In 2004, I worked at a bank, and our team had a “P:/“ drive. It was a networked file share (probably Windows Server), mounted on everyone’s computer. Turns out, several members of the team were meticulous organizers, and would even leave notes at top-level folders - an index & guidance on what to put there, how to name files, and so on. Loved it, and did my best to keep things tidy and easy to find. What’s great is the whole file structure was browsable in a Browser (eg visiting p://marketing/events/2022-09-05 - Lunch & Learn/ would show the Apache-style index page, containing html links to files in that directory. Sharing a file with a colleage was as simple as sending the URL. When we wanted to share files externally, we had an FTP fileshare you could drag files to, and the URL was also predictable (http://external-example.com/marketing/events/teaser.mp4)

I was brainstorming today, and was wondering, what’s a modern setup of the above?

I’ve been experimenting with Dropbox & Google Drive with “fresh eyes”… so many frustrations, especially on iOS. It’s either you’re using their apps directly (annoying UI for both), or iOS File.app. But half the time, Dropbox isn’t “connected” (?) - in today’s case I had to update the Dropbox app & re-authenticate thru their app before the files were available in Files. It all seemed so silly of a disruption from such an essential tool of my file: my digital files!

Are there any “so simple, it feels like we are in a 2004 office” file share solutions?

A few requirements (feel free to m suggest other (need/wants), in the comments)… - I can access my files on my computer (Finder, terminal) and phone (iOS, using Files.app) - Files are automatically backed up (hourly/daily/weekly) - I can read & write to files when there is no network service (eg while in NYC subway), and they’ll sync back up (SyncThing?) - Private files are secure. On a personal fileshare, I ought to be able to store health records, financial records, sensitive notes & files. The “me” stuff. The family drive would have kids health records and so on. (the first solution that came to mind is “encrypted, password protected disk image, hosted on a fileshare in a VPC, only accessible when logged into VPN; and then accessible thru iOS Files.app?)

For Work, I ought to have “my drive” (eg example.com/~me/projects/, and “team drive”, also a private work area m (pay statements, notes from 1:1s / boss, etc) - Fileshare. I ought to be able to be able to drag a file over to pub-fileshare, and it’s accessible to anyone with the URL. Or protected-fileshare, where certain folders have passwords (or some other securing mechanism, since who wants to remember more passwords…?

What’s the state of the art / tool stack of a “lofi” fileshare setup?

Imagine you were setting this up for (1) yourself (2) a best friend (3) family (4) small work team

What solution might actually last 10+ years?