What is Dropbox?

Here is a nice video created by Common Craft for Dropbox. It explains the cloud computing concept in non-technical terms. Basically, Dropbox lets you store files and synchronize folders on your computer with the Dropbox server. You can then share your folders across multiple computers, mobile devices and with other people.



I posted about the various file storage/sharing web applications a while ago. Each one has it's own perks. The biggest perk for Dropbox is that desktop folder that makes it really easy to place files for sharing without having to log in and upload anything. Another benefit is that there is no file size upload limit aside from the 2GB storage limit. This is a limitation that I came across with Box.net, which caps each individual file upload at 25MB on the free account, even though they offer 5GB of free storage space.

The other file sharing app that I wrote about was Google Docs. It works great for sharing Word, Excel and PPT files but I have had some trouble sharing video files. However, according to Vaughan-Nichols from ZDnet, it seems that Dropbox and Google Docs might join forces. Let's hope this will bring us something spectacular.

In my classes, Dropbox is especially handy when I want students to record audio or video files and share them with the class or to collaborate on projects where students need to share or exchange large files with one another.