Google Close To Launching Cloud Storage 'Google Drive'

MrSeb writes with this selection from ExtremeTech: "Why doesn't Google offer a cloud storage service to rival Dropbox, Box.net, or Microsoft's SkyDrive? Google has the most internet-connected servers in the world, the largest combined storage of any web company, and already offers photo storage (Picasa), document storage (Docs), music storage (Music), but for some reason it has never offered a unified Google Drive. According to people familiar with the matter, however, our wait is almost over: Google's Hard Drive In The Sky is coming soon, possibly 'within weeks.' Feature-wise, it sounds like Google Drive will be comparable to Dropbox, with free basic storage (5GB?) and additional space for a yearly fee."

Yay!

[WrongSizeGlass]

More ways for Google to know what you're doing. Will they be scanning your documents? Checking the artist names of the songs you have there and target ads related to them? What about <fill in your own scenario here>?

Re:Yay!

[equex]

just encrypt the files with AES256 before you upload.

Re:Yay!

[jimicus]

The masses have spoken. They don't care.

New World Order will not include the USA

[Tokolosh]

Who will trust their files to a .com located in the USA?

Re:New World Order will not include the USA

[Anonymous Coward]

Q:

Who will trust their files to a .com located in the USA?

A:
Everyone.

Unfortunately.

Re:Yay!

[masternerdguy]

Oh goodie! Maybe the government will think you're a terrorist then!

Redundant?

[Grizzley9]

For pics and videos you have Google+/Picasa web albums and with G+ it's near unlimited space for normal size things. For documents there's Google Docs, as mentioned. What else do you need? Are they going to unify this into a single space or create a Carbonite type backup system? It seems like they already have a "Google Drive", it's just slightly broken up into separate services that enhance the features of the content.

I welcome it, just wonder about usage. I have a SkyDrive acct with 25GB free that I hardly use. Perhaps this is more oriented towards their Google Apps business accounts.

Re:Yay!

[CastrTroy]

Personally, I'm happy paying for monthly hosting services that allow me to just have proper WebDav, SSH, or FTP access to storage space. This type of technology is much more accessible. You can do the same thing with rsync and ssh as you can do with DropBox. Plus a system that relies on standard transfer protocols makes it much easier to switch providers whenever a better deal comes along. My hosting provider gives me 50 GB of storage to do with as I please. That's separate from the space I'm allowed to use for my website.

Yes, but will it last?

[dachshund]

Google has a habit of killing services it doesn't believe in. That's (moderately) ok for a service like Wave, or even Google Health. It's not so good for a cloud storage service, where long-term availability is very much a requirement.

Re:Yay!

[RazzleFrog]

Seriously? You don't think Microsoft (creator of Bing) and Apple (creator if iWorldDomination) can search through and make money off your information. Oh how naive.

Re:Yay!

[blueg3]

I drives people to use Google more? The same could be said of Picasa or Docs. In Docs, in particular, Google does not appear to do anything with the contents of your documents (there's not even advertising on the Docs page), and that's a much easier situation for them than if they're providing storage.

...the latter would provide no upside for Google...

That would imply that a service like Dropbox, which doesn't do advertising at all, could not possibly make money off of offering cloud storage, yet they do.

Re:Yes, but will it last?

[Skapare]

Less risk of Google killing it and more risk of the government closing it.

Re:Yay!

[dkf]

...then giving away the directory structure and size of each updated file? You know, you can tell a lot from those.

You have the power to customize the amount of information that you give out according to your paranoia level and the amount of convenience you desire. Bitching about something you have complete control over won't help.

Re:Yay!

[jedidiah]

Most of the pining for the Cloud appears to be from device vendors and fans of devices that refuse to build products with an adequate amount of local storage.

People and companies are trying to make up for the lameness of devices by becoming dependent on a networks that are even more lame.

A bird in the hand beats two in the Cloud.