Google plans to make PCs history
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| Sun, 01-25-2009 - 10:13pm |
It looks like Google plans to change our world yet again. This time it seems the folks at Google want to replace our hard drives with a Google drive, or GDrive, accessed via internet.
Our individual data could be free from our PC's and laptops, and could be free from a particular version of a vendors operating system.
This could work well with the netbook and with non-Microsoft and non-Apple solutions for operating system.
The great thing about this Google proposal is that other companies are free to offer it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jan/25/google-drive-gdrive-internet
Google plans to make PCs history
Industry critics warn of danger in giving internet leader more power
Google is to launch a service that would enable users to access their personal computer from any internet connection, according to industry reports. But campaigners warn that it would give the online behemoth unprecedented control over individuals' personal data.
The Google Drive, or "GDrive", could kill off the desktop computer, which relies on a powerful hard drive. Instead a user's personal files and operating system could be stored on Google's own servers and accessed via the internet.
The long-rumoured GDrive is expected to be launched this year, according to the technology news website TG Daily, which described it as "the most anticipated Google product so far". It is seen as a paradigm shift away from Microsoft's Windows operating system, which runs inside most of the world's computers, in favour of "cloud computing", where the processing and storage is done thousands of miles away in remote data centres.
Home and business users are increasingly turning to web-based services, usually free, ranging from email (such as Hotmail and Gmail) and digital photo storage (such as Flickr and Picasa) to more applications for documents and spreadsheets (such as Google Apps). The loss of a laptop or crash of a hard drive does not jeopardise the data because it is regularly saved in "the cloud" and can be accessed via the web from any machine.
The GDrive would follow this logic to its conclusion by shifting the contents of a user's hard drive to the Google servers. The PC would be a simpler, cheaper device acting as a portal to the web, perhaps via an adaptation of Google's operating system for mobile phones, Android. Users would think of their computer as software rather than hardware.
It is this prospect that alarms critics of Google's ambitions. Peter Brown, executive director of the Free Software Foundation, a charity defending computer users' liberties, did not dispute the convenience offered, but said: "It's a little bit like saying, 'we're in a dictatorship, the trains are running on time.' But does it matter to you that someone can see everything on your computer? Does it matter that Google can be subpoenaed at any time to hand over all your data to the American government?"
Google refused to confirm the GDrive, but acknowledged the growing demand for cloud computing. Dave Armstrong, head of product and marketing for Google Enterprise, said: "There's a clear direction ... away from people thinking, 'This is my PC, this is my hard drive,' to 'This is how I interact with information, this is how I interact with the web.'"

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~It looks like Google plans to change our world yet again. This time it seems the folks at Google want to replace our hard drives with a Google drive, or GDrive, accessed via internet.~
"Seems", again, is the key word, given that it according to your article:
a) it would up to the individual not Google as to whether or not to make use of such a service and
b) Google has yet to even confirm the "GDrive".
I use gmail to eliminate spam from my private email a/c & I use Chrome occationally.
>"Industry critics warn of danger in giving internet leader more power."<
LOL
"Grandcentral"
How are overseas calls? We're using Vonage & are very happy with it... $24.99 a month.
Instead a user's personal files and operating system could be stored on Google's own servers and accessed via the internet.
This one sentence says it all for me...no freakin' way.
~DH uses another Google product, Grandcentral, to get free phone service via VOIP. It seems to work well. Free phone service is tough to beat.
We use a regular phone. An ATA (analog terminal adapter) converts internet VOIP to a normal analog phone (often referred to as POTS or plain old telephone service).
We pick up our phone, get a dial tone. People call a local number, and our regular phones in the house ring. All our old phones which we had with the phone company work with the ATA as if they were still provided by the phone company.
Interesting :)
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