思考与写作tonsky.me
我过去喜爱的计算机
Computers as I used to love them
2020 — 2022，它一次次回到首页
黑点是上首页（≥ 50 分）的那次投稿，空心点是没冲上去的投稿，点越大分数越高。
导读
作者吐槽 Dropbox、iCloud 等云同步服务日益臃肿、不断打扰用户，并对比展示了 Syncthing 的安装与使用过程，认为它代表了“我过去所热爱的计算机”那种简洁、尊重用户的软件。文章在 2020 和 2022 年两度引发 Hacker News 上关于开源软件与商业软件之争的热烈讨论。
为什么经久不衰：它触及了软件日益臃肿、商业化打扰用户的普遍痛点，而 Syncthing 作为开源替代方案至今仍在活跃维护，对今天被云服务绑架的用户依然有参考价值。
HN 评论精选
文章拿云存储服务与设备同步工具对比并不公平，警告提示对普通用户是必要的
我和大家一样喜欢 Syncthing，但这篇文章很像“方枘圆凿还怪凿不对”。Dropbox 和 iCloud 本质上是云存储而非纯设备间同步。普通人大多没有多台需要同步的电脑，即使有，设备也未必同时在线，而这是 Syncthing 工作的前提。作者对 iCloud/Dropbox 删除警告的困惑恰恰证明了我的观点：这些警告对把云服务当备份用的普通用户来说非常清晰，删掉警告只会招来更多投诉。
square_usual查看英文原文
I love syncthing as much as the next guy on here, but this article feels very much like "why doesn't this square peg fit my round hole?!" Dropbox (and iCloud) are meant more for cloud file storage than pure device-to-device synce. I couldn't go to a less tech savvy friend and say, "Oh, you use Dropbox for backups? Here, use syncthing instead!" For one, most people don't have multiple computers they want to keep in sync, and even if they do it's unlikely that those multiple computers have overlapping periods of being online, which syncthing will need to keep back ups! The author's baffling reaction to iCloud and Dropbox's warning just makes my point. Those warnings are super clear to people who use those services for backup - remove this file and it won't be backed up, hence not available elsewhere. That isn't those platforms begging for attention (???). Remove those warnings and see how many normies complain to Apple/Dropbox that they didn't know removing a file from their synced folder meant it wouldn't be synced anymore. This also applies to the bizarre complaint about cloud storage space limits - of course you need storage space on the service if those files have to live elsewhere!
Dropbox 日益臃肿骚扰用户，Syncthing 是非常出色的替代品
我用 Syncthing 同步多台电脑已经一年了，体验极佳。Dropbox 这些年越来越糟：塞满不需要的功能、不停推销升级、谎称需要管理员密码、文件系统一有变动就吃掉大量 CPU。如果 Dropbox 愿意提供一个只含基础同步功能、没有骚扰的付费方案，我很乐意付钱，但这家公司现在显然是市场团队说了算。强烈推荐 Syncthing 作为替代品。
jwr查看英文原文
I've been using Syncthing for about a year now, with multiple computers, and it's fantastic. Dropbox has become a real pain over the years (I've also been a paid Dropbox customer for a long time): * adding bloat and features that I don't want or need * constantly nagging me for upgrades * lying that the admin password is required (it isn't) * consuming large amounts of CPU when anything changes anywhere in the filesystem If Dropbox had a subscription plan where I could pay to get just the basic file sync functionality, with no nagging, no prompting, and optimized CPU usage, I would be happy to hand over my money. But it seems the company is run by the marketing team now. I highly recommend syncthing as a very, very capable replacement.
安装体验的对比有失公允，Syncthing 对普通用户来说门槛太高
安装对比那部分有点不厚道。用 Mac 的人没资格抱怨 Gatekeeper；Dropbox 有网页版所以需要账号，2FA 是为了安全；装 Homebrew 同样用了 sudo，而且你还得先装它。OOBE 向导又有什么问题？那是给所有人用的软件。Syncthing 很棒，但撇开功能差异不谈，它对大多数用户并不适用——别忘了多数人连浏览器都勉强会用，老手在 Windows 上配置它也可能费劲。
fuzzy2查看英文原文
The part comparing the installation is a little disingenuous IMHO. You cannot seriously be complaining about Gatekeeper if you’re using a Mac. Dropbox has a web interface so it needs an account. 2FA enhances account security. Installing Homebrew also used sudo. In fact, you had to install it first. If you didn’t, you also wouldn’t have the Homebrew-services helper. And what’s wrong with an OOBE wizard? It’s software for everyone. I haven’t used Dropbox in years (because it sucks now and I use ZFS), but this is not a fair comparison. Syncthing is great. However, in comparison with Dropbox, if I look past the differences in what it does, I find that it’s just not suitable for most users. Remember that most users are barely able to operate their internet browser. Even seasoned users may have trouble setting it up on, say, Windows.
开源软件由用户驱动演化，比必须追逐利润的商业软件更值得长期投入
我逐渐意识到开源是唯一值得投入的软件类型。商业软件再好，迟早会消失或变得不合你意，因为它必须不断追逐利润和潮流才能生存，用户只能被动适应产品的演变。开源则不同：项目可以靠开发者自身的需求存活，容易被分叉，即使被抛弃也能被新团队接手。GNOME 的演化就是很好的例子——如今有众多发行版满足不同工作流，用户不必为了追随 GNOME 的演进而妥协。
yogthos查看英文原文
I've come to realize that open source is the only type of software worth investing into. No matter how great a commercial piece of software might be, sooner or later it's going to either disappear or change in a way that doesn't suit you. Commercial software has to constantly chase profit for the company to stick around. This necessarily means that the product has to continue evolving to chase what's currently in vogue. And if a company fails to do that, then it will die and the software will stopped being developed. This is a bad situation to be in as a user since you have little control over the evolution of a product that you rely on. Instead of the product being adapted to your needs, it's you who has to adapt to the way the product evolves, or spend the time investing in a different product. On the other hand, open source has a very different dynamic. Projects can survive with little or no commercial incentive because they're often developed by the users who themselves benefit from these projects. Projects can also be easily forked and taken in different directions by different groups of users. Even when projects become abandoned, they can be picked up again by new teams. Evolution of GNOME is a great example of this. There are now many flavors of GNOME all catering to different workflows, and users don't have to compromise their preferred way of doing things to chase how GNOME is evolving. Meanwhile, users of Windows or MacOS have very little choice but to continue adjusting to the ways Apple and Microsoft choose to evolve the desktop. Microsoft even uses DMCA to prevent users from doing customization. [1] [1] https://torrentfreak.com/removing-annoying-windows-10-features-is-a-dmca-violation-microsoft-says-200611/
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