Dropbox vs Google Drive: Comparison of Cloud Online File Sharing and Storage Tools

Dropbox vs Google Drive: Comparison of Cloud Online File Sharing and Storage Tools

In this article "Dropbox vs Google Drive", we are going to compare two mega tools of cloud online file sharing and storage. Although Dropbox is the biggest and oldest player in the cloud market (online file sharing and storage), Google Drive has proved itself as an alternative and top competitor of Dropbox. We will compare various features of Dropbox and Google Drive like Free and Premium Online File Storage Space, Which one is cheap in online storage, What platforms both Dropbox and Google Drive support, File Synchronization, Ease of File Sharing features, File Type Support, and Security Features of both Dropbox and Google Drive. So, lets start comparing both Dropbox and Google Drive.

1. Online File Storage Space

Dropbox

Dropbox starts you off with 2GB of free storage but you get referral perks, that is 500 MB of extra space for every friend you refer Dropbox to. More than 35 referrals later, you’ll be able to earn a maximum of 18GB, giving you a grand total of 20GB inclusive of your initial 2GB.

For more storage, you can opt for the Pro Dropbox account that offers 100GB, 200GB and 500GB from $9.99, $19.99 and $49.99 per month respectively or save 17% by paying $99, $199 and $499 yearly.

Google Drive

Google Drive is readily available within your Gmail account. From there you start with 5GB worth of storage space. Additional space can be purchased with a wide variety of plans (ranging from 25GB to 16TB). Upgrading to any account will also give you the same amount of storage in Picasa while your Gmail Storage is upgraded to 25GB.

2. Platforms

Dropbox

The Dropbox desktop application is available on Windows, Mac OS and Linux. Dropbox is also available on iOS, Android and BlackBerry. Dropbox is the only service that currently natively supports Linux; and also the only service to support BlackBerry.

Google Drive

Google Drive is available for Windows and Mac OS; however unlike Dropbox, it has no native support for Linux and relies on third party programs. In terms of mobile, Google Drive is available only on iOS and Android.

3. Synchronization

Both Google Drive and Dropbox offer options to choose which folders you would want synced to the cloud.

We tested syncing a 50MB file with both programs, with interesting results. By default, Dropbox is significantly slower, because it automatically throttles your upload speeds. However, this is all tweakable in Dropbox's preferences. You can change how fast it uploads and downloads files, which is great if you don't want it to steal bandwidth from other important things (like video chatting, games, or BitTorrent). Google Drive doesn't give you these options, which is kind of annoying. With Dropbox set to "Don't Limit", it uploaded files at the same speed as Google Drive in our tests.

However, Dropbox also has LAN sync, which means transferring files to another computer on your network is going to be a lot faster than Google Drive, which will download it from the servers instead of the other computer. After uploading our 50MB file to Dropbox, it took less than a minute to show up on our other machine, while Google Drive took about 3 more minutes.

Drive is also really annoying in the sense that it doesn't give you any information about how fast it's syncing or when it's done. Dropbox's system tray icon will not only show you when it's uploading or downloading just by looking at the icon, but if you hover over it, it'll also show you how fast it's going and how long it thinks the transfer will take.

It'll also notify you when new files are added. Drive doesn't do any of these things. To see if it's syncing, you have to right-click on it, and it'll only tell you that it's syncing—now how fast it's going or how long it'll take. It doesn't have any notifications, so the only way to see when it's done is to right-click on it compulsively, reload your Drive folder in Windows explorer, or visit the web interface. Dropbox wins this section by a mile.

4. Online File Sharing Ease

Both apps do pretty well at sharing files, they just work in slightly different ways. Dropbox lets you share files by right-clicking on them in Windows Explorer or the Finder and getting a link to share with your friends. Google Drive forces you to go the webapp, and has a slightly confusing method of sharing files—if you check a file and go to More > Share, you can send it as an email attachment with Gmail or Share with other people. When you click Share, you either type in the names of other Google users to add it to their Google Drive, or click "Change" next to "Who Has Access" to share it with "anyone that has the link" or "public on the web". It's a bit more convoluted, and we wish there was better desktop integration, but at least the feature is there. Both services also let you share entire folders with other people, for easy collaboration.

Google Drive, however, has an edge in the collaboration department. Not only can you share folders, but it also has all of Google Docs' built-in collaboration features that we love so much. By sharing a document with another Docs user, they can edit the file, make comments, and so on. That way, you don't just see the edited file, you see what they've done and can chat with them in real time as they do it.

5. File Type Support

You can upload any file type to the cloud but you can view only file types that are supported. If the service does not support the file, all you can do is download it onto your computer to view and edit. Videos and images are supported on all three services, but we need to wait longer for audio playback as it is against copyright law. Each service has varying levels of file support.

Dropbox

Dropbox does not have any online document editor which means files only can be downloaded. However, for the Dropbox app on your smartphone or tablet, you are able to view Microsoft Office files, Apple iWork files, audio/video files, images, and PDF files. Documents cannot be edited with the app but can be opened with another editing app.

Google Drive

The Google Drive website supports unique files like Adobe Illustrator (.AI) and Photoshop (.PSD) files, Autodesk AutoCad files and Scalable Vector Graphics files. You can also view Microsoft Office documents, but can only edit it after converting it to a Google Docs file type.

The Google Drive app does not fully support viewing the unique files like its website counterpart does. However, you can do basic edits to Google Docs files and view movie files through the app.

6. Security

Using cloud storage services means your files are online. This situation is a whole lot more vulnerable than having your files confined to your computer at home. But rest assured that these services have solutions for your security woes.

Dropbox and Google Drive have a 2-step verification feature when logging in to your account through the website. A standard email and password login is followed by a second punch-in of a security code sent to your smartphone by SMS or by using the Google Authenticator App (iOS/Android).

7. Other Features

Dropbox

Besides ‘earning’ storage space through referrals, you can get more free space by using Dropbox’s Camera Upload feature on your desktop or smartphone. Dropbox also has a unlimited undo (version) history feature for an extra $39 a year, only available with a Pro Dropbox account.

Uploading files through the Dropbox website has a limit of 300MB. Whereas, uploads through the Dropbox Desktop app have no file size limit.

Dropbox has also successfully integrated with Facebook Groups where you can share files from your dropbox files to your Facebook Groups.

Google Drive

Google Drive allows you to disable automatic deletion of old versions which means you can keep all file revisions as long as you want although doing this maxes out your storage space quickly.

Google Drive is also an online document editor which converts your Microsoft Office document (.doc / .docx) into a Google Document (.gdoc) before editing.

There is a file size upload limit of 10GB on the desktop app and website version.

Best Online Free File Sharing and Storage Tools: SkyDrive vs Google Drive vs iCloud vs Dropbox

Best Online Free File Sharing and Storage Tools: SkyDrive vs Google Drive vs iCloud vs Dropbox

If you are looking to use cloud tools to share and store your files and folders online for free, you have options of Microsoft SkyDrive, Google Drive, Apple iCloud and Dropbox. These are the big names of Cloud Platform for providing you the free storage space for your files on the cloud. You can store, share and modify your files and folder online on cloud using these free cloud tools. Microsoft SkyDrive, Google Drive, Apple iCloud and Dropbox are the best free online sharing and storage cloud tools available for you. Microsoft SkyDrive provides you 7GB free storage, Google Drive and Apple iCloud provides you 5GB free online storage while Dropbox provides you 2GB free online storage. If you want to use more space, then you would have to go for premium membership with these services which is also not very costly. We will also have a look upon the cost offered by these online tools for sharing and storing your files online.

1. Microsoft SkyDrive (7GB)

For starters, SkyDrive gives users 7GB of storage for documents, photos, videos, and whatever else. SkyDrive also offers much better prices per year for additional space: 20GB for $10, 50GB for $25, and 100GB for $50. Compare that to $100 for Apple’s 50GB of storage, SkyDrive’s online backups, and its compatibility with iPad, iPhone, and Macs, suddenly it’s not much of a conversation. Of course, if you’re Apple all the way then iCloud may win on convenience alone. But if you have some Windows or Android products in your collection, SkyDrive’s flexibility is a definite asset as iCloud is only compatible with Apple devices.

2. Google Drive (5GB)

Google Drive is another popular cloud storage option and users of the free service are treated to 5GB as the standard. If that’s not enough you can sign up for 25GB for $2.49 per month (approx. $30 yearly) or 100GB for $4.99 (approx. $60 yearly). Google Drive may not be more affordable than SkyDrive or as good at back ups as iCloud, but it does have the advantage of supporting up to 16 terabytes of storage for users who need unwieldly amounts of data.

3. Apple iCloud (5GB)

Apple iCloud offers you 5GB free space. After this you’ll have to upgrade your account. You will get 10GB for $20, 20GB for $40, and 50GB for $100. These offerings aren’t straightforward, however, and there are a few additional details around the service. The extra storage doesn’t include the free 5GB in the total so you’d actually be getting 15GB, 25GB, and 55GB. The yearly fee also has free, unlimited backups for apps, books, purchased music (not available in all countries), TV shows (US-only), and movies. Actual storage space is used for photos, videos, settings (wallpaper, mail, contacts, etc), app data and organization, messages, and ringtones.

4. Dropbox (2GB)

Another strong contender is Dropbox. The platform agnostic service offers 2GB of free space, assuming you don’t earn more space through referrals, the platform offers a “Pro” option. Users can obtain 100GB for $100 per year ($10 monthly), 200GB for $200 ($20 monthly), and 500GB for $500 ($50 monthly). The advantage with Dropbox is you can access a lot more space, but if you’re only after 100GB, then SkyDrive is still your best option.

Dropbox vs Apple iCloud: Alternative and Competitors of Dropbox

Dropbox vs Apple iCloud: Alternative and Competitors of Dropbox

Apple iCloud can be treated as alternative to Dropbox as iCloud is claiming to be a strong competitor of Dropbox in Cloud Market (Online File Sharing and Storage Market). iCloud is giving more online free storage space to the users (5GB as compared to 2GB given by dropbox) and competing in lot of other features with dropbox like online syncing of files and folders, online apps and access, offline usage etc. Let have a comparison (Dropbox vs Apple iCloud) between iCloud and Dropbox (Online File Sharing and Storage Cloud Tools).

Dropbox Online File Storage

Dropbox's primary advantages right now is its 100 millon-strong user base as well as a head start when it comes to working across multiple platforms. The company is hoping that the new tools will press those advantages and help it in its quest to move beyond the increasingly commodified market of cloud storage and into a new space of providing content services instead of basic file sync, backup, and storage.

Free space: 2GB
Premium space: $99/year for 100GB
File size limit: Unlimited
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, BlackBerry
Best for: Seamless syncing

Apple iCloud Online File Storage

Free space: 5GB: Apple had announced that they will provide 20GB free space but later on they snatched 15GB from their users and now only providing 5GB and you have to upgrade your account to enjoy more space. You will have to pay annual fee for extra storage. The yearly fee also has free, unlimited backups for apps, books, purchased music (not available in all countries), TV shows (US-only), and movies. Actual storage space is used for photos, videos, settings (wallpaper, mail, contacts, etc), app data and organization, messages, and ringtones.

Premium space: $100/year for 50GB
File size limit: 25MB free/250MB paid
Platforms: Mac, iOS, Windows
Best for: Heavy iTunes/Mac users

Online Syncing of Files and Folders

Dropbox providea desktop clients for Windows and Mac and offers an official Linux tool. Each app designates a hard-drive folder, and anything saved here is automatically synced to the cloud and your other devices.

To comply with the Dropbox API, Writer directly reads from and saves to the Dropbox servers. While the document will save frequently, there is also a Sync icon for manually saving to Dropbox. Documents are not stored locally, and at present you can’t view or edit them (except for the currently open document) if your device is offline. Because of this if you are occasionally offline we recommend you use iCloud for syncing instead.

Apple iCloud is tightly integrated into the Mac OS and a growing number of iOS apps, and its focus is more towards being an invisible syncing and backup solution, rather than a catch-all digital locker.

iCloud syncs documents across all your devices, and any documents you’ve created or viewed on your device will be available for offline use. Any documents you create or edits you make while offline will be synced the next time you use Writer while online.

Online apps and access

Dropbox has perfected the art of sharing files and folders on the web - it's as easy as passing along a URL, whether or not the recipient also uses Dropbox.

Dropbox doesn't offer browser-based apps, it does have a flexible web interface listing your folders and files. Many file types - covering PDFs, documents, video, photos and music - can be viewed in the browser, even if there are no editing features.

iCloud includes basic notes, contacts and calendar tools, but no web-based office suite, and no online file explorer to take a look at your content. iCloud doesn't offer web access, easy file sharing or collaboration - its focus is more on single users.

Mobile & Offline Use

iCloud and Dropbox work differently when offline:

Using iCloud Offline

If your device can not connect to iCloud, all changes are stored locally and synced the next time you have a connection. If you edited the same iCloud document on two different devices, iCloud will determine which one is newer, or will ask you to choose. Only documents you’ve created or opened on that device are cached for offline use.

Using Dropbox Offline

If you want to edit a document from Dropbox offline, please copy or move it to “Documents” in the Storage List while you still have access to the internet.

If your connection drops while editing or saving a document on Dropbox, the document will be copied to the device’s local storage if necessary to avoid data loss. You can then move it back to Dropbox later.

Conclusion: Dropbox vs iCloud

The new Dropbox APIs are more of a direct attack on iCloud than its previous tools, which weren't as easy to implement as Apple's solution. iCloud is built into iOS 6 and is relatively easy for developers, but offers very limited and often confusing file access to end users — especially on non-iOS platforms.

Dropbox is ultimately aiming for a usable balance between traditional file system access on desktops, simplified and abstracted content on mobile, and above all cross-platform file syncing. It's much closer to hitting that target than its competitors may realize, but it's not likely that they will quietly cede the market to Dropbox. 100 million users may seem impressive, but Dropbox will need a lot more to stave off the likes of Microsoft, Apple, and Google.

Cloud Online File Sharing and Storage Comparison: Dropbox vs Google Drive vs Microsoft SkyDrive

Cloud Online File Sharing and Storage Comparison: Dropbox vs Google Drive vs Microsoft SkyDrive

Dropbox has a lot of competitors in the cloud online file sharing and storage market. Google Drive and Microsoft SkyDrive are proving to be the best alternatives to Dropbox. Although Dropbox is still the king in Cloud Market, both Google Drive and Microsoft SkyDrive are the tough competitors of Dropbox in many aspects. We will have a small comparison and discussion on "Dropbox vs Google Drive vs Microsoft SkyDrive" to evaluate these three leaders of cloud online file sharing and storage market. Lets start from dropbox:

Dropbox

Dropbox is the best solution for syncing files across multiple devices.

Dropbox allows groups to share files with a couple clicks, and offers few settings for you to mess up. Perhaps the app's greatest strength is the API it's built on, which hundreds of developers have used to create apps that utilize Dropbox. It's right up there with Evernote as the most developer-friendly storage/syncing platforms that apps can leverage to help you access your data everywhere.

But, Dropbox does have some drawbacks:

 

1. It offers just 2GB of storage for free, and forces you to keep everything you need synced inside of just one folder (though you can pick which folders you want synced within your Dropbox).

2. Extra storage is very expensive — Dropbox offers 100GB of storage for $19.99/month, while Google Drive offers the same amount of storage for $4.99/month.

Additionally, it would be pretty futile to try to use Dropbox as a complete backup tool because it would mean that you've have to store everything you want to back up inside your Dropbox folder. Dropbox is ultra-reliable and plugged in to all your favorite apps, but doesn't offer a ton of options. Pricing: 50GB for $9.99/month ($99.99/year); 100GB for $19.99/month ($199.99/year).

Google Drive and Microsoft SkyDrive as Alternatives to Dropbox

Google Drive:

Google Drive lets you sync multiple folders, collaborate with friends, and stream data to your mobile device. Google drive is full of many attractive features like:

1. Google Drive can open up to 30 kinds of files right inside your browser. Dropbox and a few others open files inside a "web gallery," but Google Drive opens Photoshop files — even if you don't have Photoshop on your computer. To this extent, Google Drive creates a QuickLook-esque experience inside your web browser that makes it much easier to thumb through files. Google Drive also includes an option to turn on OCR text scanning, which means that when you upload images to Google Drive, Google will scan the images for text and make them searchable.

2. Google Drive offers the same drag-and-drop syncing as Dropbox, and lets you pick which folders inside Drive you want to sync from within the desktop app. Also like Dropbox, you cannot pick other folders on your computer to sync to Drive. In this way, Drive's real strengths lie on the web. It'll also tie right in to Google+, Gmail, Android, and other Google services that will let you drop-in or upload files (almost like you might with attachments inside Sparrow for Mac, which can instantly upload attachments to CloudApp). Additionally, Drive features a built-in document editor on par with Microsoft's online Office suite that's part of SkyDrive. You can't yet use Drive with multiple Google accounts, which is a pain, but we'd expect that feature in due time.

3. Google Drive launches on the web, for Mac, Windows, and Android devices with iOS support. The Android app (which replaces Google Docs) won't stream your content, however, unlike some competitors like Dropbox and SugarSync. Drive comes with 5GB of storage free, with generous upgrade options.

Microsoft SkyDrive

SkyDrive is Microsoft's syncing solution, and it works very smoothly. SkyDrive starts things off right by offering 7GB of free storage, which is best in class. If you move quickly (and have used SkyDrive before), you can quickly nab 25GB of total free storage space.

SkyDrive really excels at syncing documents created using OneNote and other Microsoft Office products like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. SkyDrive creates an experience akin to iCloud, but for Microsoft products — except you can also edit documents in groups like you can with Box or Dropbox. And like with Drive (and Google Docs), you can edit (and create) documents for free within your browser.

SkyDrive also lets you share public links, view-only private links, and view/edit private links, which is nice to have. SkyDrive makes for an extremely well-rounded entry — especially if you forgot to sync something with it. If your home PC is turned on, you can still access all your files using SkyDrive's "Fetch" feature.

JustCloud: Online File Sharing and Storage Tool: Hidden Costs and Review

JustCloud: Online File Sharing and Storage Tool: Hidden Costs and Review

JustCloud is the reputed name in the online file / data storage and sharing tools market. Also, JustCloud is economical cloud storage tool as compared to other file sharing and storage tools. JustCloud is one the most high quality cloud backup services which has tied up with Amazon to use their servers. It works seamlessly as expected, with daily backups set at a particular time everyday.

But there are several catches to using JustCloud which does not reveal apparently until the user has started using the paid services of JustCloud.

Apparently it will seem to be the best and the most economical service available, but think again before investing. Despite these, I am happily using the robust features of JustCloud for quite sometime now.

JustCloud will not allow you to backup video files and you will have to pay for it separately about 15$ per year. If that was not enough, the user also cannot backup any external hard drives. To backup external hard drive, user will have to pay about 40$, and for external drives over 500 GB, user will need to pay 80$ per year, phew!

These were the biggest catches. The other catches are:

1. Bandwidth enhancer which will speed up your backups

2. Increasing of sync space from the default 1 GB to upto 5/10/20 GB

3. Adding of network drives for backup

4. Hourly backup instead of the default daily backup

5. Access to your previous versions of files. JustCloud keeps all the versions of your files. But to access the older versions, you will have to pay a fee.

6. Increasing maximum backup file size to 5 GB from the default 1 GB. While 1 GB suffices for most users, but if you are dealing with large HD video files or movies, you will be in a tricky situation

Dropbox Alternatives and Competitors: Dropbox vs Other Online File Sharing and Storage Tools

Dropbox Alternatives and Competitors: Dropbox vs Other Online File Sharing and Storage Tools

Dropbox is a big name in the online file sharing and storage market. But there are a lot of alternatives and competitors of dropbox present in the online file sharing and storage market. 

As there are some security and safety concerns with dropbox, people are searching for alternatives to dropbox to store their data online. A lot of competitors of dropbox are there in software market. We will have a detailed discussion on various alternatives to dropbox and competitors of dropbox. We will mainly focus on the features of Microsoft Live Mesh, Spider Oak, SugarSync, Wuala, Amazon Cloud Drive, Box, Syncplicity, Cubby, Huddle,  Egnyte, ShareFile, TeamDrive, Cloudme, CX etc. These are giving very tough competition to dropbox in syncing data with various devices or networks, online storage space, security and safety settings, encrypted data backup and recovery, media streaming etc.

Here goes the list of Alternatives to Dropbox: Dropbox Competitors

1. Microsoft Live Mesh: Microsoft's file syncing tool works really well in the background. You can use Live Mesh just for local syncing and/or 5GB of SkyDrive's online storage space (out of SkyDrive's 25GB max). As you might expect, Live Mesh has some unique benefits for Windows users: you can remote control your Live Sync connected Windows computer (similar to Remote Desktop Connection) and sync Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer program settings. SkyDrive is also where Office Web Apps online documents are stored, so you get that integration as well.

Storage: Up to 25 GB Free, per SkyDrive Account

Desktop Support: Windows Vista SP2 or later, Mac OSX 10.5 or later

Browser Support: IE 7 or later preferred

Mobile Clients: None

2. SpiderOak: Besides its really strong "zero knowledge" security features, SpiderOak is very versatile: it can sync not only your desktop or mobile device but your external drive or network volume as well—so you can use it to keep your desktop, laptop, and USB thumb drive in sync, for example. SpiderOak offers a lot of information about your backups, uploads, and syncs, so you always feel in control of your data. Refer a friend and you get an additional 1GB more free space (up to 50GB max for the free referral space).

Storage: 2 GB Free, with Personal and Enterprise Plans Available

Desktop Support: PCs with Windows XP or greater, Mac 10.5 or later, and the more popular Linux distributions

Browser Support: Most modern Web browsers

Mobile Clients: iPhone and iPad with iOS 4, Android 2 or later, Blackberry 4 or later

3. SugarSync: SugarSync does what Dropbox does, but lacks the LAN sync and strong API support. It makes up for that in more features for media streaming, mobile syncing (including auto syncing photos and folders from Android devices), and folders selection and permissions/passwords settings. SugarSync's web interface has a bit more functionality than Dropbox, with its separation of photos from files and also a very useful direct editing feature where you can edit files from within the webapp. You get a generous 5GB free to start with and can earn 500MB more space for each referral.

Storage: 5 GB Free, with Personal and Enterprise Plans Available

Desktop Support: PCs with Windows XP or later and Mac Desktops 10.4 or later

Browser Support: IE, Firefox 3 or later, Safari 4 or later, Chrome

Mobile Clients: iOS 4, Android 2 or later, Blackberry OS 4 or later, Windows Phone 7, and Symbian

4. Wuala: From Swiss storage manufacturer LaCie, Wuala, like SpiderOak, offers locally encrypted data backup and syncing. Although the 1GB of free storage space is on the low end to start with, Wuala has a unique way to earn additional storage: you can buy more space or exchange unused storage on your computer (e.g., empty space on an external drive) for more storage on Wuala.

5. Amazon Cloud Drive: Amazon's drive offering is particularly attractive if you're looking for a way to store your music library. They recently added Safari support, so if you're on an iPhone or iPad you can now use the service. If you're already set up with a Cloud Drive account, and have some music in it, just point Safari to the Cloud Player sign in page and you'll see the desktop interface on your iOS device. Sign into your account and you'll see the desktop interface on your iOS device.

On the downside, there's no sync service or automated way to add your non-music files. It's all manual upload and download. This is a fair place to hold your music library, but not useful for much else, given the options available today. Also, being forced to manually upload files via a Web browser gives the product a rushed and unfinished feel. However, it's hard to complain about a free place to store your music. If you're looking for a good place to store and stream your music library and can use some rudimentary non-music file storage as well, then Amazon Cloud Drive may work for you.

Storage: 5 GB Free, or 20 GB free with purchase of an album from the Amazon MP3 store

Desktop Support: Any OS that supports Flash

Browser Support: Any browser with Flash 9 or 10, newest browser versions preferred but not required

Mobile Clients: Android 2 or later, and browser support for Apple devices with iOS 4

6. Box: Box.net offers 5 GB of free cloud storage with a 25-MB file size limit. Storage is accessible by only one user, and access to your data via mobile app also is free. Box.net provides paid options for 25 GB and 50 GB at $10 and $20 per month, respectively, with 1-GB file size limits each.

Box.net offers up to 500 GB of shared storage, the most among the products within this roundup, with a collaborative toolset and workspace for up to three users for $15 per user, per month. Enterprise customers with needs beyond three users are encouraged to call Box.net for pricing. The features and functionality offered here are best suited to enterprise customers. Box.net's complete set of collaborative tools, larger shared storage allotments, and associated costs are geared toward businesses with distributed work teams.

Storage: 5 GB Free

Desktop Support: Windows Vista SP2 or later, Mac OSX 10.5 or later

Browser Support: Mobile browser--Web Kit compatible

Mobile Clients: iOS 4.0 or later, Android 2.0 or later

7. Syncplicity: Syncplicity offers the same sync and share features of Dropbox with a decided enterprise slant. For example, admins can control which devices can access cloud storage inside or outside the company. Data retention policies can help admins find and remove documents that violate company data protection policies.

In a nod to the existing data protection measures in a large enterprise that allows an admin to wipe the data on connected laptop, Syncplicity also provides a way to wipe a user account for computers and mobile devices. The service uses audited security encryption technologies such as SOC 1 and standards such as the Department of Defense's DoD 5220.22. Finally, the admin console is more robust than some; accounts can be pre-configured for access to specific files and folders for employee groups.

8. Cubby: The name might not make you think of an industrial strength cloud service, but Cubby-from the same company that makes the LogMeIn remote access tool-is a sure step above Dropbox. All user files are protected using SSL encryption; each user gets a separate encryption key. (In a few weeks, Cubby will release a beta for an optional high-security mode that will store encryption keys off-line so that only the user has access to the key.) During a data transfer between users, encryption keys form a tight bond between the two endpoints.

One interesting differentiator for Cubby is that information is stored in a data center owned and operated by LogMeIn, not Amazon or another third party. Like LogMeIn itself, Cubby works on the desktop and through a mobile app in addition to working through any browser.

9. Huddle: Huddle is more than just a place to keep files. The new service, designed for the enterprise, is more like a collaborative environment. This is also one of the strengths of the service in terms of security; repositories are organized according to workgroups and for those inside and outside the company.

Because the service is not designed to be a cloud storage service, the system tracks all documents and transfers. Admins can look up the rights to any document, check who has ownership and see how the document has been distributed in the organization. They can even see a history of comments on documents. Like LogMeIn, Huddle uses a company-owned data center that is ISO 27001 certified. The company conducts regular penetration testing and use enterprise-class firewalls.

10. Egnyte: Like most of the cloud storage systems listed here, Egnyte includes the usual admin console and file encryption options, but several unique feature make this cloud storage portal worth considering. Admins can assign permissions on a more granular level-down to sub-folders within sub-folders.

While other storage tools provide desktop and mobile apps, Egnyte also provides a way to create a mapped network drive or access from FTP. There's also a way to generate an audit report showing permission and encryption levels. An enterprise version provides up to 3TB of storage and an unlimited number of users, while a unique "server sync" feature creates a sync between a server and the cloud.

11. ShareFile: Another smart alternative to Dropbox, ShareFile (now owned by Citrix) is a stark departure from consumer-level features. IT admins can use a unique "poison pill" option that sets an expiration point for any file. They can also perform a remote data wipe for any computer or mobile device.

12. TeamDrive: TeamDrive is a more secure version of online file sharing services and it uses AES-256 algorithm for encryption plus the public key feature makes it totally reliable and one of the best Dropbox alternative. It is ideal for Private users, small companies, corporations and supports all the platforms like  iOS, Linux and Windows. You also get a a free storage advantage over Dropbox with it’s 10 GB free online storage space. In addition you can also choose between hosted services, your own server or pre-installed TeamDrive cloud.

13. Cloudme: The feature that distinguishes this DropBox alternative from other listed so far is the creative Web Desktop, that allows you to have your own Desktop in the Cloud. You can then customize and increase productivity of your own Web OS by installing apps and create a working environment. This also enables you to to directly listen to your own music, look at images and edit photos. The Cloudme.com supports all the platforms including iOS and Android which means you can also directly Back-up and share information from you smartphones and mobile devices. The email support, MSN, ICQ, Google Talk, Yahoo and AIM integration makes this best Dropbox alternatives which is further accentuated with its free 3GB stirage space.

14. CX: A more social and interactive way to share files using cloud service, the Cx.com provides a free 10GB storage and a neat interface. You can Sync your files to just about every platform including  iOS,Mac, Windows, Kindle and Android but that’s not what differentiates it from the rest of DropBox alternatives. The ability to comment on shared files, add friends, create groups, and then share your files publicly or privately is what makes this one of the best DropBox Alternatives.

Basic Javascript Technical Interview Questions and Answers for Web Developers - Objective and Subjective

Basic Javascript Technical Interview Questions and Answers for Web Developers - Objective and Subjective

In this tutorial on "Basic Javascript Technical Interview Questions and Answers For Web Developers", we will discuss some questions which are frequenty and commonly asked when you sit in a  technical interview on Javascript. So, if you are going for job interview and have mentioned javascript in your CV, you must go through the following javascript interview questions and answers. We will cover very basic things about javascript here like basic introdurction to javascript, datatypes in javascript, syntax of javascript and basic DOM events associated with javascript. Here goes the list of javascript interview questions and answers:

1. What is JavaScript?

JavaScript is a platform-independent,event-driven, interpreted client-side scripting language developed by Netscape Communications Corp. and Sun Microsystems.

JavaScript is a general-purpose programming language designed to let programmers of all skill levels control the behavior of software objects. The language is used most widely today in Web browsers whose software objects tend to represent a variety of HTML elements in a document and the document itself.

But the language is used with other kinds of objects in other environments. For example, Adobe Acrobat Forms uses JavaScript as its underlying scripting language to glue together objects that are unique to the forms generated by Adobe Acrobat.

Therefore, it is important to distinguish JavaScript, the language, from the objects it can communicate with in any particular environment.

When used for Web documents, the scripts go directly inside the HTML documents and are downloaded to the browser with the rest of the HTML tags and content.

2. How is JavaScript different from Java?

Don't be fooled by the term Java in both. Both are quite different technologies.

JavaScript was developed by Brendan Eich of Netscape; Java was developed at Sun Microsystems. While the two languages share some common syntax, they were developed independently of each other and for different audiences. Java is a full-fledged programming language tailored for network computing; it includes hundreds of its own objects, including objects for creating user interfaces that appear in Java applets (in Web browsers) or standalone Java applications. In contrast, JavaScript relies on whatever environment it's operating in for the user interface, such as a Web document's form elements.

JavaScript was initially called LiveScript at Netscape while it was under development. A licensing deal between Netscape and Sun at the last minute let Netscape plug the "Java" name into the name of its scripting language. Programmers use entirely different tools for Java and JavaScript. It is also not uncommon for a programmer of one language to be ignorant of the other. The two languages don't rely on each other and are intended for different purposes. In some ways, the "Java" name on JavaScript has confused the world's understanding of the differences between the two. On the other hand, JavaScript is much easier to learn than Java and can offer a gentle introduction for newcomers who want to graduate to Java and the kinds of applications you can develop with it.

3. What is the official JavaScript website?

This is a trick question used by interviewers to evaluate the candidate’s knowledge of JavaScript. Most people will simply say javascript.com is the official website.

The truth is- there is no official website for Javascript you can refer to. It was developed by Brendan Eich for Netscape. It was based on the ECMAScript language standard; ECMA-262 being the official JavaScript standard.

4. What’s relationship between JavaScript and ECMAScript?

ECMAScript is yet another name for JavaScript (other names include LiveScript). The current JavaScript that you see supported in browsers is ECMAScript revision 3.

5. What are the various datatypes in javascript?

Number
String
Boolean
Function
Object
Null
Undefined

6. What boolean operators does JavaScript support?

&&, || and !

7. What is negative infinity?

It’s a number in JavaScript, derived by dividing negative number by zero.

8. Is it possible to check if a variable is an object?

Yes, it is possible to do so. The following piece of code will help achieve the same.

if(abc && typeof abc === "object") {
console.log('abc is an object and does not return null value');
}

9. Can you explain what isNaN function does?

isNaN function will check an argument and return TRUE (1) if the argument does not seem to be a number.

10. How do you convert numbers between different bases in JavaScript?

Use the parseInt() function, that takes a string as the first parameter, and the base as a second parameter. So to convert hexadecimal 3F to decimal, use parseInt ("3F", 16);

11. What is the difference between undefined value and null value?

undefined means a variable has been declared but has not yet been assigned a value. On the other hand, null is an assignment value. It can be assigned to a variable as a representation of no value.

Also, undefined and null are two distinct types: undefined is a type itself (undefined) while null is an object.

Unassigned variables are initialized by JavaScript with a default value of undefined. JavaScript never sets a value to null. That must be done programmatically.

12. What is the difference between “==” and “===”?

While “==” checks only for equality, “===” checks for equality as well as the type.

13. Differentiate between “var a=2” and “a =2”

The major difference between the two is that one variable is local and the other is global. “var” basically defines the scope of the variable.

When we add var to a variable value assignment, javascript ensures that the variable is confined to whichever function it is assigned to and does not collide with the same name variable within another function.

When we don’t use var, then it is declared as a global function and chances of collision can happen. So it’s always advisable to use “var” before variable value assignment. If needed use an anonymous function for closure.

14.  What is Javascript namespacing? How and where is it used?

Using global variables in Javascript is evil and a bad practice. That being said, namespacing is used to bundle up all your functionality using a unique name. In JavaScript, a namespace is really just an object that you’ve attached all further methods, properties and objects. It promotes modularity and code reuse in the application.

15. What does "1"+2+4 evaluate to?

Since 1 is a string, everything is a string, so the result is 124.

16. How about 2+5+"8"?

Since 2 and 5 are integers, this is number arithmetic, since 8 is a string, it’s concatenation, so 78 is the result.

17. How to create arrays in JavaScript?

We can declare an array like this
var scripts = new Array();
We can add elements to this array like this

scripts[0] = "PHP";
scripts[1] = "ASP";
scripts[2] = "JavaScript";
scripts[3] = "HTML";

Now our array scrips has 4 elements inside it and we can print or access them by using their index number. Note that index number starts from 0. To get the third element of the array we have to use the index number 2 . Here is the way to get the third element of an array.
document.write(scripts[2]);
We also can create an array like this
var no_array = new Array(21, 22, 23, 24, 25);

 

18. How do you create a new object in JavaScript?

var obj = new Object(); or var obj = {};

19. How do you assign object properties?

obj["age"] = 17 or obj.age = 17

20. What’s a way to append a value to an array?

arr[arr.length] = value;

21. What is this keyword?

It refers to the current object.

 

22. How many looping structures can you find in javascript?

If you are a programmer, you know the use of loops. It is used to run a piece of code multiple times according to some particular condition. Javascript being a popular scripting language supports the following loops

for
while
do-while loop

23. Are javascript and jQuery different?

jQuery is a quick as well as concise JavaScript Library that simplifies HTML document traversing, animating, event handling, & Ajax interactions for the purpose of quick web development needs. So although they are not entirely different, both are not the same either!

24. Explain the strict mode in Javascript.

The strict mode ensures that if functions are not properly thought it, those are disabled. It also kept a check on potentially unsafe actions and throw errors when it happens.

25. Is it possible for you to write a one line JavaScript code that concatenates all strings passed into a function?

The following function should help in producing the desired result

function concatenate()
{
  return String.prototype.concat.apply('', arguments);
}

26. Explain Javascript closures.

A basic overview of javascript closures is that it is a stack-frame which is not de-allocated when the function returns.

27. What is event bubbling?

Event bubbling describes the behavior of events in child and parent nodes in the Document Object Model (DOM); that is, all child node events are automatically passed to its parent nodes. The benefit of this method is speed, because the code only needs to traverse the DOM tree once. This is useful when you want to place more than one event listener on a DOM element since you can put just one listener on all of the elements, thus code simplicity and reduction. One application of this is the creation of one event listener on a page’s body element to respond to any click event that occurs within the page’s body.

28. Difference between window.onload and onDocumentReady?

The onload event does not fire until every last piece of the page is loaded, this includes css and images, which means there’s a huge delay before any code is executed.

That isnt what we want. We just want to wait until the DOM is loaded and is able to be manipulated. onDocumentReady allows the programmer to do that.

 

29. How do you change the style/class on any element?

document.getElementById(“myText”).style.fontSize = “20″;
-or-
document.getElementById(“myText”).className = “anyclass”;

30. How is form submission possible via javascript?

We can achieve the desired form submission by using the function document.forms[0].submit().

It must be noted that the 0 in the piece of code given above refers to the form index. Say we have multiple forms on a particular page. To make all the form procession unique, we give each form index numbers. The first form will have the index number as 0. The second form will have an incremented number, 1. The third will have 2 and so on.

31. How JavaScript timers work? What is a drawback of JavaScript timers?

Timers allow you to execute code at a set time or repeatedly using an interval. This is accomplished with the setTimeout, setInterval, and clearInterval functions. The setTimeout(function, delay) function initiates a timer that calls a specific function after the delay; it returns an id value that can be used to access it later. The setInterval(function, delay) function is similar to the setTimeout function except that it executes repeatedly on the delay and only stops when cancelled. The clearInterval(id) function is used to stop a timer. Timers can be tricky to use since they operate within a single thread, thus events queue up waiting to execute.

32. How to get CheckBox status whether it is checked or not?

alert(document.getElementById('checkbox1').checked);

if it will be checked you will get true else false.

33. How to get value from a textbox?

alert(document.getElementById('txtbox1').value);

34. How to get value from dropdown (select) control?

alert(document.getElementById('dropdown1').value);

35. How to get value from RadioButtonList control?

Here id is the name property of the RadioButtonList

function GetRadioButtonValue(id)

        {

            var radio = document.getElementsByName(id);

            for (var ii = 0; ii < radio.length; ii++)

            {

                if (radio[ii].checked)

                    alert(radio[ii].value);

            }

        }

36. How to detect the operating system on the client machine?

In order to detect the operating system on the client machine, the navigator.appVersion
string (property) should be used.