[StanAngeloff]

I wonder if axing public folders was partially done because of the, at the time, upcoming Dropbox Professional? If you could share an interactive HTML mockup as part of the free service, there is little incentive to pay extra for a professional service.

[varenc]

I don't think the decision to remove the public folder had anything to do with making money. I think it was getting very little use by new users and it complicated the product.

And these days you can use a Dropbox API app to get something just as good and in some ways better than the public folder. Check out https://www.site44.com/ It has no problem linking to free Dropbox accounts. (though it is a paid service...)

[zapt02]

I disagree. They haven't publicly touted the feature for years but there are millions of files that are now dead and no longer accessible because they couldn't be arsed to keep minimal infrastructure in place to support it.

[varenc]

Public folders for legacy users were supported for several years after new users stopped getting the feature. The actual number of people still accessing public links after those years was quite low...

But yea, it certainly sucks to have to remove functionality, especially from such long time and loyal users. I just want to make the argument that this wasn't done to somehow trick people into upgrading their plans, but with the goal of creating a better product (which sometimes means a simpler product).

edit: For a timeline breakdown...accounts created after late 2012 stopped getting public folders. Public folders for legacy users kept working until March of this year. That's ~4.5 years of support for a feature only accessible to legacy accounts. They certainly did not foresee Dropbox Professional when they made the decision to stop creating more public folders. https://www.dropbox.com/help/files-folders/public-folder

[zapt02]

My thoughts exactly. This is such a poor way of treating your customers.