iFolder on Ubuntu

IFolder on Linux

iFolder is a simple and secure storage solution that can increase your productivity by enabling you to back up, access and manage your personal files-from anywhere, at any time. Once you have installed iFolder, you simply save your files locally-as you have always done-and iFolder automatically updates the files on a network server and delivers them to the other machines you use. It was originally developed by Novell but they have since open-sourced the product.

You can find the source code as well as some binaries and installer online. I've taken the source code and compiled a server for Ubuntu as well as client for Windows and Ubuntu, Lava. I've been playing with using a Source Code version solution lately but I might stay with iFolder and a local version of git or subversion as iFolder makes my source code directories syncronized whereever I may be at - Windows at work, Linux at home, etc.

Also it is a great way to replace pcs at a workstation level. If a user is about to receive a new pc, just iFolder their data and swap out their pc and then install iFolder back on and it will sync their data back onto the pc. For sales or marketing people, iFolder helps their group colloborate on documents they are going to present to a prospect. Also it is a great way for a company to expose a workgroup to a folder of item which may not have a file server or a workgroup who may actually be in seperate offices or at different locations.

Since iFolder also works in an offline mode, it is better than Gdrive or SkyDrive where you basically place your files on their servers and need some form of internet access to edit or work on your files. Plus with other solutions, your access is limited by your current internet access so it can be slow if accessing database or other huge files. With iFolder you still have native full access to your files. Only bit changes within your files are syncronized so updates are fast and bandwidth friendly. Also other solutions can cause data corruption if you are working on a file and your internet connection goes down. With iFolder you are always working on your local files and it only syncs those changes to the datacenter and to any computer you setup your iFolder account onto or to anyone you have shared any of your iFolders with. With iFolder you can specify a user to have access to any of your iFolders so you can setup a shared folder for
accounting or marketing etc. You can have fine security like read only, etc.

iFolder on Windows

I really like the technology and since I have access to the source code, I am already writing in a pidgin addon so you can send iFolder links to people you chat with and invite them to work on one of your iFolders or tunnel a voip call with someone who has iFolder installed. It would also be cool to add a twitter function so if someone modifies a file inside your shared iFolder, you receive a twitter alert on your phone. Great for a salesman on the go.