In the wonderful world of high-speed Internet and constantly connected devices cloud storage has proliferated and evolved. From Dropbox, Amazon Cloud, Google Drive, SpiderOak, Box, and more than I care to list comes a new offering for Cloud Storage. Canonical, the company behind the hugely popular Ubuntu GNU/Linux Operating System, has decided to join the foray and offer its own cloud service, called Ubuntu One, for Windows, Ubuntu, Android, and iOS. Is it a program that stands out, or is it just another name in an ever growing list of cloud storage services?
Ubuntu One is bundled with Ubuntu and can be installed on all of its derivatives such as Kubuntu or Xubuntu. Ubuntu One can also be installed on Windows with a .exe, and it can be found in both Google's Play Store as well as Apples App Store. Installing Ubuntu on Windows is a snap, just answer a few questions, choose some folders to sync, and that's it. For other distributions, Ubuntu One has to be compiled from source. Ubuntu One is an open source project, which scores it awesome points with me, and that also means that Ubuntu One can be compiled to run on pretty much platform that a programmer sets their sights on. However, many in the Linux community have implied that Canonical is being both lazy and hurting the ideology of open source since they do not create or maintain packages for other operating systems outside of its own operating systems (K/X/L/Ubuntu) and Windows.
Using Ubuntu One is simple. It automatically syncs the folder labeled Ubuntu One, and under Ubuntu it will automatically add your home folder if you choose. Under Windows you can choose what folders are synced up, including your My Documents, My Music, My Pictures, and more. It also comes with a generous 5GB of free storage, where services like dropbox only offer 2GB of free storage, and an option to upgrade to larger storage for a monthly fee. Ubuntu One also features a music store that integrates with Ubuntu's music player Rhythmbox, and also features a built-in music player for Android and iOS.
The Ubuntu One application also allows you to see what other computers are connected, allows you to deactivate devices, and allows fine grained control of your upload and download speeds. It shows what folders are in sync, and if you double click on a folder, it takes you to the actual location in Explorer or Nautilus. It offers a better looking interface that is snappy and intuitive, especially compared to some of the alternatives.
Using Ubuntu One, I was able to sync writing from Writer's Café, plain text, and even my Minecraft saves in Windows. Ubuntu One also has an option to share a file or folder both publicly, or with other Ubuntu One users. In Ubuntu, right click on any folder in the "Ubuntu One" folder, or on any of the other synced folders, go to the "Ubuntu One" option and choose share to share with others, or Publish to make public.
Ubuntu One seems like a great cloud syncing program. It functioned the same way that my favorite cloud sync program, Dropbox, had, and it had the added benefit of being preinstalled on my Ubuntu OS. However, Dropbox can be installed on more devices, and in more operating systems with very little work. No compiling from source, no hoping someone else creates an installer, and more importantly for Apple fans, Dropbox has a Mac client. I have a share folder setup with my wife in Dropbox that we can easily drop in and share files when not at home on the local network. Since my wife uses a Mac we can't do that with Ubuntu One.
That one limitation makes it impossible for me to switch over to Ubuntu One. The beauty of open source is that anyone can take the code and modify, redistribute it, and submit changes to the current code. It won't be long until an intrepid set of programmers take up the task and build a Mac client.
Pictured below are the screenshots of what Ubuntu Looks like in Windows, and the install phases.
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