On 04/21/2015 11:07 AM, David T-G wrote:
Anton, et al --
...and then Anton Aylward said... % % On 04/21/2015 09:38 AM, Billie Walsh wrote: % > % > I store my genealogy database in Dropbox. No matter which of my % > computers I use to add or make changes all my computers always have the % > up-to-date file to use. % % The thing with Dropbox is that you copy back and forth. [snip]
To be fair, the common use of DropBox and other Cloud sync services is that you have a copy on your machine and the software keeps that in sync with the Cloud copy, so there is no "copy back and forth" but instead the local copy is kept the same on all sites. Edit on computer A, and the changes show up on computer B in a few minutes (or when both have gone online again).
It sounds like you're simply speaking of a remote repository from which you'll copy, work on your local cache instance, and then have to put back. Yeah, thatis fraught with peril.
All other things being equal, I generally agree that you can't beat the convenience of a single central copy, especially when you get locking as well. But for those who have the possibility of working remotely, a sync service (and one smart enough to detect and manage conflicts) is much more capable.
Now... Did I completely misunderstand, or are we simply talking about two different approaches?
No but you've stated the problem:
Edit on computer A, and the changes show up on computer B in a few minutes (or when both have gone online again).
It won't take much juggling to have both A and B off-line after getting a copy, update to A and update to B differently, then both go back on-line. What to you think happens? I can see a number of scenarios but unless Dropbox is using some kind of differential merge technology one set of updates is going to be lost. Suppose A goes back on-line first. The sync means copy(A) -> Dropbox. Now what happens when B goes on-line? One of two things depending on timestamps. EITHER copy(B)->Dropbox, pause, Dropbox->A overwriting the (earlier) copy(A) OR Dropbox -> B overwriting copy(B) Similarly, symmetrically if B goes on-line first. if Dropbox tries to do a three-way diff-merge, then what?
But for those who have the possibility of working remotely, a sync service (and one smart enough to detect and manage conflicts) is much more capable.
its a pretty classical problem :-( -- A: Yes. > Q: Are you sure? >> A: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation. >>> Q: Why is top posting frowned upon? -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org