PuTech Naman!

GDrive’s Coming! GDrive’s Coming! Oh wait, it’s actually already here only it’s called GSpace. Considering that I’ve been using GSpace for almost two years now it’s really puzzling why Google is coming out with their online storage service only now.

I’ve used several online storage services before (OmniDrive, eSnips, xDrive, box.net, etc), frankly most of them suck. Either they’ve got convoluted interfaces, limited file sizes or worse mangle your data (yeah am looking at you xDrive). Oh well I guess I’m just getting what I paid for which is… nothing.

I’m hoping GDrive would learn from the mistakes of their predecessors and come up with a much better offering. Specifically I would like to see the following features:

• Files should be accessible from browser but also have a utility that you can install to allow you to access online storage like a hard drive.
• Ability to view file content as html (similar to what gmail does to attachments).
• Ability to selectively allow access to your files (via password protection) within a specified time period.
• Each file should have it’s own URL and be linkable.
• Offline access (via a copy on your hard drive) and ability to sync with the online copy.

If GDrive or some other online storage provider can fulfill these features then I can see more people using their services otherwise they’ll be used more for backing up files (as I have been doing).

Having this service would be great in conjunction with the Asus Eee PC. Imagine going on a trip without those bulky laptops ? All you need is a wifi connection or a 3G phone/modem and you’re good to go…