Drop Box alternatives for free?

[Dieselboy]

A friend keeps asking me how he can share files between his employees. He knows about drop box so signed up to the trial for business but they immediately took over $800 out of his account so he's reluctant to use them now.

I recall a long time ago I see that you can set up your own "drop box" like application on a server but I can't remember what it's called. I've no idea how reliable it would be either.

I've found a "top 10 alternatives" http://www.cloudwards.net/top-10-secure-dropbox-alternatives

but no idea how good they all are in real-life so wondered if anyone here was doing this sort of thing?

[SimonV]

Bittorrent Sync? https://getsync.com/

[icecream-guy]

Google Drive?
https://apps.google.com/driveforwork/

[deanwebb]

A VPN to a network where they can access a Windows fileshare in the DMZ?

[mlan]

Google Drive?
https://apps.google.com/driveforwork/

Seconded.  This is worth a look and only seems to be improving the feature set over time.  It also could be integrated with Gmail, or another email service provider.

[Reggle]

A VPN to a network where they can access a Windows fileshare in the DMZ?

Quoted for truth. If security is important, this is it.

[Dieselboy]

Thanks for your help

I've mentioned Google apps yesterday when he called. Our company uses it because it's free, but I'll be moving us off in the future when we outgrow it. It is pretty good though, and very convenient.

Of course the best solution / most secure solution takes $$$. There are a number of problems with this. First is money. Second is expertise and third is hassle. To do things properly it needs money. Secondly, who's going to manage it - not me. Thirdly, who's the expertise he will call when user credentials aren't working - not me.
Picture this, Sunday morning, a nice bacon and egg in a floured roll is sitting there. You put a little dollop of HP sauce inside. Coffee is already filling the kitchen with sweet aroma. You've had a hard week and have set yourself time for study. Then the phone rings "I can't access this file and I have a tender to deliver tomorrow".

Ideally this should be something he can sort out on his own with little to no expertise. If he can add on support then that's even better

I was curious to see if anyone had this kind of problem, possibly with family or other people that know "you're in IT" and so ask you all sorts of random PC/Mac questions which you stay away from in the office

I looked into the torrent link and that seems good but I think it would be too much aggravation to explain how to do it. 

[mlan]

I was curious to see if anyone had this kind of problem, possibly with family or other people that know "you're in IT"

[Dieselboy]