Introducing Google Drive... yes, really • Hacker News Board

Re: Introducing Google Drive... yes, really

#281

Post by driverdan » Tue, Apr 24, 2012, 6:37 PM UTC

SODaniel wrote: post #190

huhtenberg wrote: post #21

Well, this pretty much exhausts the pool of people who don't care for the data privacy. On the plus side, those who do want privacy are still waiting for a proper solution, and it is an opportunity. (edit) It is really shocking how absolutely mind-bogglingly ignorant people are when it comes to their data privacy matters. How could any business person in a sane state of mind choose to share its data with some 3rd par…

SpiderOak ( https://spideroak.com ) offer a Privacy focused backup/storage solution for those so inclined. We are Eco-system independent, offer enterprise features and focus on zero-knowledge privacy and top-tier security.

To be blunt when I tried SpiderOak I found your client to be clunky, ugly, and a bit confusing to setup. One of Dropbox's best features and the reason it appeals to the mass market is that their client is the best. It's fast, light, and easy to use.

Re: Introducing Google Drive... yes, really

#282

Post by jonknee » Tue, Apr 24, 2012, 6:38 PM UTC

huhtenberg wrote: post #272

tomkarlo wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to mention proper support for two-factor authentication, which most smaller email systems don't have (especially in-house corporate setups.) Shared services can devote more resources to security because they're splitting the result over a greater number of users.

RSA has been selling such systems for years. My friend's container shipping company of 15 people has it. It really comes down to having a qualified IT person on board, rather than the availability of a technical solution.

I'd still bet on Google's security setup for its Apps customers over your friend's company. Also a consideration, Google would cost only $900 a year for 15 users, which is a considerable savings over dedicated staff.

I recommend Google Apps all the time. It's almost certainly better than what they're using now and is very good at not having problems.

Re: Introducing Google Drive... yes, really

#283

Post by joering2 » Tue, Apr 24, 2012, 6:39 PM UTC

mikek wrote: post #2

Interesting... they are not just going after Dropbox with Google Drive, but also Evernote. "Search by keyword and filter by file type, owner and more. Drive can even recognize text in scanned documents using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology."

great and scary the same time.

before it was: "show us what you search for, and we will serve you relevant ads".

now it will be: "just store your files with us, and we will know what ads to serve you around the internet".

Re: Introducing Google Drive... yes, really

#284

Post by driverdan » Tue, Apr 24, 2012, 6:41 PM UTC

packetslave wrote: post #241

kijin wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Can Google employees access your files? Do bears shit in the woods?

Quoting from google.com/privacy: "We restrict access to personal information to Google employees, contractors and agents who need to know that information in order to process it for us, and who are subject to strict contractual confidentiality obligations and may be disciplined or terminated if they fail to meet these obligations." Speaking as a Googler, everything I've seen indicates a strong company-wide emphasis (…

I've updated my post. I didn't mean does everyone have access, I meant is it even technically possible for someone with proper access to view the original file. If files are encrypted properly then no one at the company would be able to access them.

Re: Introducing Google Drive... yes, really

#285

Post by jebblue » Tue, Apr 24, 2012, 6:42 PM UTC

ch0wn wrote: post #83

jebblue wrote: post #43

Does Dropbox intrusively scan personal files, if not then I'd prefer to go with them since I don't want Google prying into my files.

Why would Google - or any other company for that matter - spend time and money on something as complicated and error-prone like that? They would never be able to sell it to anyone and it could ruin their brand substantially if it ever came out. I don't see why you would even consider this to be happening.

Concur with ahi below _and_ because I read on the OP blog page under "With Google Drive you can", the third point, "Search everything".

Re: Introducing Google Drive... yes, really

#286

Post by Locke1689 » Tue, Apr 24, 2012, 6:43 PM UTC

huhtenberg wrote: post #150

lisper wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you looked at tarsnap?

I'm on Windows :-|

Cygwin.

Re: Introducing Google Drive... yes, really

#287

Post by marcusf » Tue, Apr 24, 2012, 6:45 PM UTC

raldi wrote: post #123

folktheory wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They "monetize" it by charging money for use of the service.

It's so crazy it just might work.

I predict several Techcrunch headlines on this newfound "payment" option disrupting ad-financed services across the globe.

Re: Introducing Google Drive... yes, really

#288

Post by stevetursi » Tue, Apr 24, 2012, 6:46 PM UTC

driverdan wrote: post #139

mmastrac wrote: post #42

The clock is ticking on Dropbox to lower their price. I'm paying $99/year for 50GB, but I'd be getting 100GB for $60/year over at Google. I'm already banging up against my 50GB limit - I may actually jump over to Google before my subscription is up just because the prices are so good.

Dropbox enjoyed a near monopoly on their feature set and ease of use for a long time. Now that serious competition is showing up they're going to have to drop their ridiculous prices.

Their prices are only ridiculous because the service is quickly being commoditized. Two years ago we (or at least I) couldn't believe how cheap dropbox was for what we got.

Re: Introducing Google Drive... yes, really

#289

Post by lifeisstillgood » Tue, Apr 24, 2012, 6:47 PM UTC

Did anyone else think "no, they cannot really be releasing a car the drives itself already?"

Just me then. I think it was the yes really that got me.

Sadly, still no dropbox-alike for FreeBSD. Would swap in an instant.

Re: Introducing Google Drive... yes, really

#290

Post by daave » Tue, Apr 24, 2012, 6:48 PM UTC

camiller wrote: post #192

daave wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are you talking about? Users have complete control over who they share their documents with in Drive. How is it 'evil' to provider a better UI for what people can already do (email documents to one another)?

Err... He is talking about Google having access to your files, not whoever else you choose to share them with. Any company that deals with sensitive data probably already does not use any sharing service. If necessary you could write a custom sync app that encrypts on upload to gDrive and decrypts on download. I have worked for a company that had implemented automatic encryption on emails, including attachments (at l…

Thanks camiller, I misread the post I was replying to.

In that case, my response is that that sounds awfully paranoid. Earning and maintaining our users' trust is far more valuable to us than stealing some hypothetical secret business data that someone has stored in Drive, and new engineering employees (like myself) go through extensive privacy training to ensure we don't/can't do anything that would be a breach of our privacy policy. As it turns out Googlers have the same concerns about privacy as everyone else here, and we design all of our user-data storage systems with privacy as a key design goal.