This is just some speculation as to why I think Dropbox is going to be something awesome (it's good right now, but not awesome). I'm not really in any position to make these suggestions (or expect them to be followed), so I'm going to more than likely sound crazy.
I don't really know what the vision behind Dropbox is, but (in my own opinion) it should be the place where people's personal files are stored. From there, people build cross-platform apps making it more useful. They are already doing this, but they need to take the "next step", which is probably what they want to do with their incoming 400 employees.
Generally, people store all their files on their home computer, and to solve the problem of "I can't access my files on the go" people started using laptops as their primary computer. That's not really a good solution because then you have to carry a computer around. Smartphones and tablets are sort of solving this, but they bring the same overall issue of "My stuff on here is different from my stuff on there". What Dropbox could do is host people's actual "computers", where computer is defined as software, files, and settings. So when you load up your smartphone or you friends smartphone you can access the smartphone version of your computer, and the tablet version of your computer on tablets, and the desktop version of your computer on desktops.
It wouldn't feel like you're using "your laptop" or "your friends tablet" or "your iPhone" because the only difference between any kind of computer is whose signed in right now. Dropbox is in a favorable position to do this, but so is Apple, Google, and Microsoft.
It's a pretty crazy (and unlikely) notion, but how else will Dropbox grow?
It definitely seems to be the direction things are converging, but what you are talking about is much more than file storage, it's a full scale cutting edge multi-platform cloud OS. While it is definitely conceivable, if you look at how far the various single-platform client-based OSes still have to go, it sheds some light on how monumentally complex the task truly is. Especially considering that these OSes have companies many, many times larger and more experienced than dropbox backing them.
File storage is certainly a critical piece of the puzzle and I could see them making some major inroads towards standardizing the cloud, but I think the full breadth of your vision is still pretty far off. Fun to speculate on though for sure.
Those large single-platform client-based OSes have not produced a cloud OS because it would be too radical of a change for their current business model.
Some company with the explicit goal of developing a cloud based OS could do it today if they wanted to. Monetizing it might be a different question though.
Yeah, there's is a lot more that Dropbox can do with sharing, and it really expands the usage past the "backup my stuff in the cloud" core, without necessarily entering feature-itis territory.
The real issue that concerns people is that 65 is a small company, 400 is a medium company, and not every tech outfit has successfully managed that kind of transition. It's the kind of size where technical management starts mattering as much as technical ability - and good technical management is notoriously hard to hire for.
I do wish Dropbox all the best though, I love their service.
Only feature I give a crap about personally is blocking extensions I don't want to be caught. I like my vim to create the files it needs while editing, and I kinda like them in folder, but I don't want dropbox syncing and unsyncing them.
Some popular requests:
- sync folders outside of the My/Dropbox folder
- read/write permissions for shared files/folders
- remote destroy/purge if laptop is stolen
- streaming audio/video
- windows mobile support
- reseller/branding program
- internationalization
... and much more.