The Holy Grail of Synchronization (Dropbox vs Syncplicity)
At the moment I have to work on different computer’s with the same docs and spreadsheets. Everybody could imagine what a data chaos this could be. USB-Sticks would be a suitable solution but one PC does’t allow the plugging in external devices. So I decided to try these new web 2.0 hosters with syncing and backup functionalities.
General
The “wow-factor” after the first use was comparable with the experience I made by migrating from Thunderbird to Gmail.
Access everywhere is one of the key factors why “cloud technology” arises constantly.
A huge drawback when it comes to webapps is always the security issue. I recommend to use TrueCrypt (portable version for PC users without admin rights) to ensure maximum safety.
Dropbox
To be known all over the place in this section is Dropbox. Your data gets uploaded in the background via an application sitting in the system tray. Bonus features are easy sharing (no more email attachments - just a link) and file revisions (in the case something get lost, overwritten or two people modify a certain file at the same time).But on the other hand there are points which reveal the early development status. On my Windows XP the background application consumes about 50 MB of RAM. Too much for a feature that have to be always on to get all of its benefits.
With lack of understanding I recognized that you aren’t able to pick the folders you want to synchronize by yourself. I have to drop all of my files into the specific “My Dropbox” folder. I prefer to keep my Documents folder intact.
So I searched on.
Syncplicity
I stumbled over this service and had to try it because they promise to integrate web apps. So let’s make a list with the dis-/advantages compared to Dropbox:
- You can edit images (with Picnik) and documents (with Zoho and preview with Scribd iPaper) right from the web interface.
- Google Docs could be linked. Then you see the documents from your account in the web interface and they will be downloaded to a directory which the user could choose.
- Better implementation of traffic limits (useful when you want to surf at almost normal speed).
- No direct edit possibility with Google Docs.
- No implementation of delta syncing.
- The UI Interface is based on Flash (meanwhile Dropbox uses “lots of AJAX”). On older PC’s it’s a pain.
- Especially the Windows software isn’t very easy to get along with for beginners. Maybe I’m used to the clean, structured and well-designed interface from Dropbox.
- At the moment there’re no application’s for Mac OSX or Linux.
Conclusion
After all both services have their strengths and weaknesses. At the moment I would prefer Syncplicity because of functionality. Dropbox on the other side looks more polished and is easier to use. I know it’s a poor comparison, but think of it as Windows vs Mac OSX.There’s a lot of development in both services, so it’s possible for me to switch again.
Let me tell you there’s an infinite number of competitors. A very promising feature has i.e. SMEStorage where you should be able to use your own Amazon S3 storage or Gmail to host your data. I will investigate further.
