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iCloud or Dropbox ?

O

OJStudios

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 21, 2012
7
0
London
Hi, I justed to get a feeler for the which cloud storage most developers are tending towards and why?

Appreciate there was a bit of dispute over acceptance of Dropbox by Apple, but I understand that was specific to the oler versions of Dropbox.

We are developing a CAD app for the iPad and hence given the size of expected files, and users preferences, I wanted to get a feel for which was the better option, or perhaps, both?

Thanks for any info.

cheers
 
I've been using Dropbox since before iCloud existed. Seems to have grown on most people, without saying its an accepted "standard". Most people I deal with use it and makes it easy to share folders.
 
Depends on the size of the CAD files and how they would lend themselves to delta changes.

It also depends on how cross platform your apps needs to be. If you're target is Windows and Mac as well as the iPad then you'd be best served by dropbox.

If you're strictly going to be in the iOS/OS X space then iCloud is going to offer a smoother experience for your customers.

When I've got the choice between Dropbox and iCloud as a sync option I choose iCloud every time. It tends to be faster and require less managerial effort on my part and keeps my Dropbox folder less cluttered.
 
I vote dropbox, multiplatform, works as expected fast and stable.
 
After remaining loyal to Apple and using MobileMe despite it's problems over a two period, I'm not about to repeat that mistake.

iCloud is not up to Apple's normally excellent standards just yet.

While it's sure to improve, until it does I'm not getting anywhere near it.

Dropbox is a known quantity, a proven solution. A reliable service, one that I'm truly enjoying. Between it, Evernote and a couple of other cloud services I'm using, my needs are being filled very nicely.
 
ixodes said:
iCloud is not up to Apple's normally excellent standards just yet.

While it's sure to improve, until it does I'm not getting anywhere near it.

Dropbox is a known quantity, a proven solution. A reliable service, one that I'm truly enjoying. Between it, Evernote and a couple of other cloud services I'm using, my needs are being filled very nicely.
Click to expand...

iCloud in iOS 6 should close the final gaps that it has right now. I'm pretty excited for Mountain Lion and iOS 6 iCloud.

I've had issues with Dropbox as well. Moneywell had some interesting glitches using Dropbox sync. Dropbox works well with file based apps but if your app uses Core Data or a package of some sort or no document at all your mileage is going to drastically.
 
Both! DropBox is better for some things and iOS for others. I mostly use DropBox for files and to sync some apps; iCloud for most things Apple.
 
nuckinfutz said:
iCloud in iOS 6 should close the final gaps that it has right now. I'm pretty excited for Mountain Lion and iOS 6 iCloud.

I've had issues with Dropbox as well. Moneywell had some interesting glitches using Dropbox sync. Dropbox works well with file based apps but if your app uses Core Data or a package of some sort or no document at all your mileage is going to drastically.
Click to expand...

I don't disagree. This is no perfect service, and while I've read about others having issues with Dropbox, I'm on month 14 and thus far it's met my needs with zero down time or failures.

That said, I will be the first to admit I'm a research addict, and did a lot before choosing Dropbox. I wanted to insure I knew which file types it handles well and which ones it doesn't.

I have nothing against iCloud, I'm just disappointed that it's not Apples best work.

At least thus far. I realize it's still relatively new and I'd rather give them the benefit of the doubt, and wait until it will do enough of what I need so I can rely on it. Currently it's just too basic and limiting for what I need.
 
Dropbox FTW! I use my dropbox for work/band/studio/... the ability to upgrade space is a huge bonus when you think about it. And if youre persistent you can get just about ~16gb of free storage!
 
OJStudios said:
Hi, I justed to get a feeler for the which cloud storage most developers are tending towards and why?

Appreciate there was a bit of dispute over acceptance of Dropbox by Apple, but I understand that was specific to the oler versions of Dropbox.

...
Click to expand...
I'm having trouble understanding your question. The Dropbox iOS app on the iTunes App Store is there because Apple accepted it for sale there. I have it installed on my iPad and iPhone. So where do you get the notion that Apple does not accept it?

As a registered user of the service, I can say that Dropbox is something of a one-trick pony. However, the pony performs it one trick very well. Dropbox has given me the confidence to stop using USB drives to synchronize files between my home and work computers.

iCloud is a different beast. Only one of the leg of the beast is file-synchronization for productivity applications.
 
MisterMe said:
I'm having trouble understanding your question. The Dropbox iOS app on the iTunes App Store is there because Apple accepted it for sale there. I have it installed on my iPad and iPhone. So where do you get the notion that Apple does not accept it?

As a registered user of the service, I can say that Dropbox is something of a one-trick pony. However, the pony performs it one trick very well. Dropbox has given me the confidence to stop using USB drives to synchronize files between my home and work computers.

iCloud is a different beast. Only one of the leg of the beast is file-synchronization for productivity applications.
Click to expand...

He probably means the brouhaha a few weeks ago about Dropbox being removed from the App Store and apps using Dropbox getting rejected until Dropbox removed a link to their subscribing page which was in violation of App Store rules.
 
ofcourse dropbox.It is secured and easy to use and have some great feature.
 
Dropbox so far, but I am really looking forward to mountain lion's ability to sync documents directly via a folder (like Dropbox). Currently, the irritating thing about dropbox is that after editing a document, it isn't easy to get it back into dropbox!:(
 
Abazigal said:
Dropbox so far, but I am really looking forward to mountain lion's ability to sync documents directly via a folder (like Dropbox). Currently, the irritating thing about dropbox is that after editing a document, it isn't easy to get it back into dropbox!:(
Click to expand...

Huh? If it's in Dropbox then it will automatically update once you edit in real time.
 
Abazigal said:
Dropbox so far, but I am really looking forward to mountain lion's ability to sync documents directly via a folder (like Dropbox). Currently, the irritating thing about dropbox is that after editing a document, it isn't easy to get it back into dropbox!:(
Click to expand...
With in files in your Dropbox folder, you edit them in place. There is no need to move them out of the folder. There is no need to move them back into the folder. If you are using Dropbox on your Mac or Windows machine, then you treat your files in your Dropbox folder exactly as though they were in any other document folder.

The only thing that you need concern yourself with is that the Dropbox icon in your MacOS X menu bar or the Windows Taskbar has the little green arrow rather than the little blue circle arrow. The little blue circle arrow indicates that the file is currently being synchronized between your computer and the cloud. The little green arrow indicates that your Dropbox files and folders have been synchronized between your computer and the cloud and that they are ready to be used as you see fit.
 
robdam1001 said:
Huh? If it's in Dropbox then it will automatically update once you edit in real time.
Click to expand...

No, what I mean is that in order to edit a document from dropbox on my ipad, I need to first open it with the respective program (pages/numbers/keynote). However, after making the respective changes, I find the only way to get the edited document back into dropbox is to first email it to myself, then open the file in dropbox. I could also download it from icloud.com, but it pretty much works out to the same thing.

According to the mountain lion preview, icloud will let you save your documents in a special folder on OSX, which then auto-syncs with your ios devices, thus streamlining the process.

For the time being, I use evernote to type out my notes on my ipad, which I then copy over on my imac. :)
 
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