

Google Outs Google Drive On Its French Blog: Here Are All The Details - jeffpalmer
http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/24/google-outs-google-drive-on-its-french-blog-here-are-all-the-details/

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rkudeshi
So the things Google Drive has that Dropbox doesn't:

* 2-factor authentication!

* Comments on files (unclear if it's only for Google Docs or all files)

* OCR - like Evernote, you can search against text in images (e.g. newspaper article)

* Image recognition - if you upload a pic of the Eiffel Tower, you can find it with the search term "eiffel tower"

* Web-based file viewer - 30 file types including HD video, Illustrator, Photoshop, etc.

The OCR and image recognition are going to be killer features for "normal"
people. And I imagine it's something Dropbox can't easily duplicate (unlike
the other features).

Then again, as a more privacy-minded technical person, the image recognition
feature scares the beejezus out of me. Tagging faces on Facebook is one thing,
but being able to semantically identify all contents of my images is really
stepping up the creepiness quotient.

Should be interesting to see how Dropbox responds.

~~~
jrockway
_Tagging faces on Facebook is one thing, but being able to semantically
identify all contents of my images is really stepping up the creepiness
quotient._

Why? I find face tagging much creepier than tagging a picture of a cat with
"cat". (You can already use Google Goggles to see what Google knows how to
recognize.)

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ropiku
Google also uploaded videos on Youtube about Drive and Go Google:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SjRH3SImlM>

Update: Also Google Drive SDK <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ee3R3tfdd4>

~~~
vibrunazo
And the start page from the video is already up.

<https://drive.google.com/start?authuser=0#home>

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cleverjake
it really feels like more of a rebranding of google docs, rather than a new
service. People have been able to upload arbitrary files into docs for some
time now, but I have met only a few who actually knew that.

My question is that if this is in fact the case, and it is "the next step in
google docs", will they advertise docs as a feature of drive, as two separate
products, or is the average user supposed to know that you open up Drive to
edit your spreadsheet.

~~~
jrockway
That's exactly what this is. The "document list" can now store arbitrary files
instead of just documents. You also get syncing to your computer or mobile
device.

~~~
cleverjake
'The "document list" can now store arbitrary files instead of just documents.'

My comment was actually that this functionality has existed for quite some
time, unless I misundersood you. I think that all that is new is the syncing
and branding

~~~
jrockway
That could be true. I never used Google Docs before working for Google, and
it's been called Drive internally as long as I've been here :)

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iandanforth
I'm hoping that $4/m/20GB is wrong. I pay $20/YEAR for 80GB of storage in
docs.

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mladenkovacevic
time to buy some annual storage and be grandfathered in?

~~~
mladenkovacevic
So I think I was right.

I just bought 80GB a few minutes before the new pricing page went up. When I
go back to my Accounts page and click on Storage-More Details I see the new
pricing, but under my 80GB at $20/year I see the following: "* Your current
plan is no longer offered.Learn more"

There is nothing yet under the Learn More link, but I can see that my next
charge will occur next year. I hope that means old storage buyers are being
grandfathered in.

Thinking about it some more, I should've gotten 200GB for $50.

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aristidb
So now I could activate Google Drive in my account, but ...

Dropbox has a Linux app, Google Drive has not. I have more than one computer,
and one of them runs Linux. I think I'll stick with Dropbox.

~~~
cleverjake
Does anything prevent you from using the web interface of google drive with
the drag to upload? Or did you just mean the folder integration part of the
services?

~~~
aristidb
The web interface obviously works, sure. But the "sync app" does not.

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rheide
I think 5gb is fairly limited, and I fail to believe that this is the best
Google can do. The way it is now all Dropbox has to do is up their default
free space to 10gb and Google Drive loses.

~~~
ytNumbers
If space is your primary consideration, your other free choices are:
Microsoft=25GB, Apple=5GB, and Dropbox=2GB.

~~~
tedmiston
But... Dropbox has numerous options for expanding this up to 4-8 GB (maybe
higher) for free.

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zby
And I thought it would be about robotic cars :)

