I think this is the client I want to use for replicating my desktop like Max Hodak describes[1]. It sure has enough options for target storage.

It boasts client-side encryption, but the author says that "In terms of speed, Syncany only transfers the changes of files, so if you change only a couple of bytes of a 100 MB file, only those bytes which have changed will be transferred (+ some more)[2]."

Sounds like it uses homomorphic encryption[3]. I don't have the skills to read the code and know whether it's well done. Can anyone comment?

[1] https://www.maxhodak.com/notes/2011/05/30/dropbox.html

[2] http://www.webupd8.org/2011/05/syncany-great-dropbox-alterna...

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homomorphic_encryption

It is very unlikely to be using homomorphic encryption; it's only 2011, after all.

There are any number of ways to store an encrypted file such that you can transfer deltas to it instead of entire new versions. They support different kinds of deltas. Some of them are secure.

I have not read the code.

Oh, thanks. I thought updating encrypted files required transferring the whole file, but I can see now how one could encrypt files in chunks and only transfer the updated chunks.

The guy needs development help. This looks like it could really be the Dropbox/Wuala killer, at least as far as techies are concerned.

I like this, and I think given time, it will probably be superior to dropbox. But, it will suffer the linux desktop problem.

How can I get my mother in law to use it? Understand it? Trust it? Who is doing the marketing?

Three thoughts:

- The windows/mac installer could have a little dialog saying "the software is free, but if you want storage, you need to pay for it" and send you to open an aws account, or use your gmail account, whatever. It's a UI problem more than a marketing problem.

- If your archetypal mother in law can use Dropbox, she can use syncany with the training wheels on.

- I don't care whether your mother in law uses it, and if you do, it's your job to explain to her why it's better than Dropbox. This is not something like Skype, where the usefulness of the product depends on how many other people are using it. If the only two people in the planet using syncany were its author and myself, I would still find it enormously useful. I would be proselytizing it to my friends and family, though.

Seems really nice but it needs to be simpler. The reason why Dropbox works so well is because you can pretty much install it on any device without having to think.

I do like the idea of open sourcing it. When I took a look at the code I was surprised that it was written in Java. If the intent was to support a lot of platforms I think writing at least the core in C or C++ would've allowed him to get more versions up faster.

Oh, and what do you mainly need help with at this point?