NEWS ANALYSIS: Google Drive will be the latest cloud storage service to hit the market in a few weeks, joining a large crowd of competitors. But it will provide a lot of good reasons for consumers and businesses to try it out.
Google
Drive is all the rage in today's hotly contested cloud-storage space. The
offering, which was first announced on April 24, is widely believed to be the
next big answer to services like Dropbox and Box and could very well become a
popular option for those who already work with Google Apps or are looking to
move their data away from their current storage service.
Even
before its official launch, a lively Internet debate questions whether or not
users should try out Google Drive. There are some who say that Google's
data-ownership policies and track record of wanting to control data should make
anyone think twice about using the service. Others say it might simply be
better to help out a smaller company that developed a successful cloud storage
service long before tech giants such as Google and Apple got into the business.
But
at this point, there doesn't appear to be any compelling reason for folks to
turn their back on Google Drive. Yes, there are some concerns and those might
be warranted among some users, but for the average, mainstream customer, Google
Drive seems like a fine option.
Read
on to find out why the typical Web user should sign up for Google Drive when it
goes live:
1. Privacy concerns are mostly paranoia
It's
no secret that Google has come under fire over the last few years from privacy
advocates who say the company wants to control users' personal data. But much
of that is paranoia. Yes, Google has said that it wants to search and manage
ever more data. But the huge concerns surrounding Google Drive and the privacy
of content stored in the search company's cloud seem to be overblown.
2. Free storage is quite large
One
of the nicest things about Google Drive is that it provides ample storage out
of the box. According to Google,
the service will support 5GB of free data, allowing customers to store
their music library, video and a lot more content without having to pay the
search firm anything.
3. Integration matters
When
discussing cloud-based storage services, integration is a vastly important
consideration. There's nothing worse than getting content into the cloud only
to realize that transferring it from one service to another is nearly
impossible. Google Drive includes integration not only with the search company's
own applications, but with those from third parties as well. That's a key
consideration before choosing a cloud-storage solution.
4. Near-universal functionality
According
to Google, Drive will work on a host of platforms, including the PC, Mac and
Android out of the box. Although iOS support will be coming at a later date, it's
nice to know that the service is platform-agnostic. The more places data can be
accessed and shared, the better.
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