Google Drive • Hacker News Board

Re: Google Drive

#111

Post by VikingCoder » Wed, Apr 25, 2012, 12:58 AM UTC

gbog wrote: post #108

VikingCoder wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The existence of this new product does not make users more or less tech savvy. If a user goes from 1 copy (hard drive), to 2 copies, then it's a net gain for their backups. If a user goes from 2 copies (hard drive, some backup system), to 2 copies (hard drive, Google drive), then yes, arguably, it's a net loss for their backups, because they can simultaneously have a HD failure and get locked out of their Google acco…

The lock out thing is exaggerated. Having a Google backup is much safer than local manual backup for almost everyone.

I agree completely.

If you also use two-factor authentication, I daresay that you are in the 99th percentile, or higher.

Re: Google Drive

#112

Post by nextstep » Wed, Apr 25, 2012, 12:59 AM UTC

Apparently Google Drive isn't everywhere I want to be; it's not "ready for my account" yet. Is it really that hard for Google to make this available for everyone who wants it right away? How many people are trying to do this on opening day?

Re: Google Drive

#113

Post by twodayslate » Wed, Apr 25, 2012, 1:15 AM UTC

I still want to be able to sync any folder - not just a gDrive or a dropbox folder.

Re: Google Drive

#114

Post by skeletonjelly » Wed, Apr 25, 2012, 1:52 AM UTC

nubela wrote: post #27

No Linux support? sad face.

Probably supports Linux server side :P

Re: Google Drive

#115

Post by conradev » Wed, Apr 25, 2012, 2:13 AM UTC

The more I use it, the more I see it as a Dropbox clone. Not just the exact same feature-wise, but also technology-wise..

Google Drive's Mac client is written in Python, just like Dropbox's, for example.

Re: Google Drive

#116

Post by Bapabooiee » Wed, Apr 25, 2012, 2:20 AM UTC

jawngee wrote: post #52

So now they have your social network, your search history, your email ... and now your files? I can't see how that could possibly go wrong.

To be fair, file-uploading has been part of Google Docs for a while now (I've been using it to upload encrypted backups). The only difference now is that there's a desktop client and an SDK.

Re: Google Drive

#117

Post by alastair » Wed, Apr 25, 2012, 2:31 AM UTC

It seems along with this announcement google have revised their storage pricing. On the old scheme I could get 20GB for $5/year, now 25GB is ~$30/year (600% increase) -

http://support.google.com/drive/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answ...

Re: Google Drive

#118

Post by jlarocco » Wed, Apr 25, 2012, 2:58 AM UTC

tomkarlo wrote: post #101

jlarocco wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope not. I don't trust Microsoft, Canonical, Apple, or Google to provide cloud storage. DropBox works great for me on OSX, Windows, and a couple of Linux variants. I just can't see Microsoft, Canonical or Apple going out of their way to make things work well across platforms. And Google Drive probably ties into Google+, which kills it for me.

Curious: why would you trust Dropbox or another small provider any more/less than Microsoft, Apple or Google? If say, Microsoft bought Dropbox, would you then no longer trust them? Interested in the reasoning here.

First, since cloud storage is the only reason Dropbox exists as a company I think they'll try harder to do it right. If Google Drive doesn't live up to Google's expectations they'll shut it down like they've shut down all of their other unsuccessful projects.

Second, possibly related to the first point, it seems the other companies are doing cloud storage to sell their other products. SkyDrive ties in with Office Live, Google Drive with Google+, etc.

Re: Google Drive

#119

Post by kamaal » Wed, Apr 25, 2012, 3:16 AM UTC

VikingCoder wrote: post #83

zavulon wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is to sync so if your local computer fails you can retrieve them. A situation could occur where your hard drive fails AND you're locked out of your Google Drive account.

Commandment: Make backups. If you violate this commandment, you will eventually lose your data. Commandment: Test your backups. If you violate this commandment, you will discover that you weren't ACTUALLY making backups.

User Commandment : Trust remote storage as a reliable source of back up in case of data loss.

If you violate this commandment, you will eventually lose users trust.

User Commandment : Once I sync the data, it must be available to me without any hassles on demand.

The usual technical lectures to users asking them to do things instead of making 'just work' don't fly.

That is why they ship TV's(with channels), Washing machines(with timers) and microwave ovens(with presets) without you having to bother too much about frequencies, volume/rotations and wave equations.

The user wants a product that 'works' the way he wants.

Re: Google Drive

#120

Post by kamaal » Wed, Apr 25, 2012, 3:19 AM UTC

VikingCoder wrote: post #87

zavulon wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, those are nice commandments. But most Google users aren't nearly tech savvy to follow them.

The existence of this new product does not make users more or less tech savvy. If a user goes from 1 copy (hard drive), to 2 copies, then it's a net gain for their backups. If a user goes from 2 copies (hard drive, some backup system), to 2 copies (hard drive, Google drive), then yes, arguably, it's a net loss for their backups, because they can simultaneously have a HD failure and get locked out of their Google acco…

How many ordinary users even understand the term 'backup' is itself a big question!

The use case is simple - When I put data on something, It must be available to me.

I can't learn how to be a sysadmin or expect my father to do that just to use this service.