Pst. If you listen loud enough you’ll hear the rush that is caused by companies want to give you data storage space in the cloud.
They’ll promise you just about anything to get it, but what they want is to tie you to them for the future.
The loudest of late has to be have been Google with their launch of Google Drive. I wrote a quick introduction about Google Drive when they first announced the new expanded service, but I didn’t install the app or make use of the service til this past weekend.
So far, I am a little underwhelmed. You will be too.
The install is simple enough. When you log in to Google Drive’s site, your OS will be identified, and you will be offered the appropriate install file for download.
The application will integrate Google Drive with your operating system, showing the cloud drive as a mapped drive in your system. In that regard, Google Drive meets the same specs as industry leader Dropbox.
Google Drive will sync your files to the cloud and to your other devices, computers and smart phones/tablets alike.
In this regard, Google Drive neither shines nor pales. It simply doesn’t impress.
The Good Stuff
1. Install client to integrate with your computer’s operating system.
2. Sync with the cloud as well as other devices.
3. Free 5 GB of storage space (equal to other services like Amazon or Dropbox).
4. Integrates nicely with Google’s suite of services, including Google+.
5. Integrates nicely with Google Docs.
6. Absolute best price for cloud service you will find. $2.49/mo for 25 GB of storage space, $4.99 for 100 GB(!). You can secure up to 16TB of cloud storage.
7. Identifies who modified a shared file most recently and when the file was modified.
The Weak Points
1. No versioning – meaning if you need to access an earlier version of a file, you are out of luck (if you use Google Docs you will have the ability to track revisions for that doc, but there is no versioning in Drive.
2. If you are not familiar with Google Docs, you will be a little confused by the interface. If you have used Google Docs extensively, you’ll love Drive.
3. Google’s standard them is clean but unispiring.
My take away is that Google Drive has a ton of promise, but lacks at some fairly important points in terms of User Interface and User Experience.
The price cannot be beat. Absolute amazing prices.
If you can adjust your work style to Google’s desire (pay attention to that; my belief is that Google is targeting Microsoft and not Apple with Google Drive) for how you work, you will be happy.
Make no mistake: Google is slowly drawing you in to their web of services with Google Drive.
They want to own all of your digital life.
Are you making use of cloud storage? What do you think about Google Drive? Is it for you?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Google drive tool is very useful and nowadays so many persons are using that tool also…
Google Drive sounds like a powerful tool. However, I’m not currently using it, because I’m watching my budget. I’ll need to use it at some point because I need a good data storage source.
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