ownCloud

ownCloud is a suite of client–server software for creating and using file hosting services. ownCloud functionally has similarities to the widely used Dropbox. The primary functional difference between ownCloud and Dropbox is that ownCloud does not offer data centre capacity to host stored files. The Server Edition of ownCloud is free and open-source, thereby allowing anyone to install and operate it without charge on their own private server.[2][3]

ownCloud
Developer(s)ownCloud GmbH, Community
Stable release10.4.1 (17 April 2020 (2020-04-17)) [±][1]
Repository
Written inPHP, JavaScript
Operating systemServer: Linux
Clients: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS
TypeOnline storage, data synchronization
LicenceAGPLv3 (Server Edition)/proprietary software (Enterprise Edition)
Websiteowncloud.org

ownCloud supports extensions that allow it to work like Google Drive, with online document editing, calendar and contact synchronization, and more. Its openness avoids enforced quotas on storage space or the number of connected clients, instead having hard limits (like on storage space or number of users) defined only by the physical capabilities of the server.

History

The development of ownCloud was announced in January 2010, in order to provide a free software replacement to proprietary storage service providers.[4] The company was founded in 2011 and forked the code away from KDE to github.

ownCloud Inc., the company founded by Markus Rex, Holger Dyroff and Frank Karlitschek, has attracted funding from investors, including an injection of 6.3 million US$ in 2014.[5]

In April 2016 Karlitschek left ownCloud Inc. and founded a new company and project called Nextcloud in June 2016,[6] resulting in the closure of ownCloud's U.S. operations.[7] Some former ownCloud Inc. developers left ownCloud to form the fork with Karlitschek.

In July 2016 ownCloud GmbH, based in Nuremberg Germany, secured additional financing, and expanded its management team.[8]

In 2018, ownCloud launched its own SaaS offer for small businesses and NGOs. The service aimed to provide a secure and GDPR-compatible solution for organizations without their own IT department.[9]

In October 2018, for the 3rd time in a row, ownCloud GmbH received the IT Awards,[10] which is based on the vote of over 30,000 business users for their best of choice Enterprise File Sync and Share solution.[10]

In March 2019, ownCloud launched the BayernBox in cooperation with the Bavarian State Office for Survey and Geoinformation, an ownCloud-based collaboration solution for the bavarian municipalities. The deployment involves one ownCloud instance for each of the over 2000 municipalities.[11]

To bring the architecture of the iOS app up-to-date with the state of technology, in June 2019 ownCloud released a complete rewrite of its iOS app. It had a strong focus on security and made use of many iOS integration features for improved usability. Contrary to the old app, it was released free of charge.[12]

Server Releases
Version[13]DateNew Features
10.4 March 5, 2020 Expiration dates for user and group shares, supports MariaDB up to 10.4, PostgreSQL up to 10, share indicator on webUI
10.3 October 15, 2019 New Media Viewer, improved OAuth2 session handling, improved User/group sharing UI
10.2 May 16, 2019 Advanced Sharing Permissions, SecureView, Improved Public Links, Storage Encryption with HSMs
10.1 February 7, 2019 Microsoft Office Online Integration, File Locking, Semantic Versioning, OpenCloudMesh 1.0 compliance
10.0 April 27, 2017 File integrity checks, guest accounts, custom groups, multiple link sharing, new app marketplace
9.1 July 21, 2016 Two-Factor-Authentication, Collabora integration, scalability and federation improvements
9.0March 8, 2016Introducing improved scalability (worked on with CERN), federation and collaboration tools including comments and tags
8.2October 20, 2015Introducing improved Design, new Gallery app, Notifications and file retention control for deletions and versions
8.1July 7, 2015Introducing improved Documents, Release Channels, Encryption 2.0
8.0February 9, 2015Introducing Federated Cloud Sharing, improved search and favorites
7.0July 23, 2014Introducing server-to-server sharing and improved user management
6.0December 11, 2013Introducing improved design, activity feed, avatars, previews, conflict handling and more
5.0March 14, 2013Introducing the trash bin and much security, stability and performance work
4.5October 11, 2012Introducing external storage, syncing contacts/calendar, presentation and video players
4.0May 22, 2012Introducing file encryption and versioning, LDAP and more
3.0January 30, 2012Introducing text editor, introduction of ownCloud apps, PDF viewer and photo gallery
2.0October 11, 2011Introducing calendar and contact syncing, sharing and a media player
1.2April 21, 2011Introducing much improved UI and many bugfixes
1.1November 23, 2010Introducing user management and built in text viewer
1.0June 24, 2010Release
1.0bMarch 13, 2010Beta release

Overview

Design

For desktop machines to synchronize files with their ownCloud server, desktop clients are available for PCs running Windows, macOS, FreeBSD or Linux. Mobile clients exist for iOS and Android devices. Files and other data (such as calendars, contacts or bookmarks) can also be accessed, managed, and uploaded using a web browser without any additional software. Any updates to the file system are pushed to all computers and mobile devices connected to a user's account.

Encryption of files may be enforced by the server administrator.[14]

The ownCloud server is written in the PHP and JavaScript scripting languages. For remote access, it employs sabre/dav, an open-source WebDAV server.[15] ownCloud is designed to work with several database management systems, including SQLite, MariaDB, MySQL, Oracle Database, and PostgreSQL.[16]

Features

owncloud is a software only product. owncloud does not offer off-premises storage capacity. This is in contrast to the likes of Dropbox that offers both software and off-premises storage capacity. owncloud storage capacity has to be provided on user owned devices.[2]

ownCloud files are stored in conventional directory structures, and can be accessed via WebDAV if necessary. User files are encrypted both at rest and during transit. ownCloud can synchronise with local clients running Windows (Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8), macOS (10.6 or later), or various Linux distributions.

ownCloud users can manage calendars (CalDAV), contacts (CardDAV) scheduled tasks and streaming media (Ampache) from within the platform.

From the administration perspective, ownCloud permits user and group administration (via OpenID or LDAP). Content can be shared by defining granular read/write permissions between users and/or groups. Alternatively, ownCloud users can create public URLs when sharing files. Logging of file-related actions is available in the Enterprise and Education service offerings.[17]

Furthermore, users can interact with the browser-based ODF-format word processor,[18] bookmarking service, URL shortening suite, gallery, RSS feed reader and document viewer tools from within ownCloud. For additional extensibility, ownCloud can be augmented with "one-click" applications and connection to Dropbox, Google Drive and Amazon S3.

All ownCloud clients (Desktop, iOS, Android) support the OAuth 2 standard for Client Authentication.

Enterprise Features

For Enterprise customers, ownCloud GmbH offers apps with additional functionality. They are mainly useful for large organizations with more than 500 users. An Enterprise subscription includes support services.

Commercial features include End-to-end encryption, Ransomware and Antivirus protection, Branding, Document Classification, Single-Sign-On via Shibboleth/SAML.[19]

Distribution

ownCloud server and clients may be downloaded from the ownCloud website and from third-party repositories, such as Google Play[20] and Apple iTunes,[21] and repositories maintained by Linux distributions. In 2014, a dispute arose between ownCloud and Ubuntu regarding the latter allegedly neglecting maintenance of packages, resulting in the temporary removal of ownCloud from the Ubuntu repository.[22]

ownCloud has been integrated with the GNOME desktop.[23] Additional projects that use or link to ownCloud include a Raspberry Pi project to create a cloud storage system using the Raspberry Pi's small, low-energy form-factor.

In addition to the standard open-source packages, an Enterprise version of ownCloud is also sold, aimed at businesses which require advanced features and software support.[24][25]

See also

References
  1. "Maintenance and Release Schedule". Retrieved 6 June 2020 – via GitHub.
  2. "Owncloud Features" owncloud.org
  3. Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols (2012-10-11). "OwnCloud: Build your own or manage your public cloud storage services". ZDNet. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
  4. Carla Schroder (2012-10-09). "How To Synchronize Dropbox and ownCloud on Linux". Linux.com. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
  5. Deborah Gage (2014-03-10). "OwnCloud Raises $6.3M to Combine File Sharing and Privacy". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
  6. Bhartiya, Swapnil (2016-06-02). "OwnCloud forked to create Nextcloud". Archived from the original on 2017-09-05.
  7. Sean Michael Kerner (2016-06-05). "ownCloud Folds in U.S. as Its Founder Starts New Firm". EWeek. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
  8. "ownCloud Secures Financing and Expands its Management Team - ownCloud". 2016-07-14. Retrieved 2016-09-14.
  9. "Owncloud.Online: Schlüsselfertiges und sicheres Filesharing". speicherguide.de (in German). 2018-10-18. Retrieved 2019-06-04.
  10. "ownCloud Once Again Defends Title: Wins Platinum Award for Secure Enterprise File Sharing". ownCloud.com. 2018-10-12. Retrieved 2019-02-15.
  11. "Owncloud: Datenaustauschplattform Bayernbox für Kommunen". speicherguide.de (in German). 2019-03-26. Retrieved 2019-06-04.
  12. "The New iOS App Is Ready For the Public – Get it for Free at the App Store!". ownCloud.org. 2019-06-26. Retrieved 2019-06-26.
  13. "Download ownCloud Server". ownCloud.org. 28 November 2017. Retrieved 2019-02-15.
  14. Scott Gilbertson (2014-09-08). "OwnCloud: Fiddly but secure host-from-home sync 'n' share". The Register. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
  15. "ownCloud and sabre/dav". owncloud.org. 7 April 2015. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  16. Mike Diehl (2014-11-19). "Synchronize Your Life with ownCloud". Linux Journal. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
  17. "ownCloud Server or Enterprise Edition". owncloud.com.
  18. Neil Bothwick (2014-02-27). "OwnCloud: Work together online". APC. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
  19. "ownCloud Features". ownCloud Website. 2019-01-21. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
  20. "ownCloud". Google Play. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
  21. "ownCloud". Apple iTunes. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
  22. Chris Hoffman (2014-11-07). "Ubuntu, ownCloud, and a hidden dark side of Linux software repositories". PC World. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
  23. "Integrate ownCloud in GNOME". gnome.org. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  24. Frank Ohlhorst (2013-09-17). "Review: ownCloud 5 Enterprise Edition". Enterprise Networking Planet. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
  25. "ownCloud Enterprise Edition". OwnCloud. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
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