Google Docs To Store Any File

Google Docs To Store Any File

It's not quite "GDrive," Google's long-rumored cloud storage service, but it's a step in that direction.

From informationweek.com

--------------------
By Thomas Claburn InformationWeek January 12, 2010 09:00 AM

In a few weeks, Google plans to allow Google Docs users to upload and store any type of file, up to 250 MB in size. "No, this is not GDrive," said Google product manager Vijay Bangaru in a phone interview, who characterized the announcement as an extension of Google Docs.

The existence of GDrive has been rumored since at least 2006.

A year ago, Brian E. Ussery, director of search engine optimization at Search Discovery, spotted a reference to GDrive in a JavaScript localization file associated with Google Pack, Google's free software bundle. The file, which has since been altered to remove any reference to GDrive, described GDrive thus: "GDrive provides reliable storage for all of your files, including photos, music and documents. ... GDrive allows you to access your files from anywhere, anytime, and from any device -- be it from your desktop, Web browser, or cellular phone."

The ability to upload, share, access, and search any file of 250 MB or less isn't quite the ultimate cloud storage solution -- graphics professionals, for example, often use much larger files -- but it's a significant expansion of the utility of Google Docs for making modestly-sized files more easily accessible online and for collaboration.

"Instead of sending five attachments out, there's a folder that you always go to," said Bangaru. "In terms of consumers, it replaces all those times you e-mail a document to yourself."

Entire posting.