Huh, okay…I’m not sure that the product or the purpose are all that different, but that’s exactly what I’m trying to figure out.
A quick web search of comparisons indicates that Dropbox and Google docs are both designed for multiple users to review/edit files in the “cloud” and then both will automatically sync changes. I’ve used Google docs extensively to edit documents, and it’s pretty cool when two users are actually making changes simultaneously and can both see the edits being made in real time. My understanding is that Dropbox does not show edits in real time, but only after the file is re-saved to the shared folder.
I think one of the main differences is that Google docs changes Microsoft files to the Google docs format (although you can change them back when edits are finished). The Google docs format for the Microsoft products I’ve worked with is very similar but not identical for all.
For example, with Word documents, Google docs version seems to have the same features, but for other files such as Powerpoint presentations, the Google docs version is just different enough to potentially screw up your presentation. In contrast, Dropbox doesn’t convert a Powerpoint file (or any other file type) and instead allows users to edit it on Powerpoint.
Anyway, for me, now that I’m accustomed to editing stuff in Google docs with multiple users, I really like it and still can’t see a big plus to switching to Dropbox.