Network file services are developing rapidly. What will Google answer?

Original author: Mark Hendrickson
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Another 2 companies launched services for placing, storing and transferring files on the network ... but there is still no news about GDrive from Google.

Syncplicity today offers the same functionality as SugarSync , which we talked about in March. Syncplicity can be used not only to automatically back up your computer’s files from anywhere with Internet access, but also to synchronize files on multiple computers, and to share files with friends. A distinctive feature of this service is the ability to synchronize your Microsoft Office documents with Google Docs, just like DocSyncer does , but only in both directions (DocSyncer synchronizes only in the direction of Google).

The second company is a veteran of Allmydata . Version 3.0, the release of which was not positioned as a high-profile release and took place last week, turned out to be a fundamentally new backup product. The company almost completely abandoned its p2p roots, this technology was saved only for data transfer on a server-server channel. Allmydata users now need to install a special client on their Mac or PC that will create an unlimited virtual hard drive for $ 5 / computer. And this is far from all the possibilities for transferring your files, but after all, the project was originally intended only to synchronize personal data, in addition, the ability to use the web interface, for example, when you are at work, was preserved.

There are a lot of virtual file storages today. In addition to the three above-mentioned companies, we recently had the good fortune to watch the launch of Dropbox and HP Upline . Recently, projects such as Box.net and Xdrive have appeared . Microsoft has been trying to join the ranks of these companies since last fall.

In the light of these events, as expected, we should also have seen real actions on the part of the company, whose goal is to seize leadership in this field and make online storage more accessible. It's about Google. Since 2006, we have been waiting for the appearance of the so-called GDrive (also known as Platypus and My Stuff). In November last year, the Wall Street Journal wrote that the novelty should appear in the near future.

However, in the courtyard of April, and there are no hints of the arrival of GDrive. When WSJ correspondents wrote about Google’s plans to “host almost all the files that users store on their personal computer’s hard drives” on their servers, they also noted the possibility that “new developments could cause Google to revise its goals and postpone "in a long box file storage projects, which were planned to be implemented in the coming months."

If this happens, it will be shame and shame. The best thing about Box.net is the OpenBox feature, which makes it easy to upload your files from online storage to a variety of web services such as Picnik or Zoho. SugarSync and Syncplicity also remove the boundaries between files on hard drives and files located on web servers. If Google provided the ability to back up the system, which, in essence, would mean integrating your files into the network software of the service, then this would be followed by an accelerated adaptation of all Google software, including browser applications. This would give a powerful impetus to everything Web 2.0 and, provided that Google would release API-products, there would be a number of new opportunities for new projects.

Now that Google has released its own engine (App Engine), we can only wait and seriously hope for the release of a set of related programs that can directly serve users.

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