Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Web services, Freeware
BoxCloud: "Dead Simple File Sharing"
by Jordan Running Jul 28th 2006 at 6:40PM
Sharing files with people you know seems like it ought to be a solved problem, but it isn't, really. IM file transfer is unreliable, attachments choke email servers, web-based upload services have file size limits and are often s-l-o-w. Pando took a shot at it and it's not bad, but it requires recipients to download the Pando client, which, among other things, isn't available for Linux. BoxCloud, however, just might be on to something. Its pitch is "Dead Simple File Sharing" and indeed it's pretty simple. Once you've installed the BoxCloud client--available for Windows, Mac and Linux--you add contacts and groups, then when you want to share a file or folder you just drag it to the contact or group you want to share it with. BoxCloud will send them an e-mail telling them your BoxCloud URL (or you can just tell them to go to yourname.boxcloud.com). They'll have to sign up for a BoxCloud account to get to your files, but they don't have to install any software. BoxCloud also has some handy features, like letting you give files descriptions and tags, and allowing your contacts to leave comments on your files. You can also share files with yourself, which could be handy for accessing your files remotely. BoxCloud has several levels of service, starting with a Free plan that allots you 1GB of downloads per month, which is enough for casual sharing but not much more. The Free plan also shows AdSense ads on your BoxCloud page. The "Personal" plan ditches the ads and gives you 5GB for $5 per month, and from there it goes up to Basic (25GB/$9), Pro (50GB/$24), and Premium (100GB/$49).
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Zach said 9:18PM on 7-28-2006
Jordan,
Have you really tried both Pando and BoxCloud before posting this? As someone who has, I can tell you Pando is hands down the best private file sharing app on the market today, and its free. I really don't get how all these "me too" apps attempt to charge for something I can now do free and better with Pando.
Zach
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Jordan Running said 10:10PM on 7-28-2006
Yes I have, Zach, though neither extensively. You'll notice that in my post I wrote "Pando took a shot at it, and it's not bad." My experience with it was decent, but it's far easier to convince a friend or a client whom I want to send a file to to sign up on a web site than download and install a program.
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Mario said 10:43PM on 7-28-2006
How do Pando and Boxcloud compare to Grouper? I first saw Grouper a little over a year ago and it seemed like a good way to send files and documents privately to friends and colleagues, but recently it seemed to have shifted its focus towards video sharing. Are Pando or Boxcloud better alternatives for private file sharing than Grouper?
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digga said 4:27AM on 7-29-2006
all this aside, tell me when one of the major chat clients gets the feature of sharing folders on my pc, with selected/all contacts in my buddy list. and which is available all the time (as long as my pc is on and connected to internet), kind of like a fileserver, but with the functionality integrated into a chat client YIM/MSN/G-Talk
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Ash Maurya said 11:25AM on 7-29-2006
Thanks for trying out BoxCloud.
All the solutions on the market have different strenghts - We want to place as much empasis on the sharing experience as we do on the sending. We also feel very strongly that forcing people to download yet another app just to view files is wrong which is why we take a peer to web approach. We feel the same about forcing logins but it was required to ensure user security. Although, we have found a good balance between security and convinience and are going to be releasing a no-login option next week.
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Reeves said 12:38PM on 7-29-2006
If you get into the realm of pay services (as it has no free option) I must recommend Strongspace by Textdrive, now a part of Joyent.
I have been a user by way of their "Mixed Grill" lifetime package and find it dead simple to use. Any sftp client works to upload, they use ZFS so many files are much smaller to store, and web access can be doled out on an individual basis via an excellent web interface. I keep my mac and xp important data backed up, and accessable. My coworker has used his to send and receive large files to and from some very computer novice clients with zero issue.
I'm in government service so I have zero affiliation with textdrive, I just stand by their excellent products.
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SDE06 said 10:53PM on 7-29-2006
Windows live messenger (beta and freely avaiable) already offers folder sharing features with contacts/groups...
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Eric said 10:18AM on 7-31-2006
This is what live cargo has been doing for years... and cross platform too
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