This feels like a step backwards. DB has struggled to figure out something beyond being a really great cloud-share drive thing, and sorta kinda messed around with using your DB to host media like photos (which would then make users desire to upgrade their space) and automagically supply some interface sugar around a pile of photos.<p>But they could have kept going in that direction and competed with all of the photosharing sites, soundcloud, heck even youtube if they had wanted. Say I like to vlog, what would be easier? After filming raw footage, edit it, make my final cut, upload to youtube and wait for transcoding and availability? Or just put my final cut into a "droptube" folder and it automagically appears at www.droptube.com (not a real thing, but could be in some alternate dimension)<p>Or what if I want to host a simple site? Fiddle with a hosting provider, screw around trying to figure out the 37 different metrics I'll be charged for, or just put some html, css and js file into a dropbox "webhost" folder?<p>I dunno, I think they're closing off lots of opportunity and have had trouble executing on this kind of cloud application for the masses, or they're really not going after it.
I'm amazed that there wasn't an outcry the other month when they - just one day, with zero notice - renamed my shared folder and made it a Team folder.<p>Big deal? Well, they actually changed the name of the folder. And now I can't modify it. So yeah, big deal. I have Logic Pro templates that look there. They all broke. It wasn't <i>too bad</i> for me, but imagine if you had scripts or tools or whatever pointing to a file on your FS that happened to be in one of the affected folders. You woke up one morning and they were all broken.<p>You can't just rename people's files. That's not part of the social contract I have with you, Dropbox.
I relied on this "light" publishing for a few things and I'm quite pissed off. I did not notice any notification on this.<p>To me, this should be done very very visibly and with tons of warnings. I used it to communicate screenshots with details, etc. Now all links are broken and I'm SOL with no viable solution to changing those links from documents, bugs, etc., etc.<p>Very very very bad!
Dropbox has been becoming increasingly user-hostile for a great while now, and it all centers around the deprecation of the Public folder.<p>I think this change primarily serves to funnel downstream content viewers to the shared file "landing page". That landing page is filled with valuable screen real-estate that Dropbox can use to promote itself.<p>That page is a usability nightmare, too. Photos can't be zoomed to full size on certain screen configurations, videos are served transcoded, and many other file types that the browser can render natively are flagged as "undisplayable". File content will often become unavailable or hidden behind a full-splash "create a Dropbox account!" affordance that pays no heed to whether you're logged in, a customer, or just a casual observer.
This was amazingly awesome because: I could teach people how to make a website, and how to have on the internet, in minutes.<p>Having said that, I haven't had that public folder in many many many many many years. So I'm surprised about this announce.<p>If anyone knows a quick way to let anyone do what I described above, please do tell.
>> "Dropbox accounts created after October 4, 2012 won't have a Public folder."<p>Given the initial release was in June 2007, does anyone know why this only applies to accounts created after October 4, 2012?
The second most useful feature of Dropbox (beyond being "a folder that syncs"), gone. I'm <i>very</i> sad about this, even though I knew it was coming. This is literally the case of "we can't have nice things because $reasons".
I really have the feeling that DropBox will die. They don't do anything Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive or Apple iCloud doesn't do, and these companies all have much more money / talent / infrastructure / synergy with other products.
Tell me more about how great these kind of companies are, where they can terminate aspects (or all) of a service you have come to rely on. These kind of shenanigans are exactly why I don't trust Google with anything other than core services, and why I do my best to not rely on anything "cloud" (as in, consumer-facing stuff)Too much control in the hands of those who are not accountable to anyone, especially not to me.<p>I have been told many times (here, as well as elsewhere) how I don't "understand" cloud and related drivel. I understand cloud very well. That's why I don't depend on it.
Title is evidently incorrect: the link itself clearly states they just disabled this functionality for Free accounts.<p>I can verify it still works for Pro/Plus accounts with existing Public folders.
Unless I'm mistaken, this won't affect services such as Site44.com [0], which lets you create up to 10 Web sites by syncing with specified Dropbox folders for $4.95 per month. I use the service for a side project and to publish a site for my students with the materials for the law-school course I teach; it works quite well. (EDIT: And that's my only connection with the company.)<p>[0] <a href="http://www.Site44.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.Site44.com</a>
Seeing the /help/16, I'm guessing this is one of the oldest help page of Dropbox. /help/1 and /help/2 don't exist, so the still published oldest one must be <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/help/3" rel="nofollow">https://www.dropbox.com/help/3</a> "System requirements to run Dropbox", makes sense
I used to use UpShot, a OS X plugin that saved by screenshots to my Public Dropbox folder and copied the public link to the clipboard. It was super useful for referencing images in code reviews, wikis etc.<p>Anyone recommend a better alternative?
I was under the impression those where disabled long ago.<p>Tor is always good if you need a quick easy way to publish something without a public IP address