Sneak Peek: Google Drive

Chances are you already have a Google Account. You also may or may not have taken our advice to start syncing your files through the amazing (and innovative) Dropbox (see: “Getting Started With Dropbox.”)

Today Google announced their long-rumored Dropbox competitor, Google Drive. Google Drive does what Dropbox does (syncs your files to a web app and to other computers and devices, although 5GB for free instead of 2GB), and a little more: It also runs OCR text recognition on your files (like Evernote), offers a more complex and searchable online interface (think Google Docs), and merges your Google Docs account and your Google Drive account (so your Google Docs become accessible through your local computer).

There are a lot of benefits to be had from trying out Google’s new product, whether or not you used Dropbox before. There are also a few reasons not to: A) Google will now control even more of your/the Internet, B) supporting innovators like Dropbox not getting edged out by the big guy, C) the iOS app isn’t currently available, and D) many apps sync across computers via Dropbox and will take a while to incorporate Google Drive sync capability.

What do you think? Not only about Google Drive, but also about the potential for its use in campus ministry?

Note: As with any service of this sort, there have been questions raised about ownership of uploaded content (but Google has made it clear that what you upload to Google Drive still remains your property), so as always be mindful of the user license. Allowing cloud-based services to hold your content always runs a risk that you might not like their license and what it means they will do with your content, and it’s up to you, the end user, to make sure you’re comfortable with it.

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