Rumors about Google Drive have been simmering for years, but they’ve reached a roaring boil in the last few days. Last week, we heard that the service would be launching this week. Now, it appears that a French Google Blog has spilled the beans about the service’s official release.
Though the blog post was swiftly removed, its text was captured by eagle-eyed Google+ user Gerwin Sturm. As of writing, the blog post is still down, as is the url, https://drive.google.com/.
This wasn’t the only Google Drive rumor to come out today. Earlier, TechCrunch reported that uploading a document to Google Docs revealed five gigabytes of storage instead of the standard one gigabyte — five gigs is notably the amount we’ve heard prophesied for Google Drive. The French blog post from Google is worded in such a way that implies an imminent release, which is bolstered by the mysterious storage increases seen on Google Docs.
The blog post confirms much of what we already knew. The service will be a fully fledged file locker, supporting 30 file types. The service will feature both a Mac and Windows desktop app, and mobile versions of the app will be available shortly after the service launches (whenever that happens).
There are a few surprises: The service will provide screen reading capabilities for the visually impaired. The service will also be able to read scanned text, and can identify some images contextually; sort of like Google Goggles meets the Google book scanning project.
From Gerwin Sturm’s Google+ profile:
Posted by Sundar Pichai, Senior Vice President, Google Chrome & Apps
Today we launch Google Drive, a centralized space where you can create, share, collaborate and store all your documents. You establish a budget with your staff that you develop a presentation with a working group or hosting a seminar, you can now do it in Drive. Download and access all your documents, videos, photos, Google Docs, PDF, etc..
Next step in the evolution of Google Docs and functionality of downloading any material, Drive will allow you to live, work and play in the Cloud.
Google Drive, you can:
Create and collaborate. Google Docs is integrated directly into Google Drive, allowing you to work in real time with colleagues on documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Add and reply to comments on any media (PDF, image, videotape, etc.) and be informed when other people comment on or wish to share documents with you
Keep your documents securely and access anywhere and any device connected to the Internet. All your documents are just … there. Whatever happens. Drive you can install on your Mac, PC or download the application Drive on your phone or Android tablet. IOS version of the application will be available in the coming weeks. Drive is also accessible to visually impaired people using a screen reader tool
Search All. Search by keyword and filter by document type, owner, activity, etc.. Drive can even recognize the text content of a document scanned by technology OCR. For example, if you download the scanned image of an old newspaper clipping, you can search using one of the words quoted in the article. We have even begun to tap the image recognition: if you upload a picture of the Eiffel Tower in Drive, the next time you search the term [Eiffel Tower], the image will appear in the results
Open more than 30 types of documents directly from a Web browser – including high-definition video, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop – even without the proper software installed on your computer
We know that you need to access your documents in order to work everyday. Google Drive uses the same infrastructure as any other Google Apps services, which means it also has the same administrative tools, security and reliability, among others:
Centralized management: new tools are available in the Apps control interface for administrators to add or remove storage space for individual or groups of users
Security: encryption of data transfer between your browser and our servers, and check option 2 in time to prevent non-authorized access to an account by requiring users to log on returning secure code generated from their mobile phone
Data replication: synchronous replication of data in multiple data centers ensures the safety and accessibility of your records even in the unlikely event one of our data centers is temporarily unavailable
Availability: 99.9% uptime guarantee so you can be assured that your documents are accessible when you need it
Each user has access to Google Apps 5GB storage included in the suite Google Apps administrators can centrally manage and purchase additional storage space. When a user reaches the limit, administrators can purchase the necessary space of 20GB for $ 4 per month to 16TB (Google Docs are not counted in the quota of storage space).
Starting today, Google Apps administrators will see new orders for Drive in their management interface. Users of companies have opted for the quick launch, will enable Google Drive on drive.google.com / start and will receive their access in the following weeks.
Drive is designed to work harmoniously with all the products you use – whether Google products or third party service. You can share your photos on Google Drive + and will soon be able to attach documents directly into your emails Drive Gmail. Drive is intended to be an open platform, so we work with many third party developers, allowing you to do things such as sending faxes, edit videos and create models directly from Drive website. To install these applications, visit the Chrome Web Store and follow the events for more useful applications to come.
It is only the beginning of Google Drive, many developments are coming. Stay tuned!
(Gerwin Sturm via TechCrunch)
UPDATED: Google Drive just launched. Who would’ve thought.
- Last week, we heard Google Drive was launching this week
- Adobe will offer cloud storage with CS6 subscription
- BitTorrent has a file locker, too
