Google Drive launches 5GB cloud storage

In a direct challenge to Dropbox (which currently offers only 2GB free storage) Google has launched “Google Drive” which offers 5GB cloud storage. Download the Google Drive app and you can store all your documents, presentations, PDFs, videos and files that can be remotely accessed, edited and collaborated on from multiple devices including mobile devices. This is a big move forward for “cloud computing” and clearly shows Google’s dedication to becoming a cloud office resource that manages your files, folders and work documents as well as emails and search.

The concept is simple: “Keep everything. Share anything.”

With Google Drive, you can:

• Create and collaborate. Google Docs is built right into Google Drive, so you can work with others in real time on documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Once you choose to share content with others, you can add and reply to comments on anything (PDF, image, video file, etc.) and receive notifications when other people comment on shared items.
• Store everything safely and access it anywhere (especially while on the go). All your stuff is just there. You can access your stuff from anywhere—on the web, in your home, at the office, while running errands and from all of your devices. You can install Google Drive on your Mac or PC and can download an app to your Android phone or tablet.
• Search everything. Search by keyword and filter by file type, owner and more. Google Drive can even recognise text in scanned documents using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology. Let’s say you upload a scanned image of an old newspaper clipping. You can search for a word from the text of the actual article. Google Drive also uses image recognition so that if you drag and drop photos from your holiday into Google Drive, then later search for [holiday related keyword] and your photos should pop up. A set towards personalised search