The ownCloud Desktop Client is what brings the files from your cloud seamless to your desktop. You can pick any number of local and remote folders and keep them in sync, ensuring you always have the latest version at hand. The previous desktop client release introduced the ability to except specific files or folders from syncing and to show the sync state with emblems on icons in the most popular file managers on Windows, Linux and Mac. The 1.8 release adds some significant improvements to the already impressive list of client abilities.
New features
The new ownCloud Desktop Client 1.8 introduces sharing from the desktop. A new entry in the context menu in file managers allows you to share a file directly from the desktop by public link, with password and expiry date as desired.
A second major improvement is the ability of the 1.8 client to handle file locking much faster, reducing editing conflicts with for example Microsoft Office and getting rid of many error messages due to simultaneous editing of files.
For Mac OS X users, HiDPI support will be a welcome improvement to the desktop client, improving the legibility on Apple hardware with Retina screens.
Stability and performance
As with every ownCloud Desktop Client release, there have been many smaller improvements and updates to the underlying infrastructure. Notable is support for using more parallel requests with ownCloud server 8.0.3 (to be released in a few weeks) and higher, leading to much better up- and download speeds.
Another nice addition in this are is the new crash reporter, which allows the client to easily send crash information to the developers for examination and swift fixing.
Get it and contribute
You can download the desktop client from the ownCloud installation page and grab the source code from github. That is also the place to contribute feature requests, bug reports and of course code and improvements – find the issue tracker here. Many of the improvements in this client release were only possible thanks to the help the developers received with testing, reporting issues and help with code and review.
The announcement email gives a special thanks to Alfie “Azelphur” Day and Roeland Jago Douma who contributed significant code bits to the sharing dialog on the client as well as some ownCloud server code. Dominik “Domme” Schmidt contributed to integrating the crash reporter, coming from his Tomahawk music player, in the ownCloud client. Kudos to them for their work!
