Google Drive has arrived

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

If you're a Google user (especially Google Docs) you'll want to set up Google Drive - and you start off with 5GB of space. It works a lot like Dropbox - setting up a folder on your computer that stays in sync with your Google Drive.

Anyway, we now have lots of alternatives - Box, Dropbox, etc,.

http://drive.google.com/start

[Dan Henderson]

thanks for this

[Cam Pence]

I am not understanding what the real difference is between drive and docs beside the fact that I am limited to 5 gig of storage with drive.

[Cam Pence]

Actually it looks like Google drive replaced google docs. Looks like Google is using this as a way to limit how much storage you have before paying. Oh well, at least they will sync all your current google docs without counting them towards your drive storage.

[Kevin Rector]

"Your Google Drive is not Ready Yet"

[Dan Henderson]

if it syncs with my phone then I'm good with it, 5g is plenty for me.

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

I did the download onto my PC and then to my Android - looks great from here.

[Gina Stevenson]

Was reading the other day re being able to do that for BB Playbook (this little tablet), but then you sre to do something on pc to be able to use it on here. Well, no pc (since early December) is why I have this in the first place. Oh, well .....

Eta: this was re dropbox. Sounds like (from Scott's note re pc download) this works the same. Anyway, if it is an .exe file, it is not usable/"openable," on here. Tho 60% off, beginning to wonder about this tablet!

[Rich Schmidt]

I'm not going to download their app until I have a chance to read a review or two to find out what it does, exactly. I don't really want Google to index all the files on my hard drive, so if it's going to do that sort of thing... I may skip it.

The link worked just fine for me, though, so now instead of "Docs" I have "Drive," with seemingly no difference...

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

Compare Dropbox to Google Drive: http://lifehacker.com/5904731/desktop-file-syncing-faceoff-dropbox-vs-google-drive

[Marian Schwaller Carney]

OK, I just asked then to notify me. While we're at it, what about Google+? I've been on it but did not find critical mass of others, so have ignored it.

[Jon Twitchell]

"Your Google Drive is not Ready Yet"

this.

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

Here's a nifty trick for quickly sending files to dropbox, google drive, etc.

http://lifehacker.com/5905516/send-files-to-dropbox-google-drive-and-more-from-windows-right%20click-menu

[Gina Stevenson]

Any ideas for at least saving what has been dl'd on this little tablet? Been trying to read & figutr it out. Thanks.

[Zach Wingo]

This probably sounds stupid to most but I prefer Dropbox primarily because they aren't Google. I don't like companies having all my info and it's not so much privacy issues as they probably already know everything about me but it's a power issue. Facebook can make profile design changes anytime and we can't do a thing about it because they own the market. Google can make any changes to search because they own that market. These companies don't even have competition worth mentioning in those areas. But if we give them control over everything they have all the power and I don't like that. I believe competition is good not to mention I like to reward companies like Dropbox for actually being innovative in the first place instead of just copying everything. [END OF RANT]

[Rich Schmidt]

This probably sounds stupid to most but I prefer Dropbox primarily because they aren't Google. I don't like companies having all my info and it's not so much privacy issues as they probably already know everything about me but it's a power issue. Facebook can make profile design changes anytime and we can't do a thing about it because they own the market. Google can make any changes to search because they own that market. These companies don't even have competition worth mentioning in those areas. But if we give them control over everything they have all the power and I don't like that. I believe competition is good not to mention I like to reward companies like Dropbox for actually being innovative in the first place instead of just copying everything. [END OF RANT]

I don't have a problem with folks who don't want to give Google their info. I'm a bit ambivalent about it, myself. But I do want to point out that Dropbox wasn't the first to do online/cloud storage. Not by a long shot. I'm not sure, actually, what Dropbox offered that others weren't already offering when it launched... but their ease of use, their viral marketing approach (get more space when your friends sign up!), and their API certainly put them in the top tier.

[Gina Stevenson]

Wish I could use DropBox w/this thing, due to stuff already stored on here. Could clear it out some, and ... (seems slower lately). But you have to somehow set up a tablet through PC. Well, I only got a tablet due to a PC crash. Hmmmm .....

[Rich Schmidt]

Wish I could use DropBox w/this thing, due to stuff already stored on here. Could clear it out some, and ... (seems slower lately). But you have to somehow set up a tablet through PC. Well, I only got a tablet due to a PC crash. Hmmmm .....

Perhaps you could use a pc at the public library? Or at a friend's house? Or at church? Or...?

[Zach Wingo]

I don't have a problem with folks who don't want to give Google their info. I'm a bit ambivalent about it, myself. But I do want to point out that Dropbox wasn't the first to do online/cloud storage. Not by a long shot. I'm not sure, actually, what Dropbox offered that others weren't already offering when it launched... but their ease of use, their viral marketing approach (get more space when your friends sign up!), and their API certainly put them in the top tier.

We could claim the first was the government and higher educational institutions but that wasn't the point. The first major company to make "cloud" storage popular was Amazon S3 which truly revolutionized the whole concept of storage online but their service was only accessible via their API. Amazon is the largest storage service in the world with several large corporations storing petabytes of data there. My point wasn't about storage itself but about innovation. Dropbox was the first company to really offer a commercial cloud storage system that synced files across multiple platforms in a user-friendly way. Dropbox has been the leader in innovation and cloud storage.

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

At this time I have Dropbox - my primary, Box - where I put a bunch of mp3's for backup, and Google Drive - just because it is there and I already have a Google account. There's no telling how much cloud storage that is - but its a bunch!

[Charlene Clevenger]

I have Dropbox only because somebody sent me something on it once. I've never used it again. Yesterday I got into Google Drive so I could send a Power Point presentation that was too big to send by email. I sent them a link to get it from my Drive account. It was really easy. I already had a lot of stuff in Google Docs that I wanted to be able to get to from home and work. I also have a church directory in Google Docs that I made available to people from church. That was long before Google Drive. Actually, I'm not sure how much it's different from Google Docs.

[Rich Schmidt]

We could claim the first was the government and higher educational institutions but that wasn't the point. The first major company to make "cloud" storage popular was Amazon S3 which truly revolutionized the whole concept of storage online but their service was only accessible via their API. Amazon is the largest storage service in the world with several large corporations storing petabytes of data there. My point wasn't about storage itself but about innovation. Dropbox was the first company to really offer a commercial cloud storage system that synced files across multiple platforms in a user-friendly way. Dropbox has been the leader in innovation and cloud storage.

They've certainly been a leader. Don't get me wrong: I think they're great. I use their service every day. I just don't find it helpful to promote overly simplistic comparisons like "Dropbox is actually innovative. Google just copies everything." It reminds me too much of "Apple innovates; Microsoft just copies." That leads down a never-ending rabbit hole of "but Apple just copied Xerox PARC!" etc, etc, etc.

Dropbox was the first to do what they do the way they do it. Others had been doing similar, but not identical, things for years.

Dropbox innovated in many ways, did lots of things right, and they've done well. Google Drive is innovating in some other areas, and we'll see how well they do.

FWIW, my money's on Dropbox.

[Zach Wingo]

I just don't find it helpful to promote overly simplistic comparisons like "Dropbox is actually innovative. Google just copies everything."
It's not a simplistic comparison. Google Drive has nothing innovative about it except that it integrates well with their Doc and has the ability to view more file formats than other services.



Google Drive is innovating in some other areas, and we'll see how well they do.


How have they done anything innovative besides their pricing model?

An interesting side note is that Dropbox is built upon Amazon S3 which puts Dropbox's storage costs at about $0.03-$0.05 per GB per month assuming they haven't negotiated any special low rates with Amazon. This puts their cost on par with what Google's charging. I suspect that Amazon may purchase Dropbox.

[Rich Schmidt]

How have they done anything innovative besides their pricing model?

It looks to me like you've answered your own question. :)


Google Drive has nothing innovative about it except that it integrates well with their Doc and has the ability to view more file formats than other services.

I'm not really interested in arguing about this. It sounds like neither of us are big fans of Google or Drive. I look forward to seeing how things shake out in this area over the next few years.

[Zach Wingo]

It looks to me like you've answered your own question. :)

Not really because it was said kind of tongue-in-cheek because it's not really innovative although it's is a benefit.

[Craig Laughlin]

Just set it up. Works slick. We were already using google docs a lot for sharing and collaborating. This just makes it easier and gives me an offline version that I really like.

I had tried setting up drop box earlier and had trouble with it. (I didn't try real hard) This was just download run and go. It will be great to share documents with key volunteers as well as the staff. 5 gig is plenty for me as I almost exclusively use Word and Excel documents.

Love it.

[Rich Schmidt]

We were already using google docs a lot for sharing and collaborating.

Sounds like it's a good fit for you guys.... especially if you're already heavily invested in Google Docs.

Since we're not, Dropbox has always seemed pretty easy. Install the app, register for the account, and the files start downloading/syncing.

If your team is already sharing stuff with Google Docs, then you've already done the "register for the account" step, leaving you with almost no setup at all. Plus, your whole team already knows how the sharing features work. That makes it a pretty easy decision. :)

[Zach Wingo]

I haven't tried Google Drive yet but I heard one of the negatives about it is that it reuploads/downloads entire documents when changes are made instead of just the changes. Dropbox is able to see what changes are made to a file and only upload the change. This probably isn't a big deal for most people but if you work with really large files it could be.