The Cloud Storage Battle
With a plethora of options and possibilities such as; Skydrive, Google Drive and Dropbox, it’s not easy to know which cloud storage would be perfect for you. No doubt, the shift to cloud storage has changed the way people access and store files.
When something is stored in the cloud, it’s saved to a personal online account, to be accessed anywhere with an internet connection. It operates similar to your Company’s computer network in which everyone in the building can have an access to files from diverse computer systems across the network.
Let’s first start with a Skydrive which is currently offering 7 GB for all new users. As of now, it offers the best value for your money and even, if you need more space you can get 100 GB for $50/year and 20 GB for $10/year.
Moving forward, Google Drive offers 5 GB for new users and allows all of the average features such as the option to collaborate on projects, as well as share and upload files. Not just this, it has a desktop client (for Windows and Mac) and mobile applications (for Android and iOS devices). Furthermore, Google Drive also supports various file types from popular formats, such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint. If you would like to see modifications by other collaborators and track changes then Google Drive is the obvious solution for you.
The free service that allows you to bring all your videos, docs and photos anywhere, is Dropbox. It has a file size upload limit of 2 GB for free accounts, with the option to earn more free space by inviting friends and connecting social media accounts to Dropbox. This magnificent cloud service platform includes version control which means the changes made from your previous saves will be kept as backups for at least 30 days.
Now, let’s take a look at some of the significant points that tell us about the cloud storage battle between Google Drive and Dropbox:
- Google Drive is the clear winner in terms of providing free initial storage for new users, with document editing functionality.
- Dropbox and Google Drive are both effective at syncing changes and uploading files to the server. However, Google seems to be more sluggish on start up and experiences more errors.
- Google Drive does not offer the functionality of double clicking on the task bar icon. whereas, Dropbox does offer you this function to open the sharing folder.
- Dropbox on the other hand, offers more apps for various platforms like PC, Mac, Android, iOS, BlackBerry and even a separate app for Kindle Fire.
- Dropbox has had a few security issues in the past where private files were made public, which has also dented consumer confidence to some extent.
For the dominance of the cloud storage market, there is a massive battle going on between Dropbox, Google Drive and other service services, which is only likely to get more fierce. Which service may turn out to be the dominant market leader to win the battle for cloud storage will depend on consumer demand, preferences and the application of the most effective strategy for capitalising on the growing market for cloud storage.