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I’ve recently been playing with UbuntuOne. For those who don’t know UbuntuOne is a new service from canonical (the creator Ubuntu) which gives you a virtual online drive, this integrates with your desktop and allows you to access your files via a web interface whilst away from your PC. You can think of it as a virtual USB thumb drive. Installing this service on multiple Ubuntu desktops allows you sync files between desktops seamlessly. If you’ve ever used Dropbox, the service will feel very familiar, but there are some differences. At the time of writing this article UbuntuOne is in beta, so I’m expecting some improvements and extra features before the final release.

The free accounts for both UbuntuOne and Dropbox are 2GB in size which should be enough to sync important documents and some photo’s. Both services also offer a pay monthly service to increase your space, Dropbox offers 50GB for $9.99 a month and 100GB for $19.99 a month, these packages make Canonical’s offering of 10GB for $10 a month look a little puny. Currently there is no support for other operating systems from UbuntuOne where as Dropbox offers clients for Windows, Mac and Linux. I personally feel Canonical need’s to address this, it’s a fantastic feature that could allow users a easier transition between OS’s, which could help more people convert to Ubuntu in the long run. One thing UbuntuOne does do very nicely is, ingrate with your desktop, however I would like the option to choose where to store files locally. That feature is especially usefull if your running a netbook with a small SSD card in. Dropbox allowed me to store files on a much larger SD card slotted into my device.

On installing Dropbox you need to suply your login details, however UbuntuOne manages this authentication in a much more web 2.0 fashion. Once installed you are asked on a web page to authorise the machine you are using, this is all intergrated with your launchpad account. This hole process is very smooth and very easy. Both services allow you to access your files by a web gui, so if your away from your PC and need to pull down that important file you have forgotten you can! I’ve attached a screenshot of the UbuntuOne web gui for you to see:

UbuntuOne Beta Web GUI

I’ve seen several improvements in both the web gui and the client software in the past couple of weeks and the developers seem very receptive to feedback with is a real bonus these days and shows Canonical’s continued open source mentality, even though this is a proprietory service. I hope in the next few weeks/months we’ll see leaps and bounds and this service will become everything Dropbox is and maybe more, it already shows great promise with its desktop intergration and as the release candiates near who knows what treats are instore.