"GDrive" lives...
The effort -- at one point known internally at Google as "My Stuff" -- could add to the challenges facing Microsoft's core Windows operating system and Office productivity software businesses by speeding a shift toward Web-based computing. It also has the potential to affect the economics and usage of home computers, lessening consumers' need to buy big hard drives to store and back up all of their files, for example.
One limitation of such an Internet-based storage service is that it isn't accessible when a person's computer or phone is offline, such as when one is in an airplane, though he could still copy required files to the laptop or other device before disconnecting from the Internet.
In the meantime, a handy table:
i'm missing Amazon's S3 in the table:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html?node=16427261
Thanks for the comment -- I suspect the WSJ left it out because it started with free, consumer-oriented services.
ReplyDeleteGosh, Google gets too much media exposure! But Google is not an innovator in the online storage business. It just possesses the huge marketing power once Microsoft had before.
ReplyDeleteI recommend everybody to try DriveHQ Online Storage and Online Backup service (www.drivehq.com). I feel the usability, the group and sub-group file sharing, the advanced folder synchronization features are really killer apps. Even if Google launches its online storage service, it will be too late to catch up.