Google on Tuesday is relieve oneself a big move with itsDocs service , opening it up to all type of data file uploads . This includes photos , movies , medicine , and ZIP archives , all of which will be put in on Google ’s servers .
Along with opening up Docs to extra file types , Google is also dramatically increase thesize of case-by-case uploads . Where the troupe will still limit users to 500 KB for Microsoft Word documents , and 10 M for PowerPoint presentations and PDFs , the new limitation for all other files that can not be converted into a Google Docs format is 250 MiB . This is 10 time the size of what ’s allowed as an fastening in the company ’s WWW mail service Gmail .
In a post on the company ’s web log , Google Docs ’ mathematical product handler Vijay Bangaru said that the new size of it and file type allowances serve to make Docs a replacement for USB drives , allowing users to get at their data file between computers . The company is also apply the same permissions - based share-out system of rules it has for documents that it host , allowing users to share single file with one another .
That tell , the amount of space for non - Google Docs file that are hive away within Docs will only be 1 GB . Users can upgrade though , and Google is planning on that .
Just like user canpurchase additional spacefor other Google help like Picasa Web Albums and Gmail , drug user will soon be capable to rent infinite from Google . For stock Google Docs substance abuser this will be 25 cent per gigabyte , per year , while Google Apps enterprise exploiter have to pay $ 3.50 per gigabyte , per yr . That ’s a goodly monetary value difference , but client support , and a service story agreement that guarantees uptime add costs .
Bangaru articulate the new file storage features will be rolling out to users within the “ next duo of weeks . ” In the meantime , Google has been meddling cook a fresh papers API that will take reward of the storage , render third - party programs register and write access . This wrick Google into more of a traditional storehouse supplier than it ’s ever been , completely cutting out the need to gossip the Docs site itself to sum up or remove files . The only caution here — and it ’s a big one — is that users will need to Google Apps premier variant customers to get to the API , leave free user of Docs and lesser Apps ratifier out in the cold .
Three companies that are coming out of the gate with support for this raw API areSyncplicity , Manymoon , andMemeo Connect . All three will be tapping into it to do things like file sync , upload , and reliever .
So is this the GDrive ?
sign that Google was readying Docs for filing cabinet storage came in late July of last year , which is when the companyquietly added the “ filing cabinet ” menu to the Docs interface . It ’s since been under - utilise as a place for user to store PDFs that could be read within Google ’s document witness . seek to upload other files that could not be convert into Google ’s own format just did not go through .
But do these change make Google Docs the long - wait GDrive ? In a way yes , but it ’s far from the game - change computer storage Robert William Service that many thought would fare by now . The expectation has always been that if Google came out with its own storage service , it would be profoundly wed into its properties . And more importantly , that it would be something readily uncommitted to all exploiter .
This metre last year the company had alluded to as much , almost by fortuity . Bundled deeply within the computer code of the fellowship ’s “ Google Pack ” computer software ( which includes a handful of Google , and non - Google software system installers ) , was mention of a service call in “ GDrive . ” It was placard plainly as a pecker for online filing cabinet backup and storage . That included “ photos , music , and documents . ” The software also promised to let users access these files from a mixture of locations — including the operating system of rules and wandering phones .
vocalise familiar ? Google Docs now does all those things , at least with the help of some third - party programs . However , the one continue hurdle is set out the sync to non - enterprise users , which for the clock time being is not occur .
There is light at the end of the burrow though . This twelvemonth , Googlebrings its cloud - centric Chrome OS to Netbooks , and you’re able to be sure that storage will be an important part of the equating . It ’s much easy to betray the approximation of a cloud - based lifestyle when you’re able to give people a position to knock down their existing files . This is especially true leave what could be a very circumscribed amount of storage in the first craw of Chrome OS ironware that will be sport substantial state drives — a technology that costs well more per gigabyte than disk - based hard drives .
all of a sudden 25 cents a gigabyte does n’t sound so unsound , does it ?
Where Google still has a lot of piece of work to do is unifying its computer memory offerings into one big parkway that ’s share across all of its Robert William Service . As it stands , depend on what type of media you ’re give to Google , and from what divine service you ’re upload it to , there ’s a different pail with a different terminal point . This is further complicated by the fact that many of the services have fuss spill to one another . If they did , it would allow Google to group hunting index into one lieu where users could sift through substance they had stored across all of Google ’s properties .
While Google may get there by the launching of Chrome OS , it does n’t have to . Just consider Tuesday ’s tidings proof enough that Google , at the very least , has the ball rolling .
This story originally appeared onCNET
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