08.10.07
Google is Selling Storage
I can across this post today on the Official Google Blog. If you are running out of storage space in Picasa or GMail, you can now purchase additional storage space... and over at Google Blogoscoped, they think that Google Docs is a likely addition to the Google Storage program.
Right now GMail stands at ~2.82GB, or so my Storage Account Manager told me. Additional space can be purchased at various sizes and costs:
- 6GB @ $20/year
- 25GB @ $75/year
- 100GB @ $250/year
- 250GB @ $500/year
The Google Account Help page on the subject of storage space mentions that you can't allocate how much of your space is given to Picasa or GMail (or any future Google Apps that may be added) and that the storage is used on a first come first serve basis.
It's an interesting concept, I'm just curious to see how popular it will be as it seems slightly over priced to me. I'm sure that they are setting the foundation for a Google Storage app that allows direct access as an additional drive on your computer, but even so... If that's what they are attempting to do, they will really need to reconsider their pricing structure.
Rob Newby said,
August 10, 2007 at 4:09 am
Don’t give them ideas!
It is a good one though. However, how many people do you think would trust storing personal data online, with a search engine?
This was the number one push-back problem I got when I suggested we use Google docs in the office to share information. What if it all got leaked, or indexed by Google?
Back to Excel and Word on the internal fileserver…
Tyler Reguly said,
August 10, 2007 at 7:22 am
I guess we’ll see how many people trust it since Microsoft has Windows Live SkyDrive and Live is a search engine.
From their site:
* 500 MB of free online storage, available from any computer with Internet access.
* Create personal, shared, and public folders — you decide who has access to each folder.
* Windows Live SkyDrive works well on any Windows or Macintosh computer with Firefox 1.5 or higher, or Internet Explorer 6 or higher.
* Your personal folders are password-protected with your Windows Live ID, so only you have access.
* When you create a shared folder, the friends you’re sharing with need to sign in with their own Windows Live ID and password.
* Just like at your online bank, all file transfers are protected using Secure Socket Layers (SSL).