14 DAY TRIAL // Mega has been around for a few months now and has managed to carve a niche for itself in the crowded cloud storage market. But one thing that has dragged it down is the lack of native client apps for the desktop. Thankfully, that is changing.
Kim Dotcom talked about a Windows client slated for launch this week, and, while there's no official announcement, a beta version of the MegaSync app has been made available for download. Dotcom also teased an updated site coming this week, so expect a big announcement these days.
The app works pretty much like every other sync app out there: you point it to a folder on your computer and everything you save there will be uploaded to the cloud, for safekeeping. The files will also be available on any computer you install the sync app on and via the Android app. An iOS app is also coming, a bit later.
There aren't any details on how the app works in the background, but it should be fairly similar to the website, in that keys are stored locally and files are downloaded in their encrypted form from the cloud.
Still, there are other cloud storage services out there that offer client-side encryption, some even offer more robust though also more complex solutions.
But Mega is working creating additional services. An encrypted chat feature is on its way. It’s been in the works for a while now, but all the NSA revelations have accelerated development.
Another standout feature is that Mega manages to handle client-side encryption in the browser via JavaScript. There are some downsides to this, but it's still a notable technical achievement. For regular users, all this means is that they can access their files or share them with the world from anywhere, without having to install anything.
