XYplorer Beta Club

cpusrvc wrote:On Nov. 10, I posted my cloud support request (viewtopic.php?f=5&t=16645)]

I am not sure that it is appropriate to combine these wishes because what you wish for is quite different to what I am asking for. While both may come under the moniker of "cloud functionality", I would hate for the core of my wish to be blurred by something completely different.

While our goals have differences, they also have overlaps. Ultimately, we both want direct access to cloud accounts for our files, be it data files, code snippets, etc. I think when the dev considers cloud functionality, he needs to have a more complete picture, because I suspect the underpinnings required for both our uses are essentially the same. I referred to an Android program that may provide ideas for him.

This might cover some people's wish for multi-cloud XY support. It gives drive-letter support for various ftp types and multiple public cloud providers. It works well with XY even within the constraints of available speed from the various cloud providers.

http://www.netdrive.net/

***Android Note

I can also get drive-letter XY ftp support with it for our Android phones - and most of XY's features work quite well at the speeds available. However, not all Android ftp servers work equally well with it on the phone end. My personal favorite file manager, Solid Explorer (great bulk renaming, incl regex), has a very basic ftp server that has excellent compatibility. However, another server that I've often use with FileZilla cuts its connection rather quickly for some unknown reason and is unusable.

cpusrvc wrote:Ultimately, we both want direct access to cloud accounts for our files, be it data files, code snippets, etc.

Not really. I just want for XY Cloud to exist so that it can back up my configurations and make it easy to import profiles into newly-installed instances. I am not interested in any/deeper integration with 3rd party cloud storage providers.

zer0 wrote:

cpusrvc wrote:Ultimately, we both want direct access to cloud accounts for our files, be it data files, code snippets, etc.

Not really. I just want for XY Cloud to exist so that it can back up my configurations and make it easy to import profiles into newly-installed instances. I am not interested in any/deeper integration with 3rd party cloud storage providers.

I'd be interested to hear what kind of workflow would benefit from this the most. I finally noticed the number of your posts, so you obviously know what you're doing.

Dustydog wrote:This might cover some people's wish for multi-cloud XY support. It gives drive-letter support for various ftp types and multiple public cloud providers. It works well with XY even within the constraints of available speed from the various cloud providers.

http://www.netdrive.net/

***Android Note

I can also get drive-letter XY ftp support with it for our Android phones - and most of XY's features work quite well at the speeds available. However, not all Android ftp servers work equally well with it on the phone end. My personal favorite file manager, Solid Explorer (great bulk renaming, incl regex), has a very basic ftp server that has excellent compatibility. However, another server that I've often use with FileZilla cuts its connection rather quickly for some unknown reason and is unusable.

Thanks for the info. I researched it, and found another product, http://odrive.com that does the same thing, and their free version seems to do everything I want. The only thing XY doesn't do with it, is have the same context menu that Odrive adds to Windows Explorer to control it, such as the need to refresh for changes.

Dustydog wrote:I'd be interested to hear what kind of workflow would benefit from this the most.

I believe that I have outlined numerous personal use cases within my posts in this thread.

I vote AGAINST CLOUD FUNCTIONALITY. While it may be more convenient for those who use data-storage services, it would potentially be a privacy threat to all. The large volumes of data at data-storage services make them a tempting target for hackers, and indeed the numerous breaches of security that have occurred with such services disqualify them in my view. Let XYplorer continue as an extremely useful tool within each local, unconnected computer. Those who choose to upload their data to remote-storage can do so, but this 'synching' or networking would be an unnecessary distraction for many users and for the developer.

Cloud services would make my work much easier and convenient. These are the reasons I disagree about security:

1. You don't have to use the cloud functionality if you feel at risk
2. You don't have to use it for sensitive data
3. Most data in the cloud, certainly personal files, is of little use to hackers and would be a waste of their time
4. If hacking were a problem for cloud services, anti-hacking techniques can be implemented like banks. Unknown machines / IPs could required separate verification before granting access
5. It would be much easier to move data between cloud services.