[austenallred]

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863

> For a Linux user, you can already build such a system yourself quite trivially by getting an FTP account, mounting it locally with curlftpfs, and then using SVN or CVS on the mounted filesystem. From Windows or Mac, this FTP account could be accessed through built-in software.

This sounds like such an insane proposition relative to the Dropbox we know today.

The top comment is being pedantic that it doesn’t technically replace a USB drive because you have to install software and have access to the Internet. Hilarious in retrospect.

If the biggest complaint someone can have is “you have to have Internet” you’re doing OK.

[lmm]

> This sounds like such an insane proposition relative to the Dropbox we know today.

Does it? If you used WebDAV then you can mount a share in Windows or Linux even over the Internet, and windows at least is good at caching it while you're offline for short periods. For someone who has their own always-on Apache it seems like this would replicate most of the use cases for Dropbox. I think the point that's being missed is simply that most people would rather see a few ads or pay a small fee than administer their own Apache, not that what Dropbox offers is technically so far ahead.

[austenallred]

> For someone who has their own always-on Apache

I’m just guessing on numbers, but that probably describes <1% of the population. Most people think Apache is a word used only to describe helicopters.

[lmm]

Absolutely, and that's why Dropbox is successful. But I don't think the part you quoted is wrong as such; the typical HN user really could put together a few components and get something that does most of what Dropbox does.

[KGIII]

A small point really, but I'm not sure most people would only think it describes helicopters. I am guessing most people would think it is a tribe of Native Americans.

I admit that it's just a guess, but it does seem likely.

Again, not a major point.