Google Drive has been out for six years. I keep waiting patiently for something to materialize.
But really we’ve come full circle. From 2000 thin clients to Xdrive.com to Freedrive.com, we’ve been there and back. Think of all the amazing cloud technologies out back then that didn’t make it. Then tech caught up. The cloud is catching on. Myspace was among the first pioneers who arrived just as real audiences had the technology. Remember that?
Enter Google. I’m not a fan boy, but …
… the way we are now, a mobile society, a total Google-backed cloud system is what I want. I have a ton of devices — one computer, two phones, two tablets and a laptop. I need one integrated system that works fantastically.
I want total access to all my devices. And now I have it. Here’s why.
1. I want the exact same applications and mail and storage — all working together perfectly because this one company, Google, set out to integrate them, and I want it to work great. For the most it does. I live on Google docs for travel, my records, docs and spreadsheets, you name it. Anywhere there’s a computer, I have the apps and I know it will work. It never has to be just my computer. That was the grand idea of thin-client computing in 2000 and it’s truer than ever today. And it’s being realized. Think about it.
2. Walk up to any device — anywhere — and get a full and total computing experience all the way up to and including email to the richest of media. Share it, integrate it now with the millions on Google+ and Gmail. The interoperability feels super efficient and natural to me.
3. That is the new standard. It’s almost here — with mail it’s already here. With photos and video, it’ll be another 18 months. Either way, I’m riding the wave of the Gmail, Google Drive, YouTube, Google+ and I’m doing it all. So, not only do I believe in it, but I’ll cover it for you and tell you its joys and pains as I live it.
We’re so connected and tapped into a world of information that on the surface, and sooner than you think, maxed-out Google Drives will be quaint. If you think about it, it’s not that far in the future, I mean, I’ve already dropped DropBox and gone full on to Google Drive because I believe Google understands what the future should be. I am a tech-employed, computer geek with no known affiliation with any of these tech companies. I just really do believe it.
Even all my personal domains are hosted by Google apps, so all my calendars. All my devices run the latest and identical versions of the various Google apps and doo-dads I use. They are on all my PCs, Macs, tablets and smartphones.
I should disclose this has been happening since 2008 when I bought my first G1, years before iCloud was launched. I am no newbie.
Eventually I will explain these screengrabs. LOL.
This is the master plan, IMO. And it makes sense. Hear me out.
IMO Google Drive — the service Google slipped out recently — replaces Google Docs and doubles as its integrated repository of (amazingly profitable over the years) cloud storage — and itself becomes the hub of the Google wheel. Through Gmail, our Youtube videos, our documents, our music and video eventually, Google Drive will be our entry experience.
It isn’t just another product. It is the experience.
Google so obviously is positioning — or maybe I should say right now, as we have yet to call Google, that it should be positioning — Google Drive as the total command center of a really tightly-integrated system of super easy to access, simple apps and services that do everything. They should build them well. If they do, there’s future there. I see it. Everyone I know would use it.
What do you see? Do you imagine a failure mode for Google? This seems exactly like what geeks like us want and need. And you know we love Android, well most of us do.
What’s your prediction on how Google wants to make Google Drive — another service or the major anchor of a web of interlocking services and apps? What could mess things up? We love to hear from you. We find amazing tech minds who write well that way — at least five on our staff come from Google+.
Drop a line in comments. Thanks. This is Shane Brady, associate editor aNewDomain.net
I’m hooked in too, Shane. I will still keep a few other cloud services as part of my tiered data back up plan.
Good stuff!
-RAP, II
I just switched to it myself and find it to be as you discuss in your post. I’m telling others about it, especially those who need access to docs across several different platforms. I really like how it is simple, clean and just works…