Google brings out the big guns -- unlimited storage for $10 per month and Office editing

 

At I/O 2014 Google announced that more cloud storage will be made available to space hungry users. Google Drive for Work has a price tag of $10 per month and includes not just more cloud storage, but unlimited cloud storage. Well, there is one limitation; individual files cannot exceed 5TB, but this is, for all intents and purposes, a deal that is unlimited by most people's understanding of the word. As the name suggests, this is a product that is aimed at businesses, but at this price it is hard to imagine that there won’t be swathes of home users looking to take advantage of the package.
 
A few months back, Google slashed the cost of its cloud storage packages, but today's news is something quite different. Worries about security may be allayed by the news that Drive, Gmail and Calendar data will be encrypted at data centers. IT admins will also be able to audit and control options, that means internal security policies can be implemented as required.
 
The Drive storage announcement from Google comes just after Microsoft increased the amount of free storage provided to OneDrive users, as well as bundling 1TB of cloud storage with Office 365. But Google is also trying to lure Office users away from the grips of Microsoft. Slides is Google's take on PowerPoint, but the big news for Google Docs users is support for editing Office documents.
 
This is big news for home users and businesses alike. In a direct attack on Office Online, Google is giving users the ability to edit Word and other Office documents online free of charge. New files can be saved in Word format, addressing one of the biggest limitations of Google Docs -- and bringing Quickoffice to Chrome will help to create a new online experience for users. This is Google wrestling back control of the web and the workplace.
 
Photo Credits: l i g h t p o e t/Shutterstock
 
~ Mark Wilson

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