it was added last minute without any clear explanation for our users, our fault. i will be changed next update. eventually logging in will be a quick way to connect devices, like Tailscale does
Hey thanks for trying Spacedrive! The bug you're experiencing is known when browsing before adding a "Location". We index Locations ahead of time to generate a cache that makes browsing super fast, Spacedrive is, contrary to some replies here, designed for big data, we cache and virtualize everything.
Next update we'll fix the bug browsing non-locations, as those who open the app tend to try browsing first, before adding as a location it seems. It's alpha software so I hope you give us time to iron it all out!
There has to be a better strategy than caching and virtualizing to not tip over with large files. Why not just do whatever is your system's equivalent of a SQL LIMIT query? I can't think of a good reason as to why you need to index everything when the view is limited to maybe 100 files tops.
Honestly, you can't call yourself a "file explorer" if you fail the basic task of exploring files without an additional step of "adding a location" (wat?)
Also, judging from the GitHub description, it's not a file explorer. It's a slightly extended Dropbox:
--- start quote ---
From cloud services to offline hard drives, Spacedrive combines the storage capacity and processing power of your devices into one personal distributed cloud, that is both secure and intuitive to use.
We're early alpha, our product is free and open source
At the end of the day, it is an amazing experience simply just to search and organize files from not just devices, but disconnected drives. Search is lightning fast, the UI is clean and you own all the data, given its local first and peer-to-peer.
Hate it if you must, but we're super passionate about it and are ruthlessly working to reach full stability across all platforms.
Firstly, I'm not really an expert on marketing, so take what I say as mere opinion not fact.
I think that you should be pitching it a little differently: many people are confused about what your soundbite is actually saying (I also thought it was a file explorer, like all other file explorers I have even used).
Maybe lean hard into a phrase like "Unified file browser; see all files on all your devices, all at once, all the time".[1]
The other thing I would emphasise is that this isn't syncthing. You don't have to mention syncthing by name, but you could emphasise that "Your files aren't synced between devices, they're visible to all your devices".
Too many people who would otherwise use this would dismiss it with "I'm already using syncthing"! AIUI, you aren't syncing files between devices, only syncing file-listings.[2]
PS. For my own use, unfortunately, I don't need something like this. Sorry.
While it would be a nice to have in theory, it just doesn't solve any pain-points I am currently experiencing.
For example, any important document I need to read on different devices is already either in my email, or on google drive. I view movies on Netflix+AMZ+Disney+, I only ever share photos with others, not with other devices that belong to me. It's rare that I look at a file stored locally on my phone and say "I need to see this on my PC", or vice versa. It just never happens.
[1] That came out sounding super-weird: I did warn you that I wasn't any good at marketing :-)
[2] I expect you provide value on top of that, like transparently copy-n-paste between two different devices, even from a third device.
You are definitely suffering from miscommunication here. Calling it a file explorer is a bit misleading. I think what your project aims to be is really cool and very useful, but a file explorer is a secondary trait to what it actually is.
You know, I had quite a bashful [though in a good spirit] comment on your work before, but, thankfully, HN throttled me.
But thanks to your reply here now I not only can't endorse you, but I have an evidence what you really make some extremely opinionated thing and everybody else is wrong.
I can't wish you luck and I don't see myself as someone who would wait for news for this project.
Why are people pricks like this? Actually building a product and getting early feedback is literally the play book YC live and die by.
Here you are in the church of pg giving shit to people following the scriptures of pg.
Creators - ignore shit like this. Keep iterating. I like your idea, your execution will get better and better. Well done both on releasing stuff and going open source!
The explanations tell's me it's loading and interacting with remote file systems, not hosting them on their own. Which makes it different from dropbox&co., and a file explorer.
