Sunday, Dec 2, 2007    Text size: 

After a false start last year, the Internet giant is quietly moving forward with plans to offer users a virtual hard drive with unlimited space – for a price. They're calling it the GDrive.

Google recently launched the second version of its online email application, Gmail. Around the same time, Gmail users saw their online storage space double. Online pundits speculated that this was a precursor to the launch of the GDrive.

Google already offers users a way to manage their online storage space, and enterprising programmers have already found a way to retrofit Gmail into a virtual hard drive. Add to this the fact that virtual hard drives like XDrive are already available, and a question remains: What's the big deal?

The name, of course: Google, plus the company's promise to deliver enough storage space to require an irrational number.

"With infinite storage, we can house all user files, including emails, web history, pictures, bookmarks, etc., and make it accessible from anywhere – any device, any platform," a Google representative said.

But according to web guru Brandon Shalton, the biggest name in search engines is treading into territory where many have previously fallen.

"Tons of previous dot-coms and dot-bombs offered remote or virtual drive space," said Shalton, who founded the founded the traffic analysis service T3Report.com. "The issue is whether you can trust that company to still be in business."

Privacy is another concern, Shalton said, pointing to the possibility of Google being able to index not just a user's files but also the content of those files, right down to every last sentence and spreadsheet.

NichePay President Media echoed those concerns.

"I don't want [Google] having access to my personal stuff that I may have online," he told XBIZ. "Google really scares me with their 'We want to be the kings of information' attitude."