Just the sound of Google releasing a cloud storage solution makes my mouth start salivating like no tomorrow. A free Dropbox like sync, but from Google and baked into android; sign me up. However, there are several different features Drive needs to have if Google wants to be the de facto standard in cloud storage.
1) Like Dropbox and several others, Drive needs to be 100% cross platform. I don't just mean supporting Linux/Windows/Mac/Android/iOS, but must be cross architecture as well. That means x86/x64, ARM, PowerPC. I to this day still use a Powermac G5 for any and all media editing.
2) Encryption, Encryption, Encryption. I said it 3 times so it must be important. Encryption should be enabled by default, however I believe that we should be given the option to take away the keys from Goolge. One thing I can't stand about dropbox is that, yes my files are encrypted, and that gives me a tad bit of peace of mind, however they hold all the keys. I don't like the idea that any Dropbox employee with the right credentials can look at all my stuff. We need to be able to take control of our data.
3) Seamless sync. On the desktop, a simple app and "home" folder (Drive Folder) much like Dropbox with selective sync. However in Android, it needs to be baked right in to the OS, and by baked in I mean by mounting a "virtual" sdcard as your Google Drive. No syncing required, with the option to selective sync some files for off line access. But when you select a file to sync, It gets placed on the actual sdcard, but only viewable in the "virtual" drive. Think Google Music Beta (Now Google Play Music).
4) Open APIs. One of Dropbox's key to success is their open API's. This allows third party developers to (such as DropSync) to develop with the service. Without this I wouldn't be able to sync my tablet/phone the way I want to. This will also allow developers to integrate their application to Google Drive.
5) Touching back to point #1, Chrome OS integration. Drive needs to be as seamless as possible, like the way it should sync with android. Currently Chrome OS is kinda useless, face it, its useless even as just a browser. But bring seamless Drive sync in (and letting us use a windowed environment, a file system, and local apps) and you have a win.
6) FREE Drive Space. Box.net gives 1GB, Dropbox 2GB with various ways to get more free space, iCloud 5GB, and Windows SkyDrive a whopping 25GB. Google Drive needs to meet or exceed these numbers. I would be happy with 10GB, but really come on Google, you can give us more. Google gives us 7.6GB for email, 1GB each for picasa and docs, and an unknown amount for Play Music (I have about 14K tracks there totaling to about 90GB), so by going with those numbers, I'd say google has about 125-150GB of storage space dedicated to each user, for free. So when I look at that number, I would love to see 25-50GB of space free. Matching and/or exceeding Micro$oft. And of course the option to have more space for a small fee.
So this is more of a wish list than anything else, but at the same time, Google should already know every thing I touched on here. Thus, also all predictions. From what I hear from across the net, we'll see something more and know more sometime in April. I for one, can't wait.
The Dude abides......
Update: According to GigaOm's own Om Malik, his strong sources say that Google Drive could arrive sometime as early as next week [gigaom].
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