Increased Transparency: Public Roadmaps and Development Backlogs

[LaurieC]

The Mac M1 mess has highlighted just how detached the Dropbox Product Team appear to be from their customers, but also how paying customers can't assume Dropbox are doing the basics like updating clients to work with modern hardware and OSs (I hear the 64bit version for Windows is long delayed too).

Dropbox need to restore faith in their user base quickly, and the best and easiest way to do this is to open up your roadmaps and development backlogs so we can see what you're spending your time and our money on.  That way we can see if the future direction of Dropbox aligns with our needs, and if we're putting our trust and data into a service that is heading the right way.

Some examples:
Microsoft https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/roadmap?filters=
Slack https://medium.com/slack-developer-blog/the-slack-platform-roadmap-34067b054177
Google Workspace https://workspace.google.com/whatsnew/calendar/ and https://support.google.com/a/table/7539891?hl=en&ref_topic=6397987
Github https://github.com/github/roadmap/projects/1 

[Graham]

This idea has been closed due to inactivity. 

Thank you for your suggestion, and if you have another idea to share, we'd love to hear it! 

[santiagosony]

I love this idea

[_robin_]

100%

[Jason B.25]

Absolutely, I'm very unhappy with the way this has been handled especially finally finding support is coming in the unspecified feature from a news article instead of from the company I am paying.

[chetman]

 I mean, you can ask, but the level of contempt for the user base the M1 support delay indicates probably means they won't care about this thread at all, either.

Dropbox are essentially daring us to change tools, which is a really weird position to take when there are many, many other cloud file sync providers in the marketplace.

[anonymous]

This would be the right thing for them to do, and hopefully it gains traction.

[MacUser84]

Absolutely.  This was ridiculous and unacceptable.  At least provide a private beta like VM Ware.  Heck, I would have signed up for that.

[Martin H.53]

The do have beta builds at this forum. They used to be quite engaged with their user base there and collect useful feedback. Some time ago (maybe two years? not sure...) they stopped providing meaningful change logs with their beta builds. Since the vast majority of beta builds only have "under the hood" changes, this means beta testers had no idea what to look out for. For months, users clamoured in vain to get change logs back, so most beta testers dropped out. We're seeing a pattern here...

[Marc A.6]

Ah, please. The current CEO has to go. Otherwise, this won't happen. 

Their priority might be another useful integration, perhaps Lotus 1-2-3. Or support for MS-DOS, maybe?

Perhaps they're resurfacing Clippy?

Trust is lost, the OP is well-intentioned of course, but this is just ridiculous. This is just another insult. 

[Jason B.25]

The M1 developer kits went out last summer so it will be 2 years with this projected timeframe.  My renewal is in a few weeks and I'm really on the fence about it right now.  I even reached out via email over the summer to check on a possible date.  The lack communication directly from the company has been very worrisome.

[Marc A.6]

Please take a look at their blog. Please do it. Check the things they talk about. SharePoint, really?

Their blog looks like a parody, except that it's real. It's a faithful representation of how disconnected they are from their own product. They became a parody of themselves. 

They are intoxicated by profits and they can't see the iceberg.

They used to sell the best file sync service, now they sell hot air.