[From the class of 09]

Google's GDrive Reportedly To Launch As Dropbox-rival 'Drive'

Google's long-rumored GDrive that would let you upload and store files to its servers and be able to access them from anywhere you have an Internet connection may finally be close to launching in the coming weeks as a more cheaply priced Dropbox rival.

The new product, reportedly called "Drive," will be free to consumers up to a certain size limit, and would also be folded into Google Apps for enterprise customers, according to The Wall Street Journal. The newspaper cited "people familiar with the matter."

"If a person wants to email a video shot from a smartphone, for instance, he can upload it to the Web through the Drive mobile app and email people a link to the video rather than a bulky file," the newspaper said.

If that scenario sounds familiar, that's because Google already offers similar functionality using a variety of Google tools.

You can, for instance, record a video on your Android phone and then have it uploaded automatically to Picasa through a service called Instant Upload. Then you could either share your video on Google+ or move it to a different album to share publicly or with a select group of people such as close family members.

Google also allows you to upload files of any type to Google Docs, effectively giving you a Dropbox-like service. When Google added the functionality in early 2010, many critics referred to it as a kinda, sorta GDrive.

By the end of 2010, Google had also added drag-and-drop functionality to Google Docs (just as it had to Gmail in April and May that same year), making the service even more GDrive- or Dropbox-like.

Unlike Dropbox, however, which offers 2GB free storage, Google Docs' storage offerings are a bit more complex. You can upload up to 1GB to Google Docs, while files created inside Google Docs have specific limitations such as 400,000 cells for spreadsheets with a maximum 256 columns per sheet.

Google in 2011 also unveiled an online music locker and streaming service called Google Music.

So if Google is already offering online storage for virtually anything you have stored on your PC, what could this rumored "Drive" offer that is new? Will Google simply duplicate offerings it's already built? Possibly, but given CEO Larry Page's recent focus on integrating Google's services, that seems unlikely.

Google may be looking to bring its cloud storage services for photos, videos and files into one cohesive whole. That way you'd have one central drop location for your files similar to Dropbox or Microsoft's Web-based alternative, SkyDrive, instead of having them spread across multiple services.

It's not clear if Google's long-awaited GDrive would also offer you easy access to your documents already on Google Docs. But that seems likely if Google's vaunted "Drive" is a web-based tool as most of the company's other popular products are.

Another option is to emulate Dropbox's desktop-web hybrid model that sticks a folder on your desktop. Anything you put into the folder is then automatically uploaded and synced to Dropbox's servers and your other Dropbox installations.

Google's expected GDrive was first rumored around 2007, then resurfaced in 2009 after a reference to "Google Web Drive" was discovered in a collection of Google desktop programs. In September 2011, TechCrunch reported that Google Drive was launching "for real this time."

Google was unavailable for comment early Thursday.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/249605/g ... drive.html

[Sly Fox]

Bring it!

[ALUmnus]

Wow! Another product from Google that already exists! They excel at that.

[From the class of 09]

Wow! Another product from Google that already exists! They excel at that.

and at making them better.

[ALUmnus]

Wow! Another product from Google that already exists! They excel at that.

and at making them better.

No, that's Apple. I don't see how this is better than the alternatives. Actually, I don't know that a Google product is best-in-class in anything. Search, maybe? The advantage is the conglomerating nature of their products.

[RubberMallet]

google docs and google mail are some of the crappiest programs we use at work.

[lynchburgwildcats]

google docs and google mail are some of the crappiest programs we use at work.

I disagree on gmail. I use it to manage three different email accounts and I only have to login once. I can send and receive email for all three addresses. Huge productivity boost than having to juggle between three different windows/tabs/programs for email.

[RubberMallet]

google docs and google mail are some of the crappiest programs we use at work.

I disagree on gmail. I use it to manage three different email accounts and I only have to login once. I can send and receive email for all three addresses. Huge productivity boost than having to juggle between three different windows/tabs/programs for email.

its interface is awful and its integration with outlook is clunky and dumb. appsync is terrible too.

[ALUmnus]

Awesome, so they can spy on all three of your accounts at once. Icky.

[From the class of 09]

Awesome, so they can spy on all three of your accounts at once. Icky.

[lynchburgwildcats]

Awesome, so they can spy on all three of your accounts at once. Icky.

I've got nothing to hide, what do you have to hide?

[lynchburgwildcats]

google docs and google mail are some of the crappiest programs we use at work.

I disagree on gmail. I use it to manage three different email accounts and I only have to login once. I can send and receive email for all three addresses. Huge productivity boost than having to juggle between three different windows/tabs/programs for email.

its interface is awful and its integration with outlook is clunky and dumb. appsync is terrible too.

Outlook is awful. I ditched Outlook several years ago and don't miss it in the least bit. Don't know what appsync is unless you are talking about a gmail app.

[NotAJerry]

google docs and google mail are some of the crappiest programs we use at work.

I disagree on gmail. I use it to manage three different email accounts and I only have to login once. I can send and receive email for all three addresses. Huge productivity boost than having to juggle between three different windows/tabs/programs for email.

its interface is awful and its integration with outlook is clunky and dumb. appsync is terrible too.

Outlook is a joke. I work with schools on integrating Google Docs and Gmail into their setup, and every school that makes the switch absolutely loves them. Those may be the two best programs Google has. Their education app suite is phenomenal as well.

[LUconn]

I'm not anti google like alumnus, but don't think for a second that google wouldn't give you up to the feds in a heartbeat without warrant.

[ALUmnus]

What makes Outlook a joke? That totally boggles my mind.

[RubberMallet]

I disagree on gmail. I use it to manage three different email accounts and I only have to login once. I can send and receive email for all three addresses. Huge productivity boost than having to juggle between three different windows/tabs/programs for email.

its interface is awful and its integration with outlook is clunky and dumb. appsync is terrible too.

Outlook is a joke. I work with schools on integrating Google Docs and Gmail into their setup, and every school that makes the switch absolutely loves them. Those may be the two best programs Google has. Their education app suite is phenomenal as well.

schools love it because its free for them and a school technology coordinator is also usually a coach/teacher/janitor so maintaining an exchange server is out of the question. if they had to pay for it, there wouldn't be the mass exodus there has been. outlook and thunderbird are so much better than gmails interface its laughable.

[Sly Fox]

I guess maybe I need to give Outlook another look. Because the last time I used it two years ago it was horrible. I used to have nightmares dealing with Exchange & BEZ. That seems like eons ago but it really wasn't that long ago.

And for the record, Gmail's latest upgrade isn't easy on the eyes but seems to be more efficient.

[NotAJerry]

schools love it because its free for them and a school technology coordinator is also usually a coach/teacher/janitor so maintaining an exchange server is out of the question. if they had to pay for it, there wouldn't be the mass exodus there has been. outlook and thunderbird are so much better than gmails interface its laughable.

Find a school who has a tech coordinator like that and I'll show you a bottom 10 state in education. That's ridiculous. Most states have now adopted a standard of 1 Instructional Technology specialist per 1000 students. This isn't 1993 anymore. Places like Vanderbilt and UVA have Ed.D programs devoted solely to Instructional Technology.

Thunderbird is great, but Outlook is just clunky and useless. For all the improvements in Word, PowerPoint, etc., somehow Outlook just remains pathetic. Gmail is lightyears ahead of Outlook at this point and can be integrated into existing systems flawlessly.

[NotAJerry]

I guess maybe I need to give Outlook another look. Because the last time I used it two years ago it was horrible. I used to have nightmares dealing with Exchange & BEZ. That seems like eons ago but it really wasn't that long ago.

And for the record, Gmail's latest upgrade isn't easy on the eyes but seems to be more efficient.

It took me all of 15 minutes to get Gmail to a point where it didn't bother my eyes at all. Just adjusting to the Cozy setting, while running a dark theme, worked fine.

[RubberMallet]

schools love it because its free for them and a school technology coordinator is also usually a coach/teacher/janitor so maintaining an exchange server is out of the question. if they had to pay for it, there wouldn't be the mass exodus there has been. outlook and thunderbird are so much better than gmails interface its laughable.

Find a school who has a tech coordinator like that and I'll show you a bottom 10 state in education. That's ridiculous. Most states have now adopted a standard of 1 Instructional Technology specialist per 1000 students. This isn't 1993 anymore. Places like Vanderbilt and UVA have Ed.D programs devoted solely to Instructional Technology.

Thunderbird is great, but Outlook is just clunky and useless. For all the improvements in Word, PowerPoint, etc., somehow Outlook just remains pathetic. Gmail is lightyears ahead of Outlook at this point and can be integrated into existing systems flawlessly.

i work with k12 tech coordinators all over the country each and every day and for every person who can set up their own dns servers and maintain a ASA firewall there are 2 who couldn't tell you what a domain is. i'd say 5-10% of schools don't even have a full time tech coordinator in their district and use outside managed companies to do it for them. instructional technology = smart boards and curriculum. not IT infrastructure.

googles lame interface with no discernible way of sorting mail is completely hilarious in any type of professional setting.

[lynchburgwildcats]

schools love it because its free for them and a school technology coordinator is also usually a coach/teacher/janitor so maintaining an exchange server is out of the question. if they had to pay for it, there wouldn't be the mass exodus there has been. outlook and thunderbird are so much better than gmails interface its laughable.

Find a school who has a tech coordinator like that and I'll show you a bottom 10 state in education. That's ridiculous. Most states have now adopted a standard of 1 Instructional Technology specialist per 1000 students. This isn't 1993 anymore. Places like Vanderbilt and UVA have Ed.D programs devoted solely to Instructional Technology.

Thunderbird is great, but Outlook is just clunky and useless. For all the improvements in Word, PowerPoint, etc., somehow Outlook just remains pathetic. Gmail is lightyears ahead of Outlook at this point and can be integrated into existing systems flawlessly.

i work with k12 tech coordinators all over the country each and every day and for every person who can set up their own dns servers and maintain a ASA firewall there are 2 who couldn't tell you what a domain is. i'd say 5-10% of schools don't even have a full time tech coordinator in their district and use outside managed companies to do it for them. instructional technology = smart boards and curriculum. not IT infrastructure.

googles lame interface with no discernible way of sorting mail is completely hilarious in any type of professional setting.

what do you mean no discernable way or softing email? i have my inbox sorted all sorts of different ways...

[RubberMallet]

um. you aren't able to sort based off to or from. only by time. we have partnered with google for an email archiving solution so our guys are pretty much gurus and the only way to have email sort the way its needed is through a mail management program. Google is great with allowing this and easily setting it up.

like i said, their mail functionality is lacking in some areas that even yahoo is able to do. google docs is a great rudimentary spreadsheet program but has alot of quirky annoying things that are easily fixable and i assume will be.

[NotAJerry]

um. you aren't able to sort based off to or from. only by time.

There's a dropdown on the search function that allows you to sort by to or from. It took me 3 seconds to find it and that's only because I missed it on the first click.

[adam42381]

um. you aren't able to sort based off to or from. only by time.

There's a dropdown on the search function that allows you to sort by to or from. It took me 3 seconds to find it and that's only because I missed it on the first click.

Unless I'm missing something, you can only search to or from for specific senders. I can't find a way to sort by to or from.

[RubberMallet]

um. you aren't able to sort based off to or from. only by time.

There's a dropdown on the search function that allows you to sort by to or from. It took me 3 seconds to find it and that's only because I missed it on the first click.

yyyyeaah thats not the same thing.