June 2007
Dropbox founded
Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi founded Dropbox in June 2007 — a cloud sync service that made files follow users across devices.
What it was for
Dropbox's demo video and Y Combinator launch popularized "it just works" file sync — drag a folder, find it everywhere. Developers copied the model for notes, passwords, and IDEIntegrated development environment — an editor with debugging, build tools, and project management built in. settings. The company normalized cloud storage APIs and consumer freemium SaaSSoftware as a Service — applications delivered over the internet on a subscription basis. before Google Drive and iCloud caught up.
People
- Drew Houston — co founder
- Arash Ferdowsi — co founder
Why it's here
Dropbox made personal cloud sync mainstream for developers and knowledge workers.
Why it mattered
It shifted expectations from emailing attachments to always-available shared files.
What it solved
People carried USBUniversal Serial Bus — a standard connector and protocol for peripherals and devices. drives and emailed files to themselves to work across machines.
Related
- GitHub launchedApril 10, 2008
- Heroku foundedJune 2007
- iPhone goes on saleJune 29, 2007