14 DAY TRIAL // Cloud service Dropbox Inc. today kicked off development on the latest version of its cloud-syncing and file-sharing software with the same name, adding an all-new “streaming sync” feature, as well as other perks. The Dropbox 2.9 clients for Mac, Windows, and Linux are currently Experimental, meaning beta-grade.
Dropboxer David E. makes the 2.9 branch official on the company’s forums, saying, “We've got the brand new 2.9 series for you, with some fun new features and languages!” David proceeds to enumerate the new features in the 2.9 series, starting with streaming sync.
According to the post, “Streaming sync speeds up syncing for larger files. As a large file is uploaded to our servers, other desktop clients with access to that file will begin downloading the file in the background. This makes large files sync faster between your computers using the same Dropbox account as well as in shared folders.”
In other words, uploading a file to Dropbox on one device (such as your Mac or PC) instantly sends portions of that file to your other connected devices (like your iPhone or your Android tablet). The file doesn’t instantly get sent over to all your linked devices.
However, by not waiting for the full file to be uploaded to the servers, the streaming sync feature speeds up the process by anticipating an inevitable sync across devices (since Dropbox is already designed to sync a user’s files across all devices at all times).
Other changes in the 2.9 series include a scrollable tray pop-up, improved initial sync performance, over quota splash screen, and new language support for Danish, Dutch, Swedish, Thai, and Ukrainian.
As always, separate builds of Dropbox 2.9.41 Experimental are handed to Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux testers.
Customers enrolling for the first time will get a free 2GB account with basic cloud-computing features like file syncing across devices, file sharing with instantly-generated URLs, friend folders where you can drop stuff that only one friend will see, the ability to invite other people over to gain more storage, SSL encrypted transfers, a web interface for managing your account (as well as your files), old-version restores, and more.
The requirements to use Dropbox 2.9 are fairly low, while Mac users can continue to download and use it even on OS X 10.4 (Tiger) and newer versions of the operating system.
Download Dropbox 2.9.41 Experimental for Mac OS X