[crosspost from the French translation thread - now that we have the official details, I think this comment is better discussed here.]
So the things Google Drive has that Dropbox doesn't:
* 2-factor authentication!
* Comments on files
* OCR - like Evernote, you can search against text in images (e.g. newspaper article)
* Image recognition - if you upload a pic of the Eiffel Tower, you can find it with the search term "eiffel tower"
* Web-based file viewer - 30 file types including HD video, Illustrator, Photoshop, etc.
The OCR and image recognition are going to be killer features for "normal" people. And I imagine it's something Dropbox can't easily duplicate (unlike the other features).
Then again, as a more privacy-minded technical person, the image recognition feature scares the beejezus out of me. Tagging faces on Facebook is one thing, but being able to semantically identify all contents of my images is really stepping up the creepiness quotient.
Should be interesting to see how Dropbox responds.
This is the single biggest issue I have. I wouldn't say I distrust Google, but I don't trust them enough to store my documents with them. Algorithmic lockout happens with their other services, and with no customer service resource that I could contact, using their service seems to risky to justify the cost savings.
"Linux support ... Headless (command line interface)
Most normal (non-techie) users aren't going to care about these though.
I can see the OCR being a big win among college students...scan in all your handwritten notes, and boom! they're all indexed and searchable and won't get lost before you need them for your final exam.
All features are useful to some subset of the user base. I'm just trying to help compile a list going the other way of things Dropbox does and Gdrive doesn't. It is up to others to determine how much or little they matter. That the list is so short indicates just how competitive the gdrive offering is.
I've never encountered anything that reliably reads my handwriting, and that includes my brain!
"All features are useful to some subset of the user base."
Of course, I didn't mean to be nitpicking, I'm coming from the point of view of thinking about what it would take to move the dials for Google given the scale they operate at. Going after an OS with a minuscule market share and command line stuff wouldn't do much to steal market share from Dropbox, SkyDrive, Box.net et al. A real differentiator IMO is the way in which Dropbox seems native - it's so deeply embedded in the OS, whether you use Windows or Mac (I use both, one at home and one at work, the experience is great on both).
"....Drew Houston, who blasted his way onto Apple's radar screen when he reverse-engineered Apple's file system so that his startup's logo, an unfolding box, appeared elegantly tucked inside. Not even an Apple SWAT team had been able to do that."
I don't think Gdrive will - or want to - replicate this experience. They want to keep the 'big G' branding separate from Windows or OS X, and manage files in a browser instead.
I was wondering about that as I was typing...damn that would be cool to have.
If lots of people's handwriting was scanned in and used as a training dataset, that could be a way to do it on Google scale - like what they did with Google voice, training it for all different accents.
Actually, Evernote's OCR does handwriting, and at least for me, does it pretty well. It's not going to give you a transcription, but it's good enough that the doc will show up if you're searching for it.
That is probably because the Evernote founders were the team that developed the CalliGrapher cursive recognition engine which was used by the Apple Newton back in the day.
Maybe, but it seems to me that for search (especially with stemming / misspelling coverage) you need a much lower OCR accuracy than for converting into text. Like maybe 95% vs 99.5% - you can have an order of magnitude more errors and search would still work fine.
Yes, well, that was Evernote's promise, too. Doesn't quite work unless you write in this extremely separated neat handwriting that no one taking notes could possibly be writing in :) Cursive (the way most people outside the States write) is straight out.
Google currently isn't winning the price for cool APIs. There is still nothing decent for G+. Are there any news on how an API for Drive is supposed to look like?
And Dropbox doesn't use/steal your data. So really that is an argument for Dropbox by it self. It also kinda of nulls "* 2-factor authentication!" because what is authentication if your data isn't safe?
> steal
While I understood the sentiment of distrust that many put in giving more information to Google that they can _use_ to show targeted advertisements, usage of the verb _steal_ makes me angry.
What I am not sure about is whether I am being irrational because I am biased towards Google (while also using, loving and respecting Dropbox) or everyone else here seems to have the same sentiment because (1) Dropbox is YC backed (2) It is a little-guy vs big-mafia war.
Are you forgetting or not aware of security issues with Dropbox where a bug made passwords optional for four hours[1], some people claiming that it's not secure by design [2], and mislead customers about security policies [3]. I don't know how relevant these issues are today, but you're claims make it seem like that have a perfect record.
Hey mangodrunk. Thanks for taking the time to put together citations. I was aware of the first item on your list and I was impressed with how Dropbox handled the situation. Everyone have bugs, but it's how you deal with these things that speak volumes to me.
I haven't heard of the other 2 things on your list, but I'll take the time to read them thoroughly. Thanks for bringing them to my attention. Obviosuly privacy is something important to me, so knowing all the facts is important.
That being said, when it comes to TOS, Dropbox is far more attractive.
Creepy, but IMHO necessary. We take the ability to search text for granted; there's no reason we shouldn't be expanding the same capabilities to images if we can.
So the things Google Drive has that Dropbox doesn't:
* 2-factor authentication!
* Comments on files
* OCR - like Evernote, you can search against text in images (e.g. newspaper article)
* Image recognition - if you upload a pic of the Eiffel Tower, you can find it with the search term "eiffel tower"
* Web-based file viewer - 30 file types including HD video, Illustrator, Photoshop, etc.
The OCR and image recognition are going to be killer features for "normal" people. And I imagine it's something Dropbox can't easily duplicate (unlike the other features).
Then again, as a more privacy-minded technical person, the image recognition feature scares the beejezus out of me. Tagging faces on Facebook is one thing, but being able to semantically identify all contents of my images is really stepping up the creepiness quotient.
Should be interesting to see how Dropbox responds.