Dropbox vs Stride (previously HipChat)

You can use Dropbox via website, by installing a desktop client that creates a folder that you simply drag and drop files into, or with their mobile app. Everything synchronizes across all devices used and cloud storage. And Dropbox offers easy methods of sharing whatever is within it.

Dropbox is available on iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows, OS X and Linux. By having a client for so many OS's pretty much anyone is covered no matter what kind of device or OS they are using.

Using a desktop client: right click on the folder you want to share and select Dropbox > Share This Folder, then enter the e-mail addressees of people you want to share the folder with.

If a small portion of the file is changed it sends/receives only the differences (not the whole file), which is fast and bandwidth-efficient.

Whether using desktop client or web interface, simply right click on the file you want to share and select Dropbox > Share link, then send the link to the people you want to share the file with. The recipient does not require a Dropbox account.

Dropbox personal accounts start out free, with 2GB of space, but users can get extra space by recommending the site to friends, or taking part in events like "Dropquest", where users can win extra space by solving puzzles.

Dropbox offers native Linux support, integrates with Nautilus file manager.

As long as you have enough storage available, you can upload files of any size using Dropbox desktop client.

To save bandwidth and download speed you can choose to compress a folder into a zip archive for download.

To not slow down the network or save traffic you can limit the upload and download speeds of Dropbox.

There are official and third-party Dropbox add-ons that extend the functionality of the service and add ease of use of existing features.

Additionally, Dropbox can be integrated with existing applications to bring its functionality to other apps.

Dropbox keeps deleted and earlier versions of files for a month.

Your files always synced online means instant disaster recovery. When your hard drive becomes unbootable, pick up another laptop and just carry on with your life from where you last saved.

You get extra free space for you and your friend if they sign up.

You can access HipChat from pretty much every common platform. HipChat even allows chatting via SMS.

You can ping people to get their attention even if they are not online by @mentioning them. Depending on how the person has set their account up it can be by notifications via in-app sounds, visual alerts, and even email, SMS, or mobile app push notifications.

Including Asana, Github, Zendesk, WordPress, MongoDB, TeamCity, JIRA, Confluence, PowerShell and more that 40 others.

Free with unlimited users, $2/user/month for voice + video calls, screencasts, full history retention and management. (Even enterprise feature like SAML)

An intuitive, easy to overview interface listing both online and offline users.

Things like photos get automatically embedded in the chat thread once you upload them.

You can invite people to join conversations even if they don't have a HipChat account. HipChat will generate a link to share and the guest will only need to enter their name to join the conversation.

HipChat has an optional desktop client powered by Adobe AIR.

HipChat audio and video works on mobile platforms and web browsers.

Participate and keep tabs on ongoing discussions on particular topics or amongst certain groups of people.

If you are worried about third-parties getting access to your data you should consider self-hosting. With self-hosting you are in control over where your data is stored, who has access to it. You will also not be vulnerable to exploits of a third-party provider.

Pasted code can be colored based on syntax.

A big company with experience will bring in more options like Google Apps One Time Login.

E.g. part, away, all, here etc.