Cloud Storage is Getting Crowded – Google Drive vs. Dropbox, SkyDrive, SugarSync, and others: a cloud sync storage face-off

Google Drive has been released over the last couple of days, so it has prompted many sites to do comparisons of the different online storage cloud providers. A very good comparison that I have found is over at theverge.com. It’s over at: http://www.theverge.com/2012/4/24/2954960/google-drive-dropbox-skydrive-sugarsync-cloud-storage-competition

Note– if you are a Microsoft SkyDrive user, they are changing the “free” account from 25GB down to 7GB. However if you already have a SkyDrive account, you can “claim” your full 25GB by heading to your SkyDrive “Manage Storage” page (conveniently linked from the client’s menu bar icon). There is a link on that page to claim your full 25GB.

The article above basically mentions that they feel SugarSync is the overall best solution. I would agree with that, I used SugarSync for quite awhile, however one thing that I didn’t like about SugarSync, is some of the sharing capabilities of folders. To share a folder with someone, you choose the folder, click on “get share link” and you send the link out to the person you want to share it with. What you might not know/see, is the person you’ve shared the folder with cannot access your link until they sign-up for a SugarSync account themselves- something that I didn’t want the people I share links with to have to do.

Here’s an example of the above so you can see what I mean:

For the above, I made a test folder with a test file inside the folder. I then shared the folder with a link. When you click on that link however, you’ll see the above page- SugarSync wants them to signup for an account before they can get access to the files you’ve shared with them.

Personally I’ve switched over to Dropbox, as their sharing capabilities are quick, easy and I can share files or folders through links– and they don’t require the person I’m sharing the link with to signup for an account in order to access the files.

Denver VMware User Group (VMUG) May 30th 2012

Pulled from the VMware User Group website…there is an upcoming all-day VMware User Group in Denver, register here http://www.vmug.com/index.php?mo=cm&op=ld&fid=222

Join your fellow VMware users at this free, full-day event for in-depth technical sessions, demonstrations, exhibits, and networking opportunities. Come to Denver to meet with your peers and industry experts to discuss virtualization trends, best practices, and the latest technology! Visit the Denver VMUG User Conference event page to reserve your place at this event now. Take advantage of these educational and networking opportunities: 8 VMware educational sessions 12 partner education tracks Exhibitor area with VMware partners Complimentary breakfast and lunch Registration is complimentary, so register today!

Dan Brinkmann will be speaking at Citrix Summit and BriForum London in May

Dan Brinkmann, Solutions Architect at Lewan & Associates will be speaking next month at both Citrix Summit (partner conference followed by Synergy the user conference) and BriForum London (Desktop Virtualization conference).  Dan posted a little bit about what he’ll be speaking about at this conference on his personal blog, contribute!  http://blog.danbrinkmann.com/2012/04/10/my-upcoming-presentation-at-citrix-summit-and-briforum-london/

Apple Mail in OS X Lion vs Sparrow v1.5

I’ve been pretty happy with Apple Mail, which I use on my Mac for a few personal email accounts (including an iCloud account and a Gmail account). However some things just annoy me with it. Compared to Gmail and other email providers, sometimes the flexibility is lacking or it just doesn’t work the way you think it should. It also might be my imagination, but it seems to be running slower with my large email amount than it has in the past. So I stumbled across another email program for the Mac called “Sparrow”. So far, it’s worked amazingly with both my iCloud account and my Gmail account. It’s very fast and responsive and has some things that seem easier to do in my opinion compared to Apple Mail. If Apple Mail is getting you a little irritated, I’d suggest taking a look at Sparrow.

http://www.sparrowmailapp.com/mac.php

They have a “free”, ad support version, or a paid version which costs $9.95.
One thing to note, they don’t support Microsoft Exchange accounts like Apple Mail does. So if you need Exchange support, you’ll need to stick with Apple Mail or Microsoft Office 2011.

Happy emailing!