Way back when , Steve Jobs told Dropbox that it was a feature , not a product . Which was enough at the time . Except now , Dropbox ’s reach stretches wide enough , and its influence is groovy enough , that it just charge up . It ’s not just syncing your files and folders any longer . It ’s trying to sync literally everything on your earphone , tablet , and computer . Game save , mount , middleman , notes — all of it , and on any earpiece or pad you have .
The idea is to not just swear on the Dropbox app and its integration with first company platforms ( something it ’s always excelled at ) . alternatively , it ’s moving forward with what it call Datastores , a unexampled API that will power third party apps . It will enable all developer to synchronise their apps over the swarm . Some , like TextExpander and 1Password already do this using Dropbox , but the implications are broad . It ’s the type of things you’re able to get to tattle to each other , across platforms .
Think about it . As it stand , a ton of our apps are siloed into one ecosystem or another . Photos on iCloud , game save on Android , Windows Phone uploads on SkyDrive when you ’ve got an iPad that only talk to SkyDrive as an app . The way software work right now , we ’re deeply incentivized to buy stuff on one platform . iPhone , iPad , Mac . Windows Phone , Windows 8 tablet and laptop . Android telephone and tablet , and , uhh , well not a Chromebook just yet , but peradventure at some power point . That ’s not going to shift , but an fundamental , widely used mesh that sprawl across all three would make using differing ironware a little more pleasant .
The name realization helps . ‘ iCloud ” is still a deeply nebulous term , tons of people have never even heard of SkyDrive , and most multitude probably think Google Drive is a Google Docs renewal . But “ Dropbox ” is basically the Kleenex of “ synchronise my stuff everywhere ” . So you’re able to see how a “ power by Dropbox ” or something to that gist could take hold in a elbow room that other fail transverse - platform APIs have n’t .
As a bit of a side - note , Dropbox also added some additional functionality with novel app feature film call Chooser and Saver that permit you get at any Dropbox Indian file from an app , or save up anything directly to Dropbox , respectively .
So , this could be good . It could be bully , actually ! Things like managing a list of reminders on your electronic computer and phone , for good example , only forge if you ’re using compatible apps . But if you ’re flux platforms , like OS X and a Windows Phone , you ’re kind of screwed . It bet on developers integrate this into quality apps , which is obviously not a given , but it ’s something we ’d get it on to see . [ Dropbox ]
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