5 New Ways to Share Files

5 New Ways to Share Files:

- FileCrunch
- Pando
- Tubes
- Windows Live Folders
- YouSendIt

Each is very different from the rest: Tubes, from mobile synchronization platform developer Adesso Systems, involves a program you install that creates a direct, network-like link with other users for shared folders. YouSendIt and FileCrunch are basically web storage with an email notification feature. Pando is a P2P file sharing service that lets you exchange large files or subscribe to channels from media companies. Windows Live Folders is a web-based hybrid of the others, using both online storage with notification and a folder metaphor.

- Tubes: partly resembles P2P file-sharing networks, partly FTP, and partly IM. (Requires install).
Summary: Tubes is a fancy wrapper around web storage that synchronizes folders on users' local machines. It can be a convenient way to share files with colleagues and friends, but it doesn't offer much over online storage services like OmniDrive or just FTP, and it takes up more system resources that we think necessary for its function.

- Windows Live Folders: true Web 2.0 app. Works entirely in the browser
At present, you get 500MB of free storage with it, and it always displays how much you have left at the top of the window. The maximum file size you can upload right now is 50MB.
Summary: This early beta shows promise as a simple way for nontechnical folk to create secure shared file folders.