Google Drive About to Drop!
Fans of Google have been holding their breath with anticipation over the flow of rumors surrounding the online search, media and computing giant's impending release of their storage and file syncing tool, reportedly to be called Drive.
Based on movements in the Google Docs interface just this morning, it looks like Google is racing to rev up the already hot online storage war.
Drive is essentially Google's answer to popular cloud-driven file storage and sharing site Dropbox, which currently offers 2 GB of free online storage and an easy interface to upload and sync files from one's PC or Mac to the cloud. Once there, files can be accessed via mobile apps for editing or reading, or from almost any Internet-connected computer in the world.
So if Dropbox has been around for some time now, providing such a great interface, why all the hullabaloo surrounding Drive? Integration. For those that enjoy the file creation and storage system provided by Google Docs, Drive's connection to their favorite online office environment means up to 5 GB of free storage to store anything they upload through the Docs environment. It also means a place to keep (and share with others) an almost endless stream of documents, presentations, spreadsheets and drawing created in the Docs office environment.
It also might mean greater space to instantly upload a backup of those photos you've been taking with your mobile phone - currently Google offers Google Photos, (previously known as Picasa - which has a 1 GB limit, although Google+ uploads and smaller files tend to not count against this limit).
How do I know Google's initial free offering is 5 GB? Because quietly, in the dark of the night, Google has been moving its pieces into place, likely in anticipation of the big reveal. When I went to bed last night, my available Google Docs storage space was just over 1 GB - as it has been for years.
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