Google's Gdrive gets going (and pop-up potpourri)

Oh my ears and whiskers, it's IT Blogwatch, in which Google wants to store all your data online ... perhaps. Not to mention July's pop-up potpourri...

Corsin Camichel was fiddling around with Writely and discovered Google's "Platypus" project:

Google really IS testing GDrive, and the features look great:

1. Backup. If you lose your computer, grab a new one and reinstall Platypus. Your files will be on your new machine in minutes.
2. Sync. Keep all your machines synchronized, even if they run different operating systems.
3. VPN-less access. Not at a Google computer? View your files on the web at http://troutboard.com/p.
4. Collaborate. Create shared spaces to which multiple Googlers can write.
5. Disconnected access. On the plane? VPN broken? All your files are still accessible.

Can’t wait to see the blogosphere catch up on that!

Roger Browne caught up on it:

All your files available locally but also cached by GDrive. Edit your documents on your PC with OpenOffice, on the road with your web browser, or even on your PDA, with backups taken care of by Google. It's quite a compelling scenario, and must be a nightmare for Microsoft, because it could obsolete both of their cash cows – Windows and Office.

Aneil Weber puns it up:

Google’s Platypus surfaces ... This is somewhat timely considering the fact that yet another company giving us online storage (Fabrik Media) is launching today. All I can really say is that I’m glad that I haven’t developed an online storage site. One of the things that bugged me about the online storage sites is that so far I haven’t seen an “automatic” enough application. Part of the value of online storage to me is so I can always have my files (any files) backed up in case of a problem. It’s almost an all or nothing proposal to me and if GDrive is going to do what it sounds like it will, then I’m game. The bigger picture here that I see is that this type of app could be one of the first stitches tying everything together in the Google product launch mayhem. Online collaboration, online photo sharing, online file sharing, online office apps, and anything else that we are taking from offline to online could really be one big cohesive suite of stuff that GDrive will combine.

Mathew Ingram casts kudos at Corsin Camichel:

[Google] mentioned the service during a presentation to analysts back in March ... networked storage seems like a natural fit for the company -- and certainly a lot more natural than a comparative shopping service (Froogle) or a web-clipping service (Google Notebook) or a social networking tool (Orkut). For one thing, Google is already providing tons of networked storage for users of Gmail, where everyone gets two-and-a-half gigabytes (and climbing) worth of disk space for their mail ... Web-based software — such as Writely.com and Google Spreadsheets and whatever presentation service they’re going to launch or buy — means going down that road even further. Gdrive could have all those Word documents and spreadsheets and email, and all your pictures from the new Picasa Web Albums ... Lots of companies ... are going after that market, but none of them have the scale or deep pockets or established services that Google has. I’ve tried Mozy and Streamload and several others and they were all fine -- and some of the services such as OmniDrive.com have interesting features, such as the ability to write documents to the server on the fly as you use them, just like a regular hard drive -- but I still think this one is Google’s to lose ... I think this one is a no-brainer, and a potential game-changer.

Marshall Sponder can't wait:

Does Google plan this (leave traces around to get us interested - letting the rumors fly in the Blogosphere) or is just careless mistake that a page was left around that was not yet ready to be seen? I don't know. I really can't wait - I was paying 9.95 per month for Xdrive and it was a piece of Garbage that got even worse since AOL bought it ... I just want free access to unlimited storage that I don't have to pay for -- I'm fine seeing AdWords ads next to my downloads because I'm not going to click on anything I don't want to.

Mary Jo sticks to her knitting:

Given the one-upsmanship between Google and Microsoft, we figure Microsoft's announcement of LiveDrive, Redmond's GDrive competitor, probably isn't far behind.

Buffer overflow:

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    Around Computerworld

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• Jerri Ledford: And more Google functionality...
• C. J. Kelly: I do read your emails!
• John Monaghan: IT Shortage?
• C. J. Kelly: Finally, an alternative to Microsoft
• Martin McKeay: Making it too difficult
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• Robert L. Mitchell: New MacBook could take consumer laptop market by storm
• Jeff Boles: Techno-slavery- working as a contractor
• Shark Tank: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

And finally... July's pop-up potpourri

Richi Jennings is an independent technology and marketing consultant, specializing in email, blogging, Linux, and computer security. A 20 year, cross-functional IT veteran, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. Contact Richi at blogwatch@richi.co.uk.