5 ms·

no linux platform "coming soon" - too bad

by trotsky 14y ago

antihero 14y ago
Don't they use Linux a lot internally, too? It's really awful that companies such as Box, Google etc are not supporting the Linux desktop, especially seeing as desktop linux is actually a really attractive option right now - better memory management than OSX and installable on pretty much any device, and Windows is pretty much a joke for non-.NET development or unless you game. Fuck, their Android platform is based on Linux yet they don't support Linux desktop? That's pretty shitty.
- ok_craig 14y ago
  Not having a Drive client for Linux (yet) doesn't mean Google as a company does not support Linux at all. For example, Chrome is supported on Linux. We don't know - Drive for Linux may come further down the line. The reality is that a relatively small fraction of consumers use Linux at home or work. If I were releasing a new product, Linux wouldn't be one of my top priorities either.
  - antihero 14y ago
    It's a shame though, you think they'd support it. Think of everything Linux has done for them.
  - glesica 14y ago
    Agreed, but the "techie" crowd tend to be the early adopters for products like this and help drive others to use them. It's not totally crazy of Google not to support Linux out of the gate (for the reasons you and others noted) but it is a little surprising, nonetheless.
  - firefoxman1 14y ago
    I'm assuming it's in their best interest. If they plan on ChromeOS getting big, having GDrive built in will be a big plus.
- munchor 14y ago
  I completely agree, huge company, huge resources, lotsa money. With all that, making a Linux client would be super easy, any highschool kid can go ahead and just build it, but with their resources, they can make a just-as-good Linux client very easily. Damn, this pisses me off, seems like a great product I just can't use. Ubuntu One and Dropbox seem like the best alternatives now. Also, Google Earth on Linux is indeed a joke, I think it's Wine.
  - ataranto 14y ago
    "any highschool kid can go ahead and just build it" What high school did you go to where everyone was an expert on multithreading, network io, disk io, bidirectional synchronization, and state persistence?
  - iso8859-1 14y ago
    Google Earth on Linux is not Wine, Picasa is. And it works great.
arunoda 14y ago
as always :) they are first going after the big fish. But they will come. I'm sure. Chrome, Google Talk for Gmail everything follows this path too.
- vibragiel 14y ago
  Not everything: http://sketchup.google.com/ http://sketchup.google.com/ http://picasa.google.com/ http://picasa.google.com/
  - yellowbkpk 14y ago
    Both of those were acquired from external groups and were written before Google had their hands on the source.
  - VMG 14y ago
    Also add the linux version of Google Earth - it's a joke
    - Drbble 14y ago
      Google Earth has always been a farm for practicing features in preparation for a move into Maps. Earth was never a respected product.
      - iso8859-1 14y ago
        Earth has many features that Maps don't. When is the time you tried Earth? Viewing old imagery, the flightsim, more layers, it even has street view integration now.
jamesbritt 14y ago
This is where Dropbox has a major edge for me "You can install Drive on your Mac or PC" Of course, if this pushes Dropbox to add more (useful) features and/or drop their price, that's cool too.
rdl 14y ago
If it's an open API, couldn't you make an open source client for linux/bsd? Or is the API not fully featured? (iCloud to FUSE would be cool, too)
- teraflop 14y ago
  The API only supports webapps that are installed through the Chrome Web Store.
  - voyou 14y ago
    There is a Google Docs API[1] that allows you to upload and download arbitrary files from Google Docs; depending on exactly how the Docs / Drive integration works, that might allow you to write a desktop Google Drive client. [1] https://developers.google.com/google-apps/documents-list/ https://developers.google.com/google-apps/documents-list/
koeselitz 14y ago
This just in, apparently - the Linux client is "coming soon..." http://www.slashgear.com/google-drive-for-linux-incoming-25224636/ http://www.slashgear.com/google-drive-for-linux-incoming-252...

no linux platform "coming soon" - too bad

by trotsky 14y ago

no linux platform "coming soon" - too bad

Don't they use Linux a lot internally, too? It's really awful that companies such as Box, Google etc are not supporting the Linux desktop, especially seeing as desktop linux is actually a really attractive option right now - better memory management than OSX and installable on pretty much any device, and Windows is pretty much a joke for non-.NET development or unless you game. Fuck, their Android platform is based on Linux yet they don't support Linux desktop? That's pretty shitty.

ok_craig 14y ago
Not having a Drive client for Linux (yet) doesn't mean Google as a company does not support Linux at all. For example, Chrome is supported on Linux. We don't know - Drive for Linux may come further down the line. The reality is that a relatively small fraction of consumers use Linux at home or work. If I were releasing a new product, Linux wouldn't be one of my top priorities either.
- antihero 14y ago
  It's a shame though, you think they'd support it. Think of everything Linux has done for them.
- glesica 14y ago
  Agreed, but the "techie" crowd tend to be the early adopters for products like this and help drive others to use them. It's not totally crazy of Google not to support Linux out of the gate (for the reasons you and others noted) but it is a little surprising, nonetheless.
- firefoxman1 14y ago
  I'm assuming it's in their best interest. If they plan on ChromeOS getting big, having GDrive built in will be a big plus.
munchor 14y ago
I completely agree, huge company, huge resources, lotsa money. With all that, making a Linux client would be super easy, any highschool kid can go ahead and just build it, but with their resources, they can make a just-as-good Linux client very easily. Damn, this pisses me off, seems like a great product I just can't use. Ubuntu One and Dropbox seem like the best alternatives now. Also, Google Earth on Linux is indeed a joke, I think it's Wine.
- ataranto 14y ago
  "any highschool kid can go ahead and just build it" What high school did you go to where everyone was an expert on multithreading, network io, disk io, bidirectional synchronization, and state persistence?
- iso8859-1 14y ago
  Google Earth on Linux is not Wine, Picasa is. And it works great.

arunoda 14y ago

as always :) they are first going after the big fish. But they will come. I'm sure. Chrome, Google Talk for Gmail everything follows this path too.

vibragiel 14y ago
Not everything: http://sketchup.google.com/ http://sketchup.google.com/ http://picasa.google.com/ http://picasa.google.com/
- yellowbkpk 14y ago
  Both of those were acquired from external groups and were written before Google had their hands on the source.
- VMG 14y ago
  Also add the linux version of Google Earth - it's a joke
  - Drbble 14y ago
    Google Earth has always been a farm for practicing features in preparation for a move into Maps. Earth was never a respected product.
    - iso8859-1 14y ago
      Earth has many features that Maps don't. When is the time you tried Earth? Viewing old imagery, the flightsim, more layers, it even has street view integration now.

jamesbritt 14y ago

This is where Dropbox has a major edge for me "You can install Drive on your Mac or PC" Of course, if this pushes Dropbox to add more (useful) features and/or drop their price, that's cool too.

rdl 14y ago

If it's an open API, couldn't you make an open source client for linux/bsd? Or is the API not fully featured? (iCloud to FUSE would be cool, too)

teraflop 14y ago
The API only supports webapps that are installed through the Chrome Web Store.
- voyou 14y ago
  There is a Google Docs API[1] that allows you to upload and download arbitrary files from Google Docs; depending on exactly how the Docs / Drive integration works, that might allow you to write a desktop Google Drive client. [1] https://developers.google.com/google-apps/documents-list/ https://developers.google.com/google-apps/documents-list/

koeselitz 14y ago

This just in, apparently - the Linux client is "coming soon..." http://www.slashgear.com/google-drive-for-linux-incoming-25224636/ http://www.slashgear.com/google-drive-for-linux-incoming-252...