TechCrunch has a post, “Google GDrive Launches. Just Don’t Call It That,” which can’t be any more misleading. And the only reason it’s receiving this attention is because it’s from Google.

In fact, Google Docs product manager Vijay Bangaru states, “This is not Gdrive.” Should Mozy, Backblaze and others worry? Not yet.

First of all, just because there is an online storage solution, it doesn’t mean there’s a new online backup solution! Online backup is not online storage (and online storage isn’t online backup). Backups include scheduled transfers, file version history, and a means to restore data. This new method of storing any* file in Google Docs isn’t any of these requirements!

In addition, services such as Mozy and Backblaze offer unlimited online backup for about $5 / month. Google is charging for this online storage at $0.25 / GB. That’s $125 / year for 500 GB – slightly less than IDrive‘s Family Pack, but still lacking all of the features of a backup solution.

So, Google fanatics, don’t drop your online backup service just yet – the GDrive is still just a myth.

* any file must be 250 MB or smaller.

Tags: GDrive, Google

This entry was posted by Eric Nagel on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 at 1:36 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.