GDrive is coming, 1GB free storage

http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2010/01/gdrive-is-coming.html

by ashley • 17 years ago

42 31 17 years ago

googlesystem.blogspot.com

brk2• 17 years ago

1GB?? That's almost a joke.

Great, I can store 1/16th of my $50 thumbdrive online.

spydez• 17 years ago

It is a joke. Dropbox and Zumo Drive both give you twice that for free; it's amazing that Google with its millions of servers and 7 something GB Gmail accounts can't do better than a lousy 1GB free.

RyanMcGreal2• 17 years ago

True, but that means you can store 1/8th of your $50 thumbdrive there. Where Google wins is the cost of buying additional storage, which is an order of magnitude cheaper than Dropbox.

On the other hand, it doesn't look like Google offers synchronization so its utility as a backup environment is quite limited.

electromagnetic• 17 years ago

It's a yet-to-launch product from google. GMail accounts have grown significantly in size since release and were invite only for a fair amount of time. From what I've read GDrive is open to everyone, not an invite only, so the small size on release is likely simply to work out stability issues.

I won't be surprised if in a year the free storage offered had already quadrupled.

chris24• 17 years ago

In the comments, a Google Docs team member mentions "Yes, the storage is shared between Picasa Web Albums, Gmail and Google Docs." Maybe that's only for paid, add-on storage, though.

s3graham• 17 years ago

It's only $.25/G/year for more, which is way below say, S3 if you're only using S3 for personal storage.

Dobbs• 17 years ago

Which is well over the $100 that I spend to add another 1.5TB to my already running file server.

og1• 17 years ago

I've been happy using Window Live SkyDrive. Has a smaller file size limit of 50MB, but gives you 25GB for free.

colonelxc• 17 years ago

Thanks, did not know this existed. On further digging around, I see that Office Web Apps are coming soon. Looks like Microsoft is pushing back hard against its competitors.

The SkyDrive still needs a native client to be as useful as DropBox, but it's a step in the right direction.

icey• 17 years ago

I hope they've figured out that customer support is more than a half-baked web portal.

I can already see the submissions coming in the first time someone even thinks Google has lost one of their files and ends up having to deal with the atrocious Google support machine.

onewland• 17 years ago

Note that this article does not cite an official source.

eli• 17 years ago

Yes it does. http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2010/01/upload-and-store-your...

capablanca• 17 years ago

Again?

johns• 17 years ago

Existing thread: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1047977

ashley• 17 years ago

Mea culpa, I didn't see that link. This article is not from the official Google blog. It adds screenshots of uploaded files and an interesting link to a rumored early description of the storage system, which makes me wonder where Google is heading with this storage system at only 1GB, since it's clear that others already offer much more storage.

Anyway, what is the usual habit for similar stories? should I delete this link to clean up HN?

charlesju• 17 years ago

Who wants to start taking bets for when Google buys Dropbox.

old-gregg• 17 years ago

Something tells me that as far as acquisition offers go, Dropbox guys are doing fine. Probably just haven't found a perfect match/price yet. :-)

My personal needs/habits don't quite fit their model, but as a technologist and entrepreneur I absolutely love Dropbox technology and their business model. And it's always a pleasure to point people to their website and inevitably get a warm "THANK YOU" back via email. Making people happier through software, even if it's not mine, has always been my reason to be in this business.

hop• 17 years ago

The Dropbox guys have done a hell of a job and I use it everyday. I could see Google, maybe even MS buying them. The flip side is Google has more than enough resources to make it themselves and they could make it fit natively into G Apps. DropBox also has a lot of expanding to do - sharing other folders, etc. and it may be wiser for them to continue growing. I think a more flexible payment structure could make them a lot more money too.

brianobush• 17 years ago

My take on a dropbox purchase would be to get an existing customer base - some of which pay for extra space. I guess google doesn't have an issue getting customers though.

adriand• 17 years ago

I use git and github for my cloud storage. And I try to do as much writing as I can in plain-text documents so I get nice version histories. And there's nothing better for (text) documents with more than one contributor.

GDrive is coming, 1GB free storage

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