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Print 8 comment(s) - last by Paj.. on Feb 13 at 10:24 AM
Service rumored to be free unless lots of storage is used

There are a number of cloud storage solutions on the market today including popular names like Dropbox. The idea of the service is to let users upload things like video, audio, and other files so that they are accessible from using any device be it a laptop, smartphone, or tablet.
 
Sources close to Google are claiming that the search giant is set to launch its own cloud storage service to compete with existing players on the market.
 
The source claims that the Google service is called Drive -- data would be uploaded using the Drive app and then saved to Google servers and accessible from any internet-connected device. The idea is that the files can be uploaded and then links can be shared with other people via e-mail rather than having to try to send a big file directly to multiple recipients.
 
There is no word on the exact launch date for Google Drive, however, it’s expected within the next few weeks. The service is said to be free for most consumers and businesses. Only people or businesses that use large amounts of storage space will be charged. There is no indication at this point how much storage space will be allowed before users are charged.
 
This isn't the first time Google has been tied to a cloud storage service. The Wall Street Journal reports that in 2007 Google's Larry page had programmers working on a service internally that was called G Drive. That service was supposed to have launched in 2007, but for some reason the launch was scrapped.
 
Ironically, 2007 was also the year Dropbox was founded and since then it has taken off with over 45 million users right now. Those 45 million users save about 1 billion files every few days.

Source: Wall Street Journal


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The epic battle continues
By Shig on 2/9/2012 4:35:39 PM , Rating: 2
As sites like Megaupload and others get shut down, Google comes up to the plate.

They'll have access to every piece of copywrited material in the world in a few months lol




RE: The epic battle continues
By kmmatney on 2/9/2012 4:59:19 PM , Rating: 2
How is this different from Microsoft's SkyDrive? (Which I use for the same purpose - to send links in email, rather than a large attachment).

This is a little different than Megaupload. Megaupload had a weird business model - people who uploaded popular content were paid - the payment being higher for more downloads. Thst in itself encouraged copyright infringement.


RE: The epic battle continues
By thatmikeguy on 2/10/2012 4:34:57 PM , Rating: 2
Well, it's hopefully competition with Skynet err Skydrive, because it's looking like Apple has absolutely no direction at all as far as cloud services and businesses go. Race for cloud content domination continues.


RE: The epic battle continues
By kmmatney on 2/9/2012 4:59:50 PM , Rating: 2
How is this different from Microsoft's SkyDrive? (Which I use for the same purpose - to send links in email, rather than a large attachment).

This is a little different than Megaupload. Megaupload had a weird business model - people who uploaded popular content were paid - the payment being higher for more downloads. That in itself encouraged copyright infringement.


RE: The epic battle continues
By mackx on 2/9/2012 5:15:01 PM , Rating: 2
if you can get 50 gig for free from some places, lets hope google ups the ante like they did with gmail. 1TB storage sound good? :)


RE: The epic battle continues
By Solandri on 2/9/2012 6:43:10 PM , Rating: 2
I know most regular people look only at price (preferably free). But for a lot of us, the things that matter are reliability, speed, and security, in addition to price. If Google can provide these at a point competitive with Amazon S3, it will be worth looking into.

But why the name "Drive"? That's gonna make it impossible google for any info on it, as 99% of your search results are going to be for the generic word "drive", not the product "Drive". You'd think Google of all companies would've realized that in today's search-driven world, the importance of having a unique product name like gmail, picasa, photoshop, skydrive, etc.


RE: The epic battle continues
By ascian5 on 2/10/2012 8:58:35 AM , Rating: 3
That's the nice thing about owning your own search engine. Something makes me think that "googling" for a Google product won't be that arduous...


Already here
By Paj on 2/13/2012 10:24:15 AM , Rating: 2
Google Docs already offers a pretty good storage solution. You can upload files to your Google Docs account, and at $5 USD for 20GB per year its a lot cheaper than Dropbox. It doesnt have syncing or a fancy desktop/mobile client though.




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