Google & Samsung To Launch Clouds

[JoeD]

Originally Posted by taustin

No, for a business person, clouds are a seductive evil, and a very bad idea. Aside from issues of reliability, and company stability, and government seizures, if it's not on your hardware, it's not your data. It is irresponsible for any company to put its proprietary data on to someone else's server.

That depends on the company and the type of information used.

We only store information that whilst we'd prefer to keep it private, if DropBox/GoogleDocs had a security breach and all our information was stolen, we'd not be impacted all that much. For some business' though, that would be a huge blow (not to mention the legal implicatons it has in certain industries)

Running your own servers isn't without risk though. Not every business hires compotent IT admins, a delayed patch or a mis-configuration could expose your data.

One important point any business should consider though, is if your service provider deleted your account this minute, could you continue trading with minimal impact.

Every situation has different trade-offs, in some cases keeping all hosting internal to the company is the only choice, in others a mixture can be better. The "cloud" isn't a perfect solution in all cases, after all it's still really just the old client/server setup we've had for many years with a little scalability added to the mix. It has the same risk/cost benefit trade-offs.

[SeaKing]

Originally Posted by taustin

No, for a business person, clouds are a seductive evil, and a very bad idea. Aside from issues of reliability, and company stability, and government seizures, if it's not on your hardware, it's not your data. It is irresponsible for any company to put its proprietary data on to someone else's server.

You certainly need a lot of reliable encryption and there are problems with that unless you have the time/code dependent encryption fobs.

[tubemonkey]

Google Drive is Here

Google has just made Google Drive official. As expected, the service will offer 5GB of storage space for documents, videos, photos, PDFs and other files, and Google Docs is built-in to the service. Users will be able to upgrade to 25GB of space for $2.49 a month, 100GB for $4.99 a month, or 1TB for $49.99 a month, and upgrading to a paid account will expand your Gmail storage to 25GB.

Google Drive

[Ninjalawyer]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Google Drive is Here



Google Drive

Meh, not very exciting yet. I'm not sure how the interface will work, but it would be difficult for them to improve greatly on Dropbox (sync'd folders on your system). On the plus side, it sounds like Google entering the market has caused Microsoft to make major improvements to Skydrive's interface, so that's a bonus.

[calibrated]

Unfortunately, as Google Drive isn't yet available on iOS, and SkyDrive isn't available on Android, Dropbox is still the only one that works on all the platforms I use. :-(

[wodin]

Originally Posted by calibrated

Unfortunately, as Google Drive isn't yet available on iOS, and SkyDrive isn't available on Android, Dropbox is still the only one that works on all the platforms I use. :-(

Mine does! I use Tonidoplug, but I've also looked into Pogo. Both are accessable from all browsers, and have Android and iOS clients. The UIs, however don't begin to compare to DropBox.

My problem with DropBox is that Mordred, the Preventer of Information, has got it blocked at my work firewall.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by calibrated

Unfortunately, as Google Drive isn't yet available on iOS, and SkyDrive isn't available on Android, Dropbox is still the only one that works on all the platforms I use. :-(

iOS support is several weeks off.

There are Android client apps available for SkyDrive; plus this from Microsoft:

If you have an Android or another phone, you can still use SkyDrive. Just open your phone’s web browser and go to SkyDrive.com. You might need to sign in with your Windows Live ID. Find the file or photo you’d like to view, and tap it.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Ninjalawyer

Meh, not very exciting yet. I'm not sure how the interface will work, but it would be difficult for them to improve greatly on Dropbox (sync'd folders on your system). On the plus side, it sounds like Google entering the market has caused Microsoft to make major improvements to Skydrive's interface, so that's a bonus.

Pricing from Google and Microsoft will make Amazon take notice - $$/yr

• Amazon: 5GB= free / 20GB= $20 / 50GB= $50 / 100GB= $100 / 200GB= $200
• Google: 5GB= free / 25GB= $30 / 100GB= $60 / 200GB= $120 / 400GB= $240
• SkyDrive: 7GB= free / 27GB= $10 / 57GB= $25 / 107GB= $50

[morriss003]

Originally Posted by Ninjalawyer

You could always use cellular internet on your laptop (through something like the Mifi) to get exactly what you describe, or just use Dropbox or a similar service to have your files available locally when you don't have internet and then synced when you do. My Dropbox folder is just another folder on my PC, so viewable by anything on my pc, whether or not I have internet.

Two questions. If you double click on a Word file that is in your Dropbox folder does it open Word? If you save a Word file in the Dropbox folder, does it save to the cloud by syncing?

[afv011]

Originally Posted by SeaKing

You certainly need a lot of reliable encryption and there are problems with that unless you have the time/code dependent encryption fobs.

I use boxcryptor for the "my eyes only stuff"

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by morriss003

Two questions. If you double click on a Word file that is in your Dropbox folder does it open Word? If you save a Word file in the Dropbox folder, does it save to the cloud by syncing?

Yes and yes.

[disillusioned]

The Verge has a post on the privacy terms of Dropbox, Skydrive, Google Drive and Apple. http://www.theverge.com/2012/4/25/29...dropbox-icloud
It seems that Google's terms are more or less in line with other cloud service providers.
On the other hand, Apple "reserves the right to determine whether Content is appropriate, and may pre-screen, move, refuse, modify and/or remove Content at any time, without prior notice and in its sole discretion, if such Content is found to be in violation of this Agreement or is otherwise objectionable"

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by afv011

I use boxcryptor for the "my eyes only stuff"

That sounds interesting, is it available over a variety of platforms?

[BeccaPrice]

Google's lack-of-privacy policy:

http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com...ref=fpnewsfeed

"When you upload or otherwise submit content to our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content. ”

[Daithi]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Pricing from Google and Microsoft will make Amazon take notice - $$/yr

• Amazon: 5GB= free / 20GB= $20 / 50GB= $50 / 100GB= $100 / 200GB= $200
• Google: 5GB= free / 25GB= $30 / 100GB= $60 / 200GB= $120 / 400GB= $240
• SkyDrive: 7GB= free / 27GB= $10 / 57GB= $25 / 107GB= $50

I hope this is true. I use the free Amazon Cloud drive, but I've just about filled up my 5 GB. The main reason I use Amazon is because music I've purchased from Amazon is stored for free (probably another 15GB).