from one folder to another?

Delta sync is a real issue, but what do you mean their mobile app pushes you to Google+, havent seen that....

If you want to work on files with people (other than supported by google docs) you both need the desktop app installed. Far more people have the Dropbox desktop app installed than Google drive.

I find Dropbox websharing far easier, right-click share and it puts the link on the clipboard. Google drive makes you go through a dialog.

Google Drive doesn't have history for non google doc files. We use it as a simple version control for all our documents.

What network effects?

Just about every time I start a new project with an outside client, one of the first things they do is ask to set up a Dropbox share for the project. I've once had a person want to use Box, and never had anybody even mention Google Drive.

Ahhh that makes sense.

I just downloaded it a little while ago (since first release) and I still find the Windows client pretty useless.

I'll have to stick with Dropbox so I can sync across Windows/OSX/Linux, my phone, etc. Besides I get faster upload speed on Dropbox, so I can sync all my holiday photos.

Diversification: Google may suspend/delete the account you use for many of its services, for a reason relating to only one of them.

Support: If Google suspends/deletes your account, you're pretty much done. Their interactive support is below the level that other companies commonly provide.

Risk: Google raised prices 3X+ for Google App Engine on short notice. They could do the same for Google Drive.

Dropbox works flawlessly for me (including w/ Linux) and doesn't have the issues above. In this case, you do get what you pay for.

I cancelled my subscription one month ago. Was a user for 4/5 years.

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