What To Expect Next From Sync


N4TE_B

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I find $40 per year a bit steep I would go for $ 25. However, I would also like to support this software, so I may do it. one suggestion. Why not pledge as a company a portion of each subscription to a good cause e.g. helping people in poor countries to obtain internet service. This would make paying the Pro version more attractive. 

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I am sorry but while this hole "now we want money" does not exactly come unexpected, it would still be great to get clear answer on what that means. How come this is not covered in the FAQs?

 

Can I keep using btsync without paying or not? what about in the future?

Do you want money for having a peer node available? there is web access - what else?

It that's the free vs pro version - how should I expect to see ads? e.g. on a linux server node?

 

To be frank - communication to your users really sucks.

I am just about to switch to the open source alternative.

It's just I that I really liked btsync.

 

cheers,

Torsten

 

 

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Can I keep using btsync without paying or not?

Yes, there will be both a "free" and a "pro" version of Sync 2.0. Also, Sync 1.3, 1.2, 1.1, 1.0, etc won't just suddenly stop working once 2.0 is released - you'll still be able to use them!

 

Do you want money for having a peer node available? there is web access - what else?

Not sure I understand your question?! But firstly, pricing for the "pro" version is not "per peer" it's "per individual". In relation to "web access" - you can already access Sync's Web UI in the current 1.4 versions.

The feature list/comparison of 2.0 "free" and 2.0 "pro" will be released in due course.

 

It that's the free vs pro version - how should I expect to see ads? e.g. on a linux server node?

 

There has been no mention/indication anywhere that the "free" version of Sync 2.0 will be "ad supported"!

Edited by GreatMarko
Corrected a couple of typos!
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Not sure I understand your question?!

 

To me it sounded like the pro version is essentially that btsync.com provides a peer node for me that is always on and therefor holds the copy of my data. Plus on top of that a web UI to access the data.

 

In relation to "web access" - you can already access Sync's Web UI in the current 1.3 versions.

 

Wait a sec - you don't mean the new UI?

You mean a web service where I can log in?

So that means btsync.com already has a copy of all my data somewhere?

 

 There has been no mention/indication anywhere that the "free" version of Sync 2.0 will be "ad supported"!

 

Hm. Odd - I picked it up somewhere.

 

Thanks for clarifying things.

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btsync.com is NOT affiliated with or endorsed in any way by BitTorrent Inc.

 

Darn - that's nasty. Now I still struggling to understand what the 40 bucks/year is for though. Pro vs Free. Anyway - you said this going to be clarified soon.

 

And I still would like to hear what you meant by "In relation to "web access" - you can already access Sync's Web UI in the current 1.3 versions."

 

Just the new UI?

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And I still would like to hear what you meant by "In relation to "web access" - you can already access Sync's Web UI in the current 1.3 versions."

 

Just the new UI?

 

Apologies, I meant 1.4, not 1.3.

 

The new Web UI isn't available on Windows on 1.3, it is however available on all Windows platforms in the more recent builds of 1.4

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Syncthing - seems usable.

 

The directory/file watching is still subpar and I prefer the btsync way of connecting to a shared folder - but it seems to be getting there.

 

Syncthing doesnt seems usable, because:

Major for me

You can't split RO and RW share there

You can't set share as RO, because You always need to click "Overwrite" button on Master

Minor for me

You can't share files in LAN without encoding

and so on...

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As several mentioned, a lot of us came here from other services.  I got burned by Cubby and AeroFS.

 

Personally, I'm just a guy who keeps (mostly) his iTunes and iPhotos in sync on a couple of machines (including off my home LAN to my work machine).  Those are pretty large data sets.  My wife uses it to automatically back up her work files to our NAS.  Simple and straight forward, and works (well, until the misbehaving out-of-sync issues in 1.4, but I'm already over in that troubleshooting thread...)

 

That all can be accomplished by open source alternatives mentioned here already.  I'm not paying for that functionality, sorry.

 

Professionally, I'm IT at a university and can see a few ideas for sharing data that the Pro features offer and being a current fan of this project, I'd further investigate those options.

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I use BTSync on my home LAN only. I've done my fair share of reporting problems and getting bugs fixed. I want BitTorrent to continue to work to refine it, and most importantly for me, make it work well. I can't see a subscription model ever enticing me, especially at $40/year with no cloud component. However I want to support the product and the team behind it, so I'd be interested if there were a one-off payment approach as well as the free version. Perhaps a donation button?

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Guest proactiveservices

You've seen bugs be fixed, want the company to continue to refine it, want it to work well, want to support the product, want to support the team, but this isn't worth $40/year? Crikey. I'm not quite sure how all of that can be a realistic business case with a single payment.

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Syncthing doesnt seems usable, because:

Major for me

You can't split RO and RW share there

You can't set share as RO, because You always need to click "Overwrite" button on Master

Minor for me

You can't share files in LAN without encoding

and so on...

 

I was also a bit annoyed not to be able to share things in RO, but after using it for a couple of days, their approach is actually interesting. If a new file is created/modified on the "Master" node, it will automatically be transferred to the "Slave" nodes, even if some files have been deleted on these nodes. This is the exact same behavior than BTSync.

 

But the advantage of this "Overwrite" button is that at any time, your Master node can simply overwrite any modification or deletion which was made on the Slave nodes. I find this approach more robust than the RO option in BTSync, which works well as long as you only delete files in your slave nodes. That gives you some control on the content of Slave nodes; with BTSync, if a file is not transferred for some reason, there is nothing you can do. However, this approach works if you have only one Master node, i.e. you cannot share a folder in RW with some peers and RO with other peers.

 

There are of course other drawbacks to Syncthing:

- more CPU consuming than BTSync (causing a drop of transfer speed especially on LAN)

- encryption mandatory even in LAN

- transfer of the complete file index at each connection

- folder label used to identify uniquely a share (will be modified in the future)

- no encrypted nodes

- Golang less efficient than other languages such as C/C++

 

Still, this is a good alternative but maybe not yet fully ready for production. However, I don't think BTSync 1.4, is ready for production as well.

You've seen bugs be fixed, want the company to continue to refine it, want it to work well, want to support the product, want to support the team, but this isn't worth $40/year? Crikey. I'm not quite sure how all of that can be a realistic business case with a single payment.

 

You can consider charging only upgrade to "major" versions. That's what a lot of softwares are doing: you pay once, you receive bug fixing for free (e.g. Service Packs in Windows), but you need to pay to upgrade to a new version (e.g. Windows 7 to 8). The approach of a recurring payment is a bit odd since you have absolutely no idea of the new features which will be brought on a regular basis to BTSync. In the end, maybe you will end up with a recurrent payment for a software which does not evolve.

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fyl,

 

I suppose this is what you are searching for - encrypted key. If not, please write to syncapp@bittorrent.com and tell me what you are trying to achieve, I'll provide more details. 

 

Following the instructions below I was able to created the Encyrpted keys and synced with another device and I can see the resultant files are encrypted. Then I tried disconnecting the source simulating source failure. Then Using the original Read and Write keys, I added back a sync folder and voila,I got the original files back ! This is great stuff man and should really be advertised more !

 

Since 1.4 there is a much simpler way to generate the encrypted read-only secret. No more counting characters etc..

Add the new folder, go to the folders preferences, show the keys with “View key”, copy the “Read & Write key” simply by clicking “Copy”, click on “Update key…”, paste the key and change only the first character from A to D. Hit “Update” followed by “Close”. Open the folders preferences again. Now you can see all three keys under the folders preferences.

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You guys are selling a product, not a service. It should be a one time fee, not a subscription.

Couldn't agree more. I'm happy to pay a fairly high price for it, as well.

 

However, these days in software, Saas business models are considered much sexier than perpetual license models. Everyone wants recurring revenue. In the case of BitTorrent Sync, though, their decision to not offer a perpetual option means they will get $0 from me instead of $some.

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Folks, Sync 2.0 is now in open alpha and available for community testing!
 
For more information, download links, documentation and discussions, please refer to the dedicated Sync 2.0 forums.

 
IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ:

  • Sync 2.0 is currently in alpha
  • Alpha builds should not be used with "mission critical" data and are presented for testing and evaluation purposes only so that the team can gain valuable insight into how the new features are being used in the real world as well as any issues that need to be addressed prior to public launch.
  • Alpha builds will expire on February 16, 2015
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