Google "Gdrive" on it's way - Well no,
not really

Posted by: MikeZilla on Jan 13, 2010
So Google are making their mass storage solution available shortly. The "Gdrive" will be available inside Google docs allowing users to store documents other than the current Google Docs file types.

Don’t call me Gdrive

Officially Gdrive does not exist and anyone mentioning the fabled Gdrive will be promptly put to death by being forced to watch youtube videos of sleeping cat’s until the will to live completely leaves you. As this exchange between a tech crunch reporter and a Google labs developer confirms:

“This is not GDrive” said Google Docs product manager Vijay Bangaru yesterday while showing me something that sure does look exactly like the fabled GDrive.

“How is it different,” I asked.

“That’s hard to say, because GDrive doesn’t exist.” Source: Google Gdrive launches, just don’t call it Gdrive

Ever since Google set it’s sight on a cloudy future, working first on Gmail, Google Docs and even it own Googlified  netbook OS, it’s been kinda obvious that some form of cloud file storage would be necessary. Gdrive in whatever incarnation or name is what it is a necessary step in getting the man on the street into the cloud. So while the Gdrive remained the stuff of legend this reality of it all is that this is no surprise and yes, Google we’re not idiots. We have no clue what the actual code name for you project was but we were friggin right.

Ok quick run down of how it will work:

• Each Google “Gdrive” user will have 1Gb
• Increased space on the Google server will be at $0.25 (R1.86)/Gb per year
• Maximum file size is 250Mb
• All file formats supported not only Google Docs supported formats
• Documents stored in Google Docs may be made private or public
• Access may be granted to other Google Docs users

T3lkom r@t b@st@rd$

Sounds pretty good, except if you happen to live in somewhere like South Africa, while it’s still a good value offering the cost of data in South Africa becomes a colossal annoyance, yeah I know it’s always been a colossal annoyance. Google has put together a good value offering. Sadly though in South Africa excluding the cost for your adsl line pretty much the cheapest data option you’re going find is going to mean: We’re going to pay 16 times more than what Google is charging us for space just to get our data off our drives and onto the information super highway.

Overall I’m pretty happy, the last time I tried to get a 120Mb file to a business contact in Nigeria I swear I nearly hurled a laptop at a wall, so being able to share large file is a big bonus. Sadly though we’ll probably have to stick to backing up just the essentials on Google’s shiny new toy.

So thanks to our lovely telecommunications monopoly we’ll have yet another Google app to underutilize. Happy days.