New User Experience: Comparing Syncthing Vs Dropbox

I agree with this, but I have been using SyncThing for all three. Overall it’s served my friend and I well, despite the fact we’re both totally new to using it, and he’s very new to GNU/Linux and P2P software (other than torrents of course :wink: ). There are a few gotchas that my friend and I have discovered, for example my friend didn’t realize at first that deleting his copy of synced files also deleted my copy :wink: But there are a few ways this could be addressed with UI changes.

Easier

Add some UI elements that:

  • allow the user to distinguish between their own devices and other people’s, giving other people’s devices less permissions by default (eg ability to sync an update to a file but not a deletion)
  • when creating new folder shares, asking the user what their intention is for it (eg keep folders in sync, move files from one device to another, send a copy of files to another device), and guide them through making sure the folders settings reflect that intention

Harder

Develop separate UI for syncing, file-sharing, and backups, using the same ST backend, and the same set of underlying device relationships.

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