We sometimes get cautioned by commenters on this blog to not be too hard on our competition. And, while we don\u2019t consider Dropbox to be a competitor (quite the opposite, Dropbox is the reason we exist) we do take those comments to heart. That\u2019s why, after seeing this announcement in TechCrunch, I wanted to congratulate Dropbox.<\/p>\n
\u201cDropbox\u2019s new strategy is to be boring on purpose. That is, its top priority is filling holes in its security and permissions systems so it can convince big companies it\u2019s not some consumer toy. So today it announced view-only shared folders that let anyone on a rigid, hierarchical team look at Word, PowerPoint and other files, but only allow \u201ceditors\u201d to modify the files. Dropbox needs to get the boring stuff locked down so enterprises will take it seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s ok to be boring, really. You created a product that has revolutionized sharing and increased productivity ten-fold. Sure you may have caused security chiefs and IT departments some sleepless nights, but hey, they can always shut you off.<\/p>\n
Anyway, read-only sharing is a great first step to letting those IT sleep at night \u2014 read\/write permissions \u2014 are incredibly useful in an Enterprise with sensitive documents.<\/p>\n