Dropbox Kills Public Folders for new accounts

As it stands now, Dropbox users can make use of public folders to share files in those folders publicly. This should not be confused with the functionality to share a folder with other Dropbox users so that the contents gets synchronized between all connected users automatically.

According to an official email to third party developers who use the service to create applications and services, Dropbox will stop creating public folders come July 31 for all new Dropbox accounts. The company notes that existing users won't be affected by the change.

We wanted to let our developers know about an upcoming change to the Public folder for all user accounts. In April, we launched the ability to share any file or folder in your Dropbox with a simple link. This new sharing mechanism is a more generalized, scalable way to support many of the same use cases as the Public folder.

After July 31, we will no longer create Public folders in any new Dropbox accounts. If your app depends on Public folders, we recommend switching to the /shares API call. Public folders in existing accounts, however, will continue to function as before.

It is not really clear why Dropbox has decided to go forward with the change. Dropbox employee Michael N. mentioned two reasons on the official Dropbox forum.

• The recent introduction of the share file or folder functionality in Dropbox which Dropbox favors over the public folder
• That most Dropbox users are not making use of the public folder at all

As you can imagine, the outcry of users who are actually making use of the public folder is loud and clear. From being directly taken to the file that is shared, to posting images in forums and quickly sharing files with other users.

I never really used the public folder for anything besides a few tests. What's your take on the move? Did you use the public folder? If so, for what? (via Mobiflip)