Dropbox or windows file server with remote desktop

dropboxwindows-server-2008

I am installing a network and server for clients. The server will be running TS which users will use to access MYOB enterprise. There are 10 computers connected locally in a domain at the office. There are about 5 external users.

My question is, would it be better using the server to store the files for internal users, and have external users remote desktop in to edit/use them – or – would it be better using dropbox on all computers, internal and external?

Will remote desktop let several users view the same file at once? I know I've had problems with this in the past. I'll be using Windows Server 2008 R2. Dropbox lets users access the same file, and if they both save it, one will be saved as a conflicting copy.

What are your thoughts?

Much appreciated,
James

Best Answer

I love dropbox and use it daily for my personal stuff. I rely on them and trust that my data is housed in a reasonably secure manner. However, I think that many businesses would question putting any business data on an infrastructure that is not controlled by the business themselves.

From this perspective, despite how awesome dropbox is and how easy it is to use, I would personally recommend storing all business data on a local server and grant access to external individuals to access the data from that server.