GDrive Is Here

GDrive is here...well kind of. Within the next two weeks, Google Docs users will be able to upload any type of file, up to 250 MB, to Google Docs. Storage is limited to 1 GB with additional storage costing $0.25 GB/year. Note that Google documents, presentations, or spreadsheets do not count towards this storage. All of these files will be searchable, sharable, and many viewable with the Google Docs viewer.


The 1 GB storage limit is low considering that Dropbox offers 2 GB, Windows Skydrive users gives 25 GB for free and Gmail is 7.4 GB and increasing. As an interesting note, just yesterday the Windlows Live Team blogged about their high storage limit, did they know about the GDrive announcement in advance? The big advantage that Google Docs has over the other online  "drives" is that it can do more than act as a storage location; documents, presentations, and spreadsheets can be created and other file types viewed. Also, the extra storage rate for the GDrive is cheap, for the price of 1 coffee/year, users can have 7 GB of storage, and for a Big Mac Meal per year, 25 GB. 


The GDrive is definitely going to be a hit with current Google Docs users, although I'm not sure how many new people this feature will attract. Expect to see many more of these Desktop meets Web announcements in the coming year as Google preps for the Chrome OS.


Important Note: I'm going to post photos whenever this is activated for my account:

Google Docs Presentations Co-Editing Gets Updated

Today I discovered something that I apparently missed (I've spent too much time reading about Nexus), real-time indication of editing in Google Presentations. Prior to this, editing a presentation with a friend was brutal because there was no indication of what was being edited. Now, when a slide element (i.e., image, text) is being edited, it will be highlighted and the username will also appear. This makes collaborative life much easier.