The Problem with Google Drive

25.04.2012
Google Drive is here. On paper the Google cloud storage service like Dropbox, SkyDrive, and Box. However, there's one aspect of Google Drive that could force many users to shun Google in favor of the alternatives.

No, I'm not referring to the fact that and does not provide a mobile app client for any of the other platforms. Certainly, this is a factor for people who rely on iOS, BlackBerry, or Windows Phone mobile devices, but Google Drive can still be accessed via the Web on these platforms if necessary.

Robb Henshaw, Director of Communications at , explains, "One reason we believe the average user will have trouble with Google Drive is that it requires users to convert their files into the Google Docs format if they want to work on their files."

Users can upload and store other file formats like Microsoft Word *.docx documents, or Microsoft Excel *.xlsx spreadsheets, or PDF files. If opened locally from the Google Drive folder on a Windows or Mac OS X computer, those files will open in their native applications. However, if accessed from the Google Drive website, the files are opened as read-only in an online viewer.

In order to edit a file from the Web, the file has to be exported to--or saved as--its equivalent Google Docs file format. That process results in having two of the same file in Google Drive--the original, and the Google Docs version.

You can tweak, edit, and otherwise modify the Google Docs version from the Web, and those changes will be saved to Google Drive in the cloud, and synced back to the Google Drive folder on the local system. This introduces two potential issues, though.