The Wall Street Journal reports that Google is about to announce an online storage space. Some call it GDrive, and I see it as a vital component of Google Computing Cloud. Regardless, instead of obsessing over the minutiae, I want to know what you folks specifically think about it. Take this poll and let us know.
[poll]
GDrive is not that exciting for me because they already offer me storage space of 5GB. So it is only an enhancement of UI. But what will be nice is something like a micro instance of Amazon’s EC2. Suppose the instance is 100th of a standard EC2, meaning it costs only $1 a month. Oh the things I can do! (like distributed social networks).
I think this translates well with the “average joe.” A place where he can store large items online, free of charge, will definitely reasonate
They’re already indexing my e-mail. You can’t any more sensitive informatio than that. Google has anything on me they want already. I’ve consciously decided to trust them with it. Or in other words, I am trusting that Google is safeguarding my information. GDrive is just more of the same.
Paranoid often, Rick? =P
To me this is another example of Google pushing the envelope in making helpful, usable, free applications for people.
If Google gives a nice integration with PC/Mac (like just another offline/online drive) then I don’t mind paying for the service.
The sharing with friends is the most interesting part of the proposed service, especially if it could be used as a free FTP service, like yousendit.com. Yousendit has an free ad based model, which I don’t mind using.
How do you know that Google wouldn’t offer free storage without ads? They have plenty of free, ad-free services, like Google Reader, Google Docs, and others.
I was banned from using Adsense last year with no clear explanation. When I asked for proof, google said they don’t disclose user info, my info, btw. So I’d stay with Amazon S3. Goog might pull the same trick on me again, leaving my files on their servers with no one to contact except the canned email response.
Snippets from the article:
“The service could let users access their files via the Internet from different computers and mobile devices…”
“Planned pricing isn’t known.“
The idea of moving to a new model of computing and storage is interesting. However, the product isn’t available yet and there is much uncertainty on what exactly will be offered (i.e. amount of space available, service level, terms of service, OS compatibility, the “user experience,” etc.), so isn’t it premature to poll people on whether they would switch to GDrive?
To succeed on based on merit (not just convenience of being a Google product), they will need to eliminate file size limits, and offer more storage than people are expecting….
When gmail came out and offered 2gb people flocked to the service because it was revolutionary. I want to see GDrive do the same thing. Push the limits of what people assume is cost effective.
GIMME 100 GB!!!
I think is too late for entering the storage market. The best by far are
http://www.orbitfiles.com which recently relaunched
http://www.box.net
http://www.esnips.com
Many people have blindly believed Google will dominate the Internet industry. which is not really the case. In fact, out of the search market, Google has not been successful. This doesn’t hurt for Google to get a lot of media exposure. Taking for example, GDrive was rumored for years… but the real online storage king is always a small innovator, not a big behemoth like Google. I recommend everybody to try DriveHQ Online Storage and Online Backup service (www.drivehq.com). I feel the usability, the group and sub-group file sharing, the advanced folder synchronization features are really killer apps. Even if Google launches its online storage service, it will be too late to catch up.