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I was fascinated that Google chose the name "Google Drive" for their latest product. Without a hint of false naivety, my initial thought on hearing the name was

I was fascinated that Google chose the name "Google Drive" for their latest product. Without a hint of false naivety, my initial thought on hearing the name was that it was either: a) Something to do with journey planning/directions, or b) Some new in-car technology When I saw it was neither of those, I presumed the cloud storage service had been named in the same way razors are named, i.e. "puts you in the driving seat" sort of thing. It was only several hours later did it occur to me that, OMG, they mean like a FLOPPY DISK DRIVE? Yikes. "Drive" is not really a word I've heard used in relation to storage for years. Mainly because we only think about the distinction between disk and drive when the two can be parted, like a floppy disk drive. Put the disk in the drive. Most removable media is USB-based these days, so the term isn't used. I guess in 1990s-era Windows NT networks you'd be told to save your work to "the M: drive" or such, but yeah, 1990s. To me it's a moronic product name. "I'll save that to my Google Drive!" Sure thing, you do that Grandpa.

GreenNight 14y ago
I too thought about their car technologies, but to me it doesn't mean drive like a floppy disk drive, it means drive as in hard disk drive (HDD). Google Storage would have been a more descriptive name, but it'll be a while until we get rid of our C: and D: drives.
tallpapab 14y ago
Actually, there were also hard disk drives. The drive was the motor attached to a spindle which would spin the disk whether the disk was floppy or hard. Your point still holds that spinning media are starting to be replaced by solid state devices. I agree that Google made a poor choice with the name. BTW the word drive goes back further than motors. It was and still is the term to cause sheep and draught animals to move where you wanted them to go. Still not great for Google's product.

GreenNight 14y ago

I too thought about their car technologies, but to me it doesn't mean drive like a floppy disk drive, it means drive as in hard disk drive (HDD). Google Storage would have been a more descriptive name, but it'll be a while until we get rid of our C: and D: drives.

tallpapab 14y ago

Actually, there were also hard disk drives. The drive was the motor attached to a spindle which would spin the disk whether the disk was floppy or hard. Your point still holds that spinning media are starting to be replaced by solid state devices. I agree that Google made a poor choice with the name. BTW the word drive goes back further than motors. It was and still is the term to cause sheep and draught animals to move where you wanted them to go. Still not great for Google's product.