First Thoughts: Google Drive ~ The Geek Asylum

I guess I should have wrote and posted this sooner. I was apparently in Google Drive a couple days before anyone else. Yes, I'm special and yes, I'm typing this up on my Cr-48 Chromebook, but I assure you that this chromepuff will keep it real and tell it like it is.

Design:
It's a pretty straight forward, modern Google interface. If you are using Google+ and Gmail, the look shouldn't surprise you. If you didn't know any better you would think its Google Docs. Well, lets be honest, it pretty much is, but thats not a bad thing. Its familiar, simple, and easy to use and navigate around.

It seems like they took my advice and rehashed Google Docs to house ALL your stuff and make it easy to share for collaboration. I was actually surprised to find that my Google Docs link in the upper black bar was gone. It's a sensible move that forces users into the program without changing what they already do. The setup sports the classic left side menu/navigation list, with new options, paired with a centered list of all your files in the folders of your choosing.

Protip: If you click on "shared with me" you can see all the documents you were collaborating on with friends before the system went live. Yay!

Functionality:
It works just like all the other online disk drives, you upload your files, view them online, and you can download them later. Pretty standard stuff, however, Drive differentiates itself by allowing you to view and edit your MS Word and Open Office file type documents online. You can even share these documents between peers and edit them together in real time. You can share these files out using the same tactics you have in Google+. Only those with a particular link, or those you've specifically chosen can see and access the files you allow.

Usability:
I have not tried the desktop applications yet, so I can only speak on the online side of things. As far as I can tell, its the same old Google Docs with a bit more power and leniency on file types. You can upload virtually anything to it for consumption later. Google offers payment options to extend your storage, but they give everyone 5 Gigs for free. This is more than Dropbox and most other cloud-based services offer.

Cons?:
I don't have much in the way of cons, it's the standard Google fare. Upload your files accordingly. I personally trust Google with a lot of my files, but I know that their safety and availability is never guaranteed (examples: Sony & Amazon). Online backups tend to come in handy for me as I'm usually high on bandwidth and low on physical storage, so I tend to jump back and forth between distros and setups.

Security is always an issue; where do my files go to bed at night? What is "The Cloud" doing under the cover of darkness? When and why did Google stop saying "Don't be evil"? Also, you can't edit PDF files, which you couldn't before, so I guess its not that big of a con.

Summary:
Drive is free, so it won't hurt to check it out. Go ahead and back up some of your music, or upload and share your stuff with your friends (legally). Have at it... there isn't an easier and cheaper service out there. Of course, be mindful of what you put on the Internet as you always take the risk of having it possibly being ogled by Google eyes, and there is the ever present danger of not getting back what you put in. Google Drive gets the Big Rob stamp of approval.