Why does the performance differ so greatly with seemingly the same code?

How does Box differ from Dropbox in terms of technology use, performance, and user-friendliness?

• My employer offers accounts via http://box.com now, and as I have installed it I see it uses davfs2.  We are also offered a quite generous storage limit (compared to other free alternatives). But how does the solution differ in terms of technology? How fast does it sync computers vs. Dropbox? How well does it track changes and versions? How well does it co-operate with KDEs baloo? How user-friendly is it? (Is it easy to share folders, invite guests, make stuff public, etc?)

• Answer:

  I can offer some responses for 1, 2 & 4. In my experience Dropbox syncs better. I say this with the provision that I have a larger amount of Box storage and I collaborate more on Box as I use it at work whereas DB is personal.  Having said that DB syncs faster and I get quite a lot of duplicate files with Box. (That final point could be down to my IT dept being useless.) Box offers file version history but you'll need a paid account.  To my knowledge DB doesn't offer this. Sharing files and folders in Box is superior to DB.  You can embed Box files/folders in websites. This has been great for me in my college. I can share docs with students in the VLE but via Box which makes adding / updating files much easier and pretty much instantaneous. If you have a paid account you can set restrictions on shared files (i.e. prevent downloads) and expiry dates.