The departure of Google Drive has been a turnaround in the field of network storage systems. We have already told you about some of the most outstanding functions of this Google service . But is it really a feature-level revolution? What can Google Drive offer that the rest of the services cannot? We made a comparison between four of the most popular and most popular storage services on the web: Google Drive, Dropbox, SkyDrive and Wuala.
Storage capacity
Google Drive has hit the market with a capacity of 5 GB . A considerable space but that is not an improvement over what already exists. In fact, for example the popular Dropbox service , allows you to increase the available space up to 16 GB through the recommendations to use the service to other users. The user who has enough patience can thus increase the initial capacity up to eight times, a space that far exceeds that offered by Google . In the case of Wuala , the service has increased its capacity from 2 GB to 5 GB to match what is offered by the search engine's company.
However, the most prominent case at this point is SkyDrive , Microsoft's system . The Windows company offered up to 25GB of storage. And I say offered because it has decided to lower that capacity to 7 GB . Despite being a stronger initial offer than the rest, one of the great advantages of the system is lost (25 GB is a more than striking offer). However, users who already had a Windows Live account can retain this ability for the next several days by following these steps .
Privacy
We entered a rugged field. Google has already received the first criticisms and suspicions due to a clause of its conditions in which it is advised that Google will have "a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify and create derivative works" and that it may also " communicate, publish, perform or publicly display and distribute said content ”. Although the search engine company has tried to explain these terms, alluding to the fact that it will only use these rights to allow the user to use its other services, it is at least disturbing. The rest of the services have stricter privacy policies . The strictest in our understanding is Wuala, since the files are uploaded encrypted and divided in two , so that only the user is able to see their content.
Security
Another point in which we opted for Wuala , because of the service's policy of encrypting files, dividing them into two parts and also duplicating the data in different data centers. Google Drive also uses encryption and transfers files over an SSL connection (although Google hasn't provided much detail on the security policy for files). However, another door to controversy has already been opened over the way in which applications compatible with Google Drive are used. These are able to log into Google automatically in certain cases, as explained from Bitelia, and that could allow access to all the contents of the system in case of entering the user's computer.
Interface
At this point, the level of Google Drive depends a lot on how accustomed the user is to the Google universe , since it follows the line of the rest of its services (actually, it is more than anything a remodeling of Google Docs ). SkyDrive outside of Windows 8 is somewhat more confusing and less attractive , but it has come a long way of late. Perhaps the one with the simplest and most attractive web interface is Dropbox , one of the reasons why this service has become so popular.
Upload limit
Google has taken special care of this aspect. The limit for uploading files to Google is 1 GB , which is very useful for users who use large files. It is a competitive advantage against rivals such as SkyDrive , which despite having more total space has an upload limit of 300 MB per file. or with Dropbox , which offers the same limit for your uploads.
Integration
Perhaps this is the most powerful point of Google Drive , since Google's intention is to integrate its Drive with a large number of Google services , including its social network Google+, Gmail or Google Docs itself, and with mobile platforms (on all with Android ). At this point, its great competitor will be Microsoft , which has the advantage (with a great future, by the way) of Windows 8 . We have already seen in the beta version that the integration of SkyDrive in this system is attractive and quite complete, and if it continues to improve it could take the victory against the extensive platform of services ofGoogle .