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Google on Tuesday announced its long rumored cloud storage service, Google Drive, to augment the ever growing cloud computing adoption.  Cloud computing as means of increasing capacity without investing in new infrastructure has become the 'Holy Grail' of modern enterprises, but given the substantial fear of data security and up-time services had posed stumbling blocks on the overall adoption.

Google Drive comes as a direct integration to Google Docs, allowing easy file sharing amongst users. Now, you can work with others in real time on spreadsheet, documents, and presentation. Google's long absence in the 'office collaboration tool' space championed by Microsoft has finally been covered by the new service. The sharing functionality has been brought over direct from Docs, and also integrated to its social network, Google+ with an option of public sharing.

The public file sharing feature also available on SkyDrive (Microsoft's Cloud Storage service), but lacking in Dropbox, seems most appealing. These alternative cloud services, however, invariably falls-short on the security offered on Google Drive.

Google Drive also recognizes text in scanned documents using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology, search by keyword and filter by file type. The image recognition allows you to drag and drop photos into Drive, and later search for the photo. Regardless to platform, blind users can access Drive with a screen reader.

Google Drive as an open platform affords developers the opportunity to contribute to the overall service.

The service comes with free 5GB space for users, whilst users have the option to upgrade to 25GB at $2.49/month, 100GB at $4.99/month, or 1TB at $49.99/month. Google promises an eventual integration of the service to Gmail, allowing users to attach items of media direct from their email to Drive.  

Can Google Drive Turn The Game?

Google on Tuesday announced its long rumored cloud storage service, Google Drive, to augment the ever growing cloud computing adoption.  Cloud computing as means of increasing capacity without investing in new infrastructure has become the 'Holy Grail' of modern enterprises, but given the substantial fear of data security and up-time services had posed stumbling blocks on the overall adoption.

Google Drive comes as a direct integration to Google Docs, allowing easy file sharing amongst users. Now, you can work with others in real time on spreadsheet, documents, and presentation. Google's long absence in the 'office collaboration tool' space championed by Microsoft has finally been covered by the new service. The sharing functionality has been brought over direct from Docs, and also integrated to its social network, Google+ with an option of public sharing.

The public file sharing feature also available on SkyDrive (Microsoft's Cloud Storage service), but lacking in Dropbox, seems most appealing. These alternative cloud services, however, invariably falls-short on the security offered on Google Drive.

Google Drive also recognizes text in scanned documents using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology, search by keyword and filter by file type. The image recognition allows you to drag and drop photos into Drive, and later search for the photo. Regardless to platform, blind users can access Drive with a screen reader.

Google Drive as an open platform affords developers the opportunity to contribute to the overall service.

The service comes with free 5GB space for users, whilst users have the option to upgrade to 25GB at $2.49/month, 100GB at $4.99/month, or 1TB at $49.99/month. Google promises an eventual integration of the service to Gmail, allowing users to attach items of media direct from their email to Drive.  
Emerging Technology