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I think at this point I'm a little more comfortable paying more for a company that I know won't abandon this market. I know Dropbox will be Dropbox in 5 years.

I think at this point I'm a little more comfortable paying more for a company that I know won't abandon this market. I know Dropbox will be Dropbox in 5 years. How can we be sure Google Drive won't be shuttered in less time? Google is very haphazard with their web properties. Sometimes they shutter them, sometimes they stuff them in the closet. Google Reader, Wave, etc, you know. the stories. What scares me more are the ones that are visibly on the chopping block. You can see their agony from space. Google Groups used to be huge, now to get to them you must click Apps -> More -> Even more from Google -> Scroll to the bottom of the page. It's 5th last. I expect them to announce it read-only within 2 years and totally closed within 5. Google Finance was once the best stock screener and data-mine. Back in the day it was the only free service with real-time stock update. Google was proud to announce that and it was amazing. Today it still uses Flash, the stock screener is broken, portfolio's can barely be rearranged. What guarantee do we have here? Why should I be more comfortable letting Google back up my stuff instead of Dropbox? I need a strong, material answer from Google on this question long before a few dollar bills become the important matter of distinction. ~~~ I'm sorry if I come off as scaremongering. The point I'm trying to make is that most people who want their data backed-up well, for a long time, probably care less about the exact dollar amount and more about (perceived) longevity of the service. Sometimes, Google exits markets for reasons that are unclear to many, and it needs to tangibly remedy that perception.

abalone 13y ago
It is a bit scaremongery because if you're using it for backup you can just switch to another service if they announce its pending retirement. It's an inconvenience for sure, but not truly a significant reason to not go with Google. Besides, who knows where Dropbox or anyone else will be in 5 years. In 5 years they'll need to be turning a profit which could have a major impact on product and pricing, especially for the "backup" use case. Incidentally if backup is what you want, check out an optimized service like Backblaze.. $5/month unlimited storage.
- mb_72 13y ago
  Not to mention 'Drive' / file storage is a much more fundamental and 'core' service than those Google has shut down.
- Paul12345534 13y ago
  One reason I picked Crashplan (same price, $60 a year) over Backblaze (this might not apply to most people) is that Crashplan doesn't remove your deleted files if you use the option. That allowed me to backup several hundred DVDs of data to Crashplan simply by copying them to my hard drive, syncing them, then deleting them again.
jimmaswell 13y ago
probably best to store the same data on multiple services.
bane 13y ago
I don't take it as scaremongering, but I'd add that the switch cost from drive to dropbox is pretty low. Google will announce if it's going to close drive, and in the meantime you're paying some fractional percent of what dropbox charges. If google shutters it, it's not like copying a bunch of files from one place to another and waiting for it to auto-sync is a difficult endeavor. (right now my money is on Yahoo! acquiring db to better compete with Google...but the price might be too high).
rsync 13y ago
We (rsync.net) appreciate your reasoning. We've been doing this since 2001. Email us about our HN discount.
SonicSoul 13y ago
You still own your files. If they shut down just get another service and check them in there ? If you don't have local copies it's a risk regardless of who you go with.
drglitch 13y ago
What good alternatives exist to Google/Yahoo finance? Anything specific to recommend?
UVB-76 13y ago
> I know Dropbox will be Dropbox in 5 years. How can we be sure Google Drive won't be shuttered in less time? Feel free to quote me on this: Dropbox will not be Dropbox in five years. It will have been acquired, gone out of business, or at least slipped into irrelevance. Dropbox does not stand a chance against competitors like Google, Microsoft or Apple.
reluck 13y ago
Is FUD really necessary?
- Tarks 13y ago
  Is such a well reasoned + researched post deserving of a knee-jerk response?
  - reluck 13y ago
    High char count isn't a measure for sound reasoning.
    - clarry 13y ago
      Maybe you disagree with his reasoning. Maybe his reasoning is illogical or misguided. But dismissing something as FUD without providing any sort of counter arguments or reasoning is worse than being wrong.
- anigbrowl 13y ago
  I don't think it's FUD, adn I don't agree with the approach of 'it's free, so you have no say in it.' I wish that if a service was not working for a publisher (and therefore not getting any more development $) there were a protocol to either open-source it or offer it on a subscription basis with a public minimum target that needed to be reached to justify ongoing operation in its current form (eg Reader, which worked fine for many people).
Elessar 13y ago
It's possible I'm mistaken, but all the examples of 'abandonment' you've listed are free. Here, you're paying. It's a business. You've got the same guarantee as you've got with Dropbox.
- rstupek 13y ago
  Google Checkout was abandoned and wasn't free
  - Groxx 13y ago
    And replaced with Google Wallet which is, at least as a user, the exact same thing or better and exists on more platforms. That one isn't really a surprise.
    - rstupek 13y ago
      No, Wallet isn't the same thing. Checkout was a merchant solution (not a user solution) which wallet doesn't fill.
- gwern 13y ago
  FWIW, I didn't find monetization to have any clear benefit in my analysis: http://www.gwern.net/Google%20shutdowns http://www.gwern.net/Google%20shutdowns
ksaville00 13y ago
Fair point, Google does abandon projects. Although I think that Google is very focused on the cloud, it's a key market for them now and likely in the future. I think nothing is future proof but Google Drive is likely just as good of a bet as the others. Worst case, you know Google will give you plenty of options and time to select a new provider if they did indeed shut down Google Drive.
- genwin 13y ago
  Or they might bump up the price 3X+ with short notice, like they did for the App Engine.
untog 13y ago
I know Dropbox will be Dropbox in 5 years. As a counterpoint to that, Dropbox might not exist in 5 years. Google most likely will. Basically, there is no answer here that guarantees the future of your cloud storage. It's useful to access your files from multiple locations, but using it for long term file archival seems like asking for disappointment (as well as being a neat way of throwing money into the sky).
- threeseed 13y ago
  Google has a history of shutting even profitable projects. Dropbox doesn't. There is a legitimate reason to be wary of relying on anything Google.
  - smokinjoe 13y ago
    What profitable projects have they dropped that would be along the same impact as Google Drive? Are you saying they may significantly cut down the cloud capabilities?
    - dennisgorelik 13y ago
      Google Checkout.
      - Karunamon 13y ago
        Didn't it just get merged with Wallet? https://developers.google.com/wallet/ https://developers.google.com/wallet/
        dennisgorelik 13y ago
        Google Checkout had subscriptions. Google Wallet does not have subscriptions.
        Karunamon 13y ago
logicallee 13y ago
Sorry, you don't know that Dropbox will be Dropbox in 5 years.
tdees40 13y ago
The sad decline of Google Finance from best in class to also-ran is really depressing. I use Yahoo Finance now, which includes an outrageously easy API.
- nsxwolf 13y ago
  I kind of like knowing that Google abandons certain markets and that other people have a chance at making some money in that space. It always seems intuitive to me that Google could just crush any business they want with a weekend of coding, but it apparently isn't true, and I like that.
icebraining 13y ago
Who cares? If they close it, you signup for a competitor and re-upload the data. Even if they do close it, you'll have months to copy everything. And besides, if you're relying on a single system for all your backups, you're doing it wrong.
- fletchowns 13y ago
  That's a terrible retort. Downloading and then uploading a terabyte of data can be very expensive depending on where you live, and it can also take a very long time.
  - icebraining 13y ago
    Download and then uploading a terabyte of data can be very expensive depending on where you live Dropbox doesn't have a 1TB plan, but 2x500GB costs $1000/year. On Drive, it costs $100/year. That's a difference of $900/year. I don't know where you live, but around here $900/year buys you a pretty fucking good connection, with blackjack and hookers included. it can also take a very long time. So what? You can still use Drive until everything is copied.
    - shinratdr 13y ago
      That would be 100/month, not a year. Looks like Drive and Dropbox actually have identical pricing in this respect.
      - pfg 13y ago
        No, it's $10/month on Drive, and 2 * $49.99/month on Dropbox (or 2 * $499/year).
    - fletchowns 13y ago
      I live in the Bay Area and I pay about $800/year for 120KB/s upload (AT&T U-Verse). Certainly no blackjack and hookers included.
beering 13y ago
Managing your risks is fair, but it's not clear that Google Drive is less reliable than Dropbox. 1) Google Drive is a fundamental part of their online office suite, which means it's used internally for day-to-day employee work. Reader, Wave, Finance didn't get that status. Not to mention that having paid enterprise plans means it's a bit more mature than other things. 2) In 5 years, Dropbox could very well be referred to as "the discontinued Yahoo! Dropbox" or something similar. Not easy to predict that either.
- Dylan16807 13y ago
  They merged the synced folder functionality into the office suite; they can pull it back out.
- driverdan 13y ago
  Wasn't Wave used quite a bit internally?
  - aiiane 13y ago
    No, not really.
andybak 13y ago
I really don't buy this argument. Every specific victim of the slash and burn period at Google was fairly understandably, even if I disagreed with it personally. It was also part of a fairly clear realignment that came with a change in leadership. Google Drive is such a major part of Google strategy, that it seems remarkably unlikely to suffer the same fate. And if it does? Google's deprecation and data export policies have on the whole been handled fairly well. I just see a bunch of people still sulking about Reader and bringing it up at every opportunity. I too was sad to see it go. But Wave? It never got traction and even that was open-sourced instead of just being shuttered. The other examples you give aren't terribly persuasive examples either. I can think of many smaller companies who've dealt with this much more poorly. I'm fairly complacent about Google on this issue.
- clarky07 13y ago
  I for one LOVED wave and used it every single day. My friends and I spent many months looking for a viable replacement. fwiw we settled on glassboard if anyone else liked wave and never found a suitable replacement. it doesn't have threaded commenting which is sad, but the mobile apps are much better.
smtddr 13y ago
>>I know Dropbox will be Dropbox in 5 years. You absolutely do not know this. Dropbox could be acquired for $99999 Billion then closed in the next 6 months.
pavanky 13y ago
All of those were experiments and not paid products. I don't see Google shutting down stuff that people are actually paying for.
- SonicSoul 13y ago
  Question remains about how profitable these prices are for google.
- rstupek 13y ago
  Google Checkout was a paid solution which google shutdown, leaving merchants stuck looking for alternatives. The fact you're paying for a solution from google (or anyone for that matter) doesn't ensure continued survival of the solution
  - c_c_c 13y ago
    Didn't exactly shut it down like they did with reader or others though. It was replaced by another product, Google Wallet. Reader received no replacement from Google.
    - rstupek 13y ago
      Checkout!=Wallet. Checkout was a merchant solution
e40 13y ago
I agree with the general sentiment, but in this case, I think it's pretty clear it's central to Google's strategy. Now, Nexus phones? Those might not exist in a few short years.
- nostrademons 13y ago
  Nexus is necessary as long as Apple sticks around as a viable competitor (which seems like the foreseeable future). Without the Nexus line there's no counterweight to prevent the public from associating "Android" with "crapware", because every OEM has an incentive to take distribution deals from crapware providers, and nobody except Google has an incentive to preserve the reputation of Android as a slick, easy to use OS. The Nexus line is so that high-end influencers can show their friends how awesome their phone is, so that mainstream customers think "I want an Android phone" and not "I want an iPhone" and then can go buy from a wide variety of vendors if the Nexus itself doesn't fit their price range. It was pretty much the same story with Windows - as long as Apple was a viable competitor PC clones were pretty decent, but once Apple started going down the tubes you started getting bargain-basement Windows machines loaded up with crapware. The Apple/Google rivalry has been really good for consumers, as Apple forces Google to get better at user experience while Google forces Apple to be more open and support standards.
  - yuhong 13y ago
    OT, but IMO on Google, while open allocation is probably worth looking at, I'd settle for firing Vic Gundotra for now. Not because of "Real Games", but the Real Names fiasco and this: http://www.businessinsider.com/sex-and-politics-at-google-its-a-game-of-thrones-in-mountain-view-2013-9 http://www.businessinsider.com/sex-and-politics-at-google-it...
- jebblue 13y ago
  They won't if Google doesn't put back in a storage card slot and replaceable batteries like the Nexus One had.
mburns 13y ago
I know Google will exist in 5 years. How can you be sure Dropbox (an unprotifable startup) will be?
- jafaku 13y ago
  Unprofitable? Really? It's one of the most successful (if not the most successful one?) Y combinator companies (it's not a startup anymore). PG said it was a black swan. Besides, what do I care whether Google will exist? We are talking about Google Drive, and we know very well it could be gone just like that.
  - gnur 13y ago
    Except for the fact that it is integrated in gmail, google plus, android and probably some other services I forgot. It has generally taken years of neglect for services of Google to be discontinued. Google reader was hardly updated for the last 2 years it existed. This is a service you are paying for, how many payed for services have been discontinued by google?
    - dragonwriter 13y ago
      > Except for the fact that it is integrated in gmail, google plus, android and probably some other services I forgot. Its central to the "Chrome everywhere" / Chrome web store / Chromebook strategy, and central to Google Apps for Business (both because "Drive" subsumed the office suite that used to be "Docs & Spreadsheets", and because its a platform for second/third-party apps for Apps users.) But the Drive desktop sync application is pretty peripheral to any of those things that provide confidence that Drive itself will hang around for a long time -- so if people are thinking of Drive primarily as a desktop sync solution and worrying that Google might cancel that, well, that's probably not as unlikely as the idea that Google is likely to cancel Drive itself anytime in the forseeable future.
r00fus 13y ago
> I know Dropbox will be Dropbox in 5 years. How can we be sure Google Drive won't be shuttered in less time? Dropbox could be acquired and shuttered (or worse, data-mined). Google - much less likely, though it does have a tendency to close projects it does't see as strategic. I'd say the risks are equivalent. Hedge your bets, use multiple services and secure it all with something like Boxcryptor.
urmish 13y ago
Even if they decide to close down, I'm sure they will notify you well in advance.
davemabe 13y ago
I have more confidence that Drive is here to stay because of one fact: an entire line of computers (Chromebooks) rely on Drive solely for their storage. At this point, abandoning Drive would be abandoning a lot of other things. This was never true for your list of Google chopping block apps.
tobyjsullivan 13y ago
Let's assess risk. Risk A) Google might end support for Drive. They've shown that , if they do, they'll give a lot of notice. You'll have an opportunity to move your files elsewhere. Risk B) Dropbox goes out of business. Most likely because Google is undercutting their prices by about 90%. If you are lucky, they give some notice. They also might just send everyone home and shut off the lights, like many companies do when they file for bankruptcy. Where's the risk really?
- clarky07 13y ago
  1. do you really think that dropbox sends everyone home and shuts off the lights? That's a joke and you know it. 2. These files are all on our computers. I suspect that if dropbox blows up and does just go home and shut off the lights, we'll hear about it and notice. We can then take those files and move them to google drive or whatever.
- chillingeffect 13y ago
  they didn't tell anybody when they pulled support for sets from spreadsheets.
  - na85 13y ago
    Yes. As we all know, removing a feature from an existing, still-supported product is exactly the same as discontinuing a product entirely without notice.
  - sp332 13y ago
    Sets in spreadsheets still works for me. Edit: When the feature was "retired", there was a note that it would be replaced with a better version. https://support.google.com/drive/answer/3543688 https://support.google.com/drive/answer/3543688
  - teraflop 13y ago
    Well, that's not surprising given that it was never a documented feature to begin with, to my knowledge.
dragonwriter 13y ago
> I know Dropbox will be Dropbox in 5 years. How can we be sure Google Drive won't be shuttered in less time? And how do you know Dropbox will be Dropbox in 5 years? They can't: a) Go out of business, or b) Be acquired and have the service shutdown, or c) Have some new application of the core technology become more profitable, pivot to that as their prime focus, and discontinue the existing service retaining the infrastructure for that new application. > Google Groups used to be huge, now to get to them you must click Apps -> More -> Even more from Google -> Scroll to the bottom of the page. Or just type "Groups" in the Google search bar, and its the first result. > What guarantee do we have here? The same as you have with Dropbox. > I'm sorry if I come off as scaremongering. Then stop scaremongering.
diminoten 13y ago
Oh please; you're just trying to make Google have consequences for what it did to Reader, that's all. Google is about as likely to shut off Google Drive as it is to shut off it's search engine.
- saurik 13y ago
  Google has shut down many more services than Reader. I am not certain why you choose to highlight only Reader as if that's the one thing Google has ever shut down. Even of the things Google hasn't shut down, many have been "wound down", with no updates or even bug fixes, until eventually being replaced by something only half-related with no upgrade path. The "more wood behind fewer arrows" thing kind of became a meme for a while, so the fact that people (it isn't just you) latch on to one example they've heard of as if the constant shutterings don't happen is highly strange. Even key properties that seem highly embedded in numerous products (Checkout) get this treatment, so it isn't like anything is immune.
  - diminoten 13y ago
    Okay? This is still just someone trying to punish Google for something they feel otherwise powerless to stop, and has nothing whatsoever to do with the likelihood of it happening to Drive itself.
bad_user 13y ago
On one hand I support DropBox, because they care about my needs - I'm (also) a Ubuntu Linux user and Google apparently doesn't care about me enough to provide me with a client. Apparently I'm so unimportant to them that they can't justify the cost of a couple of man-months. On the other hand your worry, while justified, does not apply to Google Drive. Google Drive is now an integral part of: - GMail - Google Apps - Android - Chromebook - Google+ Yes, they probably don't make much money directly from neither of them, but these represent Google's platform, or lets say Google's own Windows if you will. It's their way of achieving lock-in and protecting against competition that may harm them, as otherwise Google's Search engine which drives the real money from advertising - cannot achieve lock-in on its own. And each of those products need cloud storage and cloud storage is becoming the norm. Microsoft has SkyDrive, integrated with Windows and WinPhone. Apple has iCloud, integrated with OS X and with iOS. Clearly you can see a pattern. With Google Cloud the only thing I don't trust long term is their pricing - they have a history of releasing cheap or free stuff, earn popularity, earn users, after which they realize that their costs are greater than their earnings and raise those prices. Examples: Google App Engine and Google Apps. In regards to DropBox, I support them but they really do need to reduce the pricing for those paid accounts. Pretty soon I'll need more than 100 GB and paying $19.99 per month for 200 GB is a little too expensive already, given that after a while I'll need more than 200 GB and then for 500 GB I'll need to pay $50 / month and that's way too much, when Google's 1 TB offer is for $10 / month and would last me for 2-3 years at least.
- UVB-76 13y ago
  > I'm (also) a Ubuntu Linux user and Google apparently doesn't care about me enough to provide me with a client. Apparently I'm so unimportant to them that they can't justify the cost of a couple of man-months. Apparently around half of the 20,000 Google employees use a version of Ubuntu ('Goobuntu'), so I wouldn't say they don't care about Ubuntu... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goobuntu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goobuntu
  - donniezazen 13y ago
    Yeah, they gotta have an internal Linux client.
inyaface 13y ago
Google doesn't make products with the consumer experience in mind. This makes this decision easy for me.
sroerick 13y ago
Google drive is very integral to chromebook use. If they dropped drive it would mean millions of chromebooks would be made almost useless.
zmmmmm 13y ago
It's silly to worry about the risk of Google abandoning something as strategically important to them as Drive, when there's an infinitely greater risk of you losing all your storage because your account gets disabled. This is something that happens infrequently but still routinely, and for sometimes quite innocent reasons, with rather little recourse in the case it was a mistake on Google's part (let alone for the case where there's a legitimate reason they blocked your account).
pete_aykroyd 13y ago
Even if google were to shutter this in 5 years, there's not _that_ high of a cost to switching. In the end, it's just your files. You can move them. I'm more concerned with whether their software is any good. I tried it a while ago and it didn't even come to close to dropbox even in terms of syncing, let alone the other things that dropbox has done.
deleted 13y ago
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bjustin 13y ago
I bet that Drive will still be around in 5 years because Docs relies on it. If Google wants to continue pushing Chromebooks, they need Docs and therefore Drive.
thearn4 13y ago
> What scares me more are the ones that are visibly on the chopping block. You can see their agony from space. I'd toss google scholar into the ones you listed as well. A fantastic search tool, but (unless I'm missing something) it's completely buried away on their site.
subsection1h 13y ago
> Why should I be more comfortable letting Google back up my stuff instead of Dropbox? You refer to Dropbox and Google Drive as backup solutions. When I evaluated Dropbox, I read that they offer an addon named Packrat that turns their popular file synchronization service into an actual backup solution. Does Google now offer a similar addon for Google Drive? If not, Google Drive isn't a backup solution. And without Packrat, neither is Dropbox.
laureny 13y ago
> I think at this point I'm a little more comfortable paying more for a company that I know won't abandon this market. Interestingly, after I read this sentence, I thought "Yeah, I'm not so sure DropBox will be around as long as Google, so I'll stick with Google". And then I realized you wanted to make the opposite argument.
mistermann 13y ago
I agree with much of what you say, however.... At what (little) it does, Dropbox does it very well, but for what little it does, I would definitely not call it cheap. Well worth it for some people, but very marginal for others like myself. I'm not aware of any new features coming out of Dropbox in well over a year, and there are many they could easily add, so as a matter of principle, I would change to a competitor provided their feature set and performance was at least as good, at the same or lower price..
ssijak 13y ago
Google will not drop Drive because it goes along with their almost web only OS, Chrome OS. And many other services are leaning on drive, +, picasa, gmail, android apps, etc...
qq66 13y ago
Does it matter? If Dropbox turned the lights out tomorrow, I wouldn't lose any data, my files would just stop syncing across machines. I'd just have to install a new file sync client and point it to my Dropbox folder. The barriers to switching away from Dropbox are based more on the number of products with Dropbox API integrations, and not on the switching costs for file sync.
ssmoot 13y ago
Dropbox is 10X the price. That's pretty wild. I didn't renew my Dropbox Pro account since it was by far my most expensive backup option. I've got my Drobo that's been my Time Machine thingy for the past 5 years. I've got iCloud for recent-ish stuff. I've got Backblaze for long-term storage at $5/month (or whatever). I had to pick and chose what to put on Dropbox and it was the most expensive option. With Google Drive I can go back to that pricing, but no longer have to pick and choose and still get the (infrequently used, but convenient) drag & drop sharing between devices. I think I'm going to sign up.
akmiller 13y ago
When has Google ever closed a service that they haven't given you plenty of time and great capability to export all of your data? Not arguing their history of closing services but I'm currently paying $200.00 to Dropbox a year and can convert to Google and pay 48 bucks. If something happens they decide to close it in the future I'll get my data pulled down and get into another service...but until then I'll be happy to keep my 150 bucks a year!
bookwormAT 13y ago
my two cents: * no cloud service is guaranteed to exist in 5 years. * in case any of these services are shut down, it is very likely that they give you the option to download your stuff and use it in another service.
mehdim 13y ago
Remember the 33 Google APIs that are no more..RIP http://blog.programmableweb.com/2013/07/09/33-google-apis-that-are-no-more/ http://blog.programmableweb.com/2013/07/09/33-google-apis-th...
joncooper 13y ago
1. This is not backup, it's network storage with sync. 2. If Google shutters Google Drive you'll be able to get your data off of it and move it to another vendor's solution.
payomdousti 13y ago
I don't think this is a fair comparison considering those were all free services.
Tloewald 13y ago
Google Drive has been around in some way/shape/form for a long time, I don't think it's going anywhere. And I doubt Google is going anywhere soon (it's probably going to survive five years even if it gets disrupted). The big losers here will be Dropbox, HubiC, Box, etc. who will feel price pressure.
quackerhacker 13y ago
I don't think you should worry about the reliability of Google "wanting," users to host their content. Considering Google builds one of the most extensive, profitable, and privacy scaring profile on each IP address, MAC address, and user of any of their services for free. The simple fact that Google can get paid for a service that only helps them further their profiling and profitability in ads and Chrome OS is more reason for them to offer the service. I don't question reliability. I question privacy, and until Dropbox makes their NSA agreement (which I remember reading they didn't)...Dropbox is my goto!
robertlf 13y ago
I kind of agree with simonsarris. You take a risk if you rely on a company's product if that company doesn't rely on that product to stay in business. Dropbox lives and dies by its storage feature; Google doesn't.
- dragonwriter 13y ago
  > You take a risk if you rely on a company's product if that company doesn't rely on that product to stay in business. You take a risk even if it does, because a company can change their business focus, or it can go out of business, or it can be acquired by another company that doesn't rely on the product, even if the acquired company did, and you have no control over any of those contingencies.
deleted 13y ago
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balladeer 13y ago
Google (or read Company X with deep pockets) offers Dropbox N billion dollars and then Dropbox is no longer Dropbox that you are hoping to see in coming 5 years.
Gustomaximus 13y ago
There is a bit of debate who is more likely to shut down below. I can't answer than myself but if Google did shutdown Drive it would likely be because they want out of the market and would give a long warning. If Dropbox left the market it would probably be because they can't afford to keep the doors open and may close in a hurry if this did happen. Either way I like the competition and whichever one has better security would be my preference. But in terms of shutting down I think it's important to consider how they would shut down if they did, as much as 'if they would'.
yohanatan 13y ago
Is it really so hard to take the 30 day notice (or more) they would give you and actually download your stuff locally? Or, better yet, just let Google Drive operate in the mode it installs with which keeps local copies of everything anyway?
enscr 13y ago
2 counter arguments: 1. Dropbox has a high potential to be acquired by a big company when the price is right. 2. Cloud storage service is something that you don't need to be attached to. Use Google till it's good. The day it isn't, simply switch to Dropbox or whatever.
cddotdotslash 13y ago
Everyone has spent time arguing which service will exist in five years. If you like Google's offering now (and I do as it's cheaper and more integrated with my workflow), then use it. Even if Google shutters it and Dropbox prevails, I'm positive they would give advanced notice. At that point, switch to Dropbox. We're acting like this is some kind of lifelong decision, but it's more importantly about what is best right now.
dwg 13y ago
If you're only in it for the storage, I don't find it to be important whether or not Google Drive will eventually be shuttered—there is a very little barrier to switch to another provider if the need arises. Google has a good track record for letting you get your data out in such a case.
ithkuil 13y ago
Well, a cloud storage is central to the ecosystem they are trying to build, think of Chromebooks. It's not a periferic product like Reader or experiment like Wave. There is no guarantee of course, in theory it could be replaced by a rebranded product with a completely incompatible API later on; but I doubt it would happen because it looks like Google already went through a spring cleaning of products, with the explicit aim of killing dying, orphaned products in order to strengthen the core products.
jotm 13y ago
Google Drive is being monetized - that's the difference. Neither Reader, nor Wave, nor Finance nor a dozen other Google products were/are monetized, so they're the first to go when managements decides so. If Drive is used by paid users, I think it won't go away anytime soon, just like Google Cloud or Gmail.
rip747 13y ago
I highly doubt that Google will ever abandon Google Drive since its part of Google Apps for Business: http://www.google.com/enterprise/apps/business/ http://www.google.com/enterprise/apps/business/ Google Reader was a _free_ application and like all _free_ applications, once they start losing money they are discontinued.

abalone 13y ago

It is a bit scaremongery because if you're using it for backup you can just switch to another service if they announce its pending retirement. It's an inconvenience for sure, but not truly a significant reason to not go with Google. Besides, who knows where Dropbox or anyone else will be in 5 years. In 5 years they'll need to be turning a profit which could have a major impact on product and pricing, especially for the "backup" use case. Incidentally if backup is what you want, check out an optimized service like Backblaze.. $5/month unlimited storage.

mb_72 13y ago
Not to mention 'Drive' / file storage is a much more fundamental and 'core' service than those Google has shut down.
Paul12345534 13y ago
One reason I picked Crashplan (same price, $60 a year) over Backblaze (this might not apply to most people) is that Crashplan doesn't remove your deleted files if you use the option. That allowed me to backup several hundred DVDs of data to Crashplan simply by copying them to my hard drive, syncing them, then deleting them again.

jimmaswell 13y ago

probably best to store the same data on multiple services.

bane 13y ago

I don't take it as scaremongering, but I'd add that the switch cost from drive to dropbox is pretty low. Google will announce if it's going to close drive, and in the meantime you're paying some fractional percent of what dropbox charges. If google shutters it, it's not like copying a bunch of files from one place to another and waiting for it to auto-sync is a difficult endeavor. (right now my money is on Yahoo! acquiring db to better compete with Google...but the price might be too high).

rsync 13y ago

We (rsync.net) appreciate your reasoning. We've been doing this since 2001. Email us about our HN discount.

SonicSoul 13y ago

You still own your files. If they shut down just get another service and check them in there ? If you don't have local copies it's a risk regardless of who you go with.

drglitch 13y ago

What good alternatives exist to Google/Yahoo finance? Anything specific to recommend?

UVB-76 13y ago

> I know Dropbox will be Dropbox in 5 years. How can we be sure Google Drive won't be shuttered in less time? Feel free to quote me on this: Dropbox will not be Dropbox in five years. It will have been acquired, gone out of business, or at least slipped into irrelevance. Dropbox does not stand a chance against competitors like Google, Microsoft or Apple.

reluck 13y ago

Is FUD really necessary?

Tarks 13y ago
Is such a well reasoned + researched post deserving of a knee-jerk response?
- reluck 13y ago
  High char count isn't a measure for sound reasoning.
  - clarry 13y ago
    Maybe you disagree with his reasoning. Maybe his reasoning is illogical or misguided. But dismissing something as FUD without providing any sort of counter arguments or reasoning is worse than being wrong.
anigbrowl 13y ago
I don't think it's FUD, adn I don't agree with the approach of 'it's free, so you have no say in it.' I wish that if a service was not working for a publisher (and therefore not getting any more development $) there were a protocol to either open-source it or offer it on a subscription basis with a public minimum target that needed to be reached to justify ongoing operation in its current form (eg Reader, which worked fine for many people).

Elessar 13y ago

It's possible I'm mistaken, but all the examples of 'abandonment' you've listed are free. Here, you're paying. It's a business. You've got the same guarantee as you've got with Dropbox.

rstupek 13y ago
Google Checkout was abandoned and wasn't free
- Groxx 13y ago
  And replaced with Google Wallet which is, at least as a user, the exact same thing or better and exists on more platforms. That one isn't really a surprise.
  - rstupek 13y ago
    No, Wallet isn't the same thing. Checkout was a merchant solution (not a user solution) which wallet doesn't fill.
gwern 13y ago
FWIW, I didn't find monetization to have any clear benefit in my analysis: http://www.gwern.net/Google%20shutdowns http://www.gwern.net/Google%20shutdowns

ksaville00 13y ago

Fair point, Google does abandon projects. Although I think that Google is very focused on the cloud, it's a key market for them now and likely in the future. I think nothing is future proof but Google Drive is likely just as good of a bet as the others. Worst case, you know Google will give you plenty of options and time to select a new provider if they did indeed shut down Google Drive.

genwin 13y ago
Or they might bump up the price 3X+ with short notice, like they did for the App Engine.

untog 13y ago

I know Dropbox will be Dropbox in 5 years. As a counterpoint to that, Dropbox might not exist in 5 years. Google most likely will. Basically, there is no answer here that guarantees the future of your cloud storage. It's useful to access your files from multiple locations, but using it for long term file archival seems like asking for disappointment (as well as being a neat way of throwing money into the sky).

threeseed 13y ago
Google has a history of shutting even profitable projects. Dropbox doesn't. There is a legitimate reason to be wary of relying on anything Google.
- smokinjoe 13y ago
  What profitable projects have they dropped that would be along the same impact as Google Drive? Are you saying they may significantly cut down the cloud capabilities?
  - dennisgorelik 13y ago
    Google Checkout.
    - Karunamon 13y ago
      Didn't it just get merged with Wallet? https://developers.google.com/wallet/ https://developers.google.com/wallet/
      - dennisgorelik 13y ago
        Google Checkout had subscriptions. Google Wallet does not have subscriptions.
        Karunamon 13y ago

logicallee 13y ago

Sorry, you don't know that Dropbox will be Dropbox in 5 years.

tdees40 13y ago

The sad decline of Google Finance from best in class to also-ran is really depressing. I use Yahoo Finance now, which includes an outrageously easy API.

nsxwolf 13y ago
I kind of like knowing that Google abandons certain markets and that other people have a chance at making some money in that space. It always seems intuitive to me that Google could just crush any business they want with a weekend of coding, but it apparently isn't true, and I like that.

icebraining 13y ago

Who cares? If they close it, you signup for a competitor and re-upload the data. Even if they do close it, you'll have months to copy everything. And besides, if you're relying on a single system for all your backups, you're doing it wrong.

fletchowns 13y ago
That's a terrible retort. Downloading and then uploading a terabyte of data can be very expensive depending on where you live, and it can also take a very long time.
- icebraining 13y ago
  Download and then uploading a terabyte of data can be very expensive depending on where you live Dropbox doesn't have a 1TB plan, but 2x500GB costs $1000/year. On Drive, it costs $100/year. That's a difference of $900/year. I don't know where you live, but around here $900/year buys you a pretty fucking good connection, with blackjack and hookers included. it can also take a very long time. So what? You can still use Drive until everything is copied.
  - shinratdr 13y ago
    That would be 100/month, not a year. Looks like Drive and Dropbox actually have identical pricing in this respect.
    - pfg 13y ago
      No, it's $10/month on Drive, and 2 * $49.99/month on Dropbox (or 2 * $499/year).
  - fletchowns 13y ago
    I live in the Bay Area and I pay about $800/year for 120KB/s upload (AT&T U-Verse). Certainly no blackjack and hookers included.

beering 13y ago

Managing your risks is fair, but it's not clear that Google Drive is less reliable than Dropbox. 1) Google Drive is a fundamental part of their online office suite, which means it's used internally for day-to-day employee work. Reader, Wave, Finance didn't get that status. Not to mention that having paid enterprise plans means it's a bit more mature than other things. 2) In 5 years, Dropbox could very well be referred to as "the discontinued Yahoo! Dropbox" or something similar. Not easy to predict that either.

Dylan16807 13y ago
They merged the synced folder functionality into the office suite; they can pull it back out.
driverdan 13y ago
Wasn't Wave used quite a bit internally?
- aiiane 13y ago
  No, not really.

andybak 13y ago

I really don't buy this argument. Every specific victim of the slash and burn period at Google was fairly understandably, even if I disagreed with it personally. It was also part of a fairly clear realignment that came with a change in leadership. Google Drive is such a major part of Google strategy, that it seems remarkably unlikely to suffer the same fate. And if it does? Google's deprecation and data export policies have on the whole been handled fairly well. I just see a bunch of people still sulking about Reader and bringing it up at every opportunity. I too was sad to see it go. But Wave? It never got traction and even that was open-sourced instead of just being shuttered. The other examples you give aren't terribly persuasive examples either. I can think of many smaller companies who've dealt with this much more poorly. I'm fairly complacent about Google on this issue.

clarky07 13y ago
I for one LOVED wave and used it every single day. My friends and I spent many months looking for a viable replacement. fwiw we settled on glassboard if anyone else liked wave and never found a suitable replacement. it doesn't have threaded commenting which is sad, but the mobile apps are much better.

smtddr 13y ago

>>I know Dropbox will be Dropbox in 5 years. You absolutely do not know this. Dropbox could be acquired for $99999 Billion then closed in the next 6 months.

pavanky 13y ago

All of those were experiments and not paid products. I don't see Google shutting down stuff that people are actually paying for.

SonicSoul 13y ago
Question remains about how profitable these prices are for google.
rstupek 13y ago
Google Checkout was a paid solution which google shutdown, leaving merchants stuck looking for alternatives. The fact you're paying for a solution from google (or anyone for that matter) doesn't ensure continued survival of the solution
- c_c_c 13y ago
  Didn't exactly shut it down like they did with reader or others though. It was replaced by another product, Google Wallet. Reader received no replacement from Google.
  - rstupek 13y ago
    Checkout!=Wallet. Checkout was a merchant solution

e40 13y ago

I agree with the general sentiment, but in this case, I think it's pretty clear it's central to Google's strategy. Now, Nexus phones? Those might not exist in a few short years.

nostrademons 13y ago
Nexus is necessary as long as Apple sticks around as a viable competitor (which seems like the foreseeable future). Without the Nexus line there's no counterweight to prevent the public from associating "Android" with "crapware", because every OEM has an incentive to take distribution deals from crapware providers, and nobody except Google has an incentive to preserve the reputation of Android as a slick, easy to use OS. The Nexus line is so that high-end influencers can show their friends how awesome their phone is, so that mainstream customers think "I want an Android phone" and not "I want an iPhone" and then can go buy from a wide variety of vendors if the Nexus itself doesn't fit their price range. It was pretty much the same story with Windows - as long as Apple was a viable competitor PC clones were pretty decent, but once Apple started going down the tubes you started getting bargain-basement Windows machines loaded up with crapware. The Apple/Google rivalry has been really good for consumers, as Apple forces Google to get better at user experience while Google forces Apple to be more open and support standards.
- yuhong 13y ago
  OT, but IMO on Google, while open allocation is probably worth looking at, I'd settle for firing Vic Gundotra for now. Not because of "Real Games", but the Real Names fiasco and this: http://www.businessinsider.com/sex-and-politics-at-google-its-a-game-of-thrones-in-mountain-view-2013-9 http://www.businessinsider.com/sex-and-politics-at-google-it...
jebblue 13y ago
They won't if Google doesn't put back in a storage card slot and replaceable batteries like the Nexus One had.

mburns 13y ago

I know Google will exist in 5 years. How can you be sure Dropbox (an unprotifable startup) will be?

jafaku 13y ago
Unprofitable? Really? It's one of the most successful (if not the most successful one?) Y combinator companies (it's not a startup anymore). PG said it was a black swan. Besides, what do I care whether Google will exist? We are talking about Google Drive, and we know very well it could be gone just like that.
- gnur 13y ago
  Except for the fact that it is integrated in gmail, google plus, android and probably some other services I forgot. It has generally taken years of neglect for services of Google to be discontinued. Google reader was hardly updated for the last 2 years it existed. This is a service you are paying for, how many payed for services have been discontinued by google?
  - dragonwriter 13y ago
    > Except for the fact that it is integrated in gmail, google plus, android and probably some other services I forgot. Its central to the "Chrome everywhere" / Chrome web store / Chromebook strategy, and central to Google Apps for Business (both because "Drive" subsumed the office suite that used to be "Docs & Spreadsheets", and because its a platform for second/third-party apps for Apps users.) But the Drive desktop sync application is pretty peripheral to any of those things that provide confidence that Drive itself will hang around for a long time -- so if people are thinking of Drive primarily as a desktop sync solution and worrying that Google might cancel that, well, that's probably not as unlikely as the idea that Google is likely to cancel Drive itself anytime in the forseeable future.

r00fus 13y ago

> I know Dropbox will be Dropbox in 5 years. How can we be sure Google Drive won't be shuttered in less time? Dropbox could be acquired and shuttered (or worse, data-mined). Google - much less likely, though it does have a tendency to close projects it does't see as strategic. I'd say the risks are equivalent. Hedge your bets, use multiple services and secure it all with something like Boxcryptor.

urmish 13y ago

Even if they decide to close down, I'm sure they will notify you well in advance.

davemabe 13y ago

I have more confidence that Drive is here to stay because of one fact: an entire line of computers (Chromebooks) rely on Drive solely for their storage. At this point, abandoning Drive would be abandoning a lot of other things. This was never true for your list of Google chopping block apps.

tobyjsullivan 13y ago

Let's assess risk. Risk A) Google might end support for Drive. They've shown that , if they do, they'll give a lot of notice. You'll have an opportunity to move your files elsewhere. Risk B) Dropbox goes out of business. Most likely because Google is undercutting their prices by about 90%. If you are lucky, they give some notice. They also might just send everyone home and shut off the lights, like many companies do when they file for bankruptcy. Where's the risk really?

clarky07 13y ago
1. do you really think that dropbox sends everyone home and shuts off the lights? That's a joke and you know it. 2. These files are all on our computers. I suspect that if dropbox blows up and does just go home and shut off the lights, we'll hear about it and notice. We can then take those files and move them to google drive or whatever.
chillingeffect 13y ago
they didn't tell anybody when they pulled support for sets from spreadsheets.
- na85 13y ago
  Yes. As we all know, removing a feature from an existing, still-supported product is exactly the same as discontinuing a product entirely without notice.
- sp332 13y ago
  Sets in spreadsheets still works for me. Edit: When the feature was "retired", there was a note that it would be replaced with a better version. https://support.google.com/drive/answer/3543688 https://support.google.com/drive/answer/3543688
- teraflop 13y ago
  Well, that's not surprising given that it was never a documented feature to begin with, to my knowledge.

dragonwriter 13y ago

> I know Dropbox will be Dropbox in 5 years. How can we be sure Google Drive won't be shuttered in less time? And how do you know Dropbox will be Dropbox in 5 years? They can't: a) Go out of business, or b) Be acquired and have the service shutdown, or c) Have some new application of the core technology become more profitable, pivot to that as their prime focus, and discontinue the existing service retaining the infrastructure for that new application. > Google Groups used to be huge, now to get to them you must click Apps -> More -> Even more from Google -> Scroll to the bottom of the page. Or just type "Groups" in the Google search bar, and its the first result. > What guarantee do we have here? The same as you have with Dropbox. > I'm sorry if I come off as scaremongering. Then stop scaremongering.

diminoten 13y ago

Oh please; you're just trying to make Google have consequences for what it did to Reader, that's all. Google is about as likely to shut off Google Drive as it is to shut off it's search engine.

saurik 13y ago
Google has shut down many more services than Reader. I am not certain why you choose to highlight only Reader as if that's the one thing Google has ever shut down. Even of the things Google hasn't shut down, many have been "wound down", with no updates or even bug fixes, until eventually being replaced by something only half-related with no upgrade path. The "more wood behind fewer arrows" thing kind of became a meme for a while, so the fact that people (it isn't just you) latch on to one example they've heard of as if the constant shutterings don't happen is highly strange. Even key properties that seem highly embedded in numerous products (Checkout) get this treatment, so it isn't like anything is immune.
- diminoten 13y ago
  Okay? This is still just someone trying to punish Google for something they feel otherwise powerless to stop, and has nothing whatsoever to do with the likelihood of it happening to Drive itself.

bad_user 13y ago

On one hand I support DropBox, because they care about my needs - I'm (also) a Ubuntu Linux user and Google apparently doesn't care about me enough to provide me with a client. Apparently I'm so unimportant to them that they can't justify the cost of a couple of man-months. On the other hand your worry, while justified, does not apply to Google Drive. Google Drive is now an integral part of: - GMail - Google Apps - Android - Chromebook - Google+ Yes, they probably don't make much money directly from neither of them, but these represent Google's platform, or lets say Google's own Windows if you will. It's their way of achieving lock-in and protecting against competition that may harm them, as otherwise Google's Search engine which drives the real money from advertising - cannot achieve lock-in on its own. And each of those products need cloud storage and cloud storage is becoming the norm. Microsoft has SkyDrive, integrated with Windows and WinPhone. Apple has iCloud, integrated with OS X and with iOS. Clearly you can see a pattern. With Google Cloud the only thing I don't trust long term is their pricing - they have a history of releasing cheap or free stuff, earn popularity, earn users, after which they realize that their costs are greater than their earnings and raise those prices. Examples: Google App Engine and Google Apps. In regards to DropBox, I support them but they really do need to reduce the pricing for those paid accounts. Pretty soon I'll need more than 100 GB and paying $19.99 per month for 200 GB is a little too expensive already, given that after a while I'll need more than 200 GB and then for 500 GB I'll need to pay $50 / month and that's way too much, when Google's 1 TB offer is for $10 / month and would last me for 2-3 years at least.

UVB-76 13y ago
> I'm (also) a Ubuntu Linux user and Google apparently doesn't care about me enough to provide me with a client. Apparently I'm so unimportant to them that they can't justify the cost of a couple of man-months. Apparently around half of the 20,000 Google employees use a version of Ubuntu ('Goobuntu'), so I wouldn't say they don't care about Ubuntu... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goobuntu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goobuntu
- donniezazen 13y ago
  Yeah, they gotta have an internal Linux client.

inyaface 13y ago

Google doesn't make products with the consumer experience in mind. This makes this decision easy for me.

sroerick 13y ago

Google drive is very integral to chromebook use. If they dropped drive it would mean millions of chromebooks would be made almost useless.

zmmmmm 13y ago

It's silly to worry about the risk of Google abandoning something as strategically important to them as Drive, when there's an infinitely greater risk of you losing all your storage because your account gets disabled. This is something that happens infrequently but still routinely, and for sometimes quite innocent reasons, with rather little recourse in the case it was a mistake on Google's part (let alone for the case where there's a legitimate reason they blocked your account).

pete_aykroyd 13y ago

Even if google were to shutter this in 5 years, there's not _that_ high of a cost to switching. In the end, it's just your files. You can move them. I'm more concerned with whether their software is any good. I tried it a while ago and it didn't even come to close to dropbox even in terms of syncing, let alone the other things that dropbox has done.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

bjustin 13y ago

I bet that Drive will still be around in 5 years because Docs relies on it. If Google wants to continue pushing Chromebooks, they need Docs and therefore Drive.

thearn4 13y ago

> What scares me more are the ones that are visibly on the chopping block. You can see their agony from space. I'd toss google scholar into the ones you listed as well. A fantastic search tool, but (unless I'm missing something) it's completely buried away on their site.

subsection1h 13y ago

> Why should I be more comfortable letting Google back up my stuff instead of Dropbox? You refer to Dropbox and Google Drive as backup solutions. When I evaluated Dropbox, I read that they offer an addon named Packrat that turns their popular file synchronization service into an actual backup solution. Does Google now offer a similar addon for Google Drive? If not, Google Drive isn't a backup solution. And without Packrat, neither is Dropbox.

laureny 13y ago

> I think at this point I'm a little more comfortable paying more for a company that I know won't abandon this market. Interestingly, after I read this sentence, I thought "Yeah, I'm not so sure DropBox will be around as long as Google, so I'll stick with Google". And then I realized you wanted to make the opposite argument.

mistermann 13y ago

I agree with much of what you say, however.... At what (little) it does, Dropbox does it very well, but for what little it does, I would definitely not call it cheap. Well worth it for some people, but very marginal for others like myself. I'm not aware of any new features coming out of Dropbox in well over a year, and there are many they could easily add, so as a matter of principle, I would change to a competitor provided their feature set and performance was at least as good, at the same or lower price..

ssijak 13y ago

Google will not drop Drive because it goes along with their almost web only OS, Chrome OS. And many other services are leaning on drive, +, picasa, gmail, android apps, etc...

qq66 13y ago

Does it matter? If Dropbox turned the lights out tomorrow, I wouldn't lose any data, my files would just stop syncing across machines. I'd just have to install a new file sync client and point it to my Dropbox folder. The barriers to switching away from Dropbox are based more on the number of products with Dropbox API integrations, and not on the switching costs for file sync.

ssmoot 13y ago

Dropbox is 10X the price. That's pretty wild. I didn't renew my Dropbox Pro account since it was by far my most expensive backup option. I've got my Drobo that's been my Time Machine thingy for the past 5 years. I've got iCloud for recent-ish stuff. I've got Backblaze for long-term storage at $5/month (or whatever). I had to pick and chose what to put on Dropbox and it was the most expensive option. With Google Drive I can go back to that pricing, but no longer have to pick and choose and still get the (infrequently used, but convenient) drag & drop sharing between devices. I think I'm going to sign up.

akmiller 13y ago

When has Google ever closed a service that they haven't given you plenty of time and great capability to export all of your data? Not arguing their history of closing services but I'm currently paying $200.00 to Dropbox a year and can convert to Google and pay 48 bucks. If something happens they decide to close it in the future I'll get my data pulled down and get into another service...but until then I'll be happy to keep my 150 bucks a year!

bookwormAT 13y ago

my two cents: * no cloud service is guaranteed to exist in 5 years. * in case any of these services are shut down, it is very likely that they give you the option to download your stuff and use it in another service.

mehdim 13y ago

Remember the 33 Google APIs that are no more..RIP http://blog.programmableweb.com/2013/07/09/33-google-apis-that-are-no-more/ http://blog.programmableweb.com/2013/07/09/33-google-apis-th...

joncooper 13y ago

1. This is not backup, it's network storage with sync. 2. If Google shutters Google Drive you'll be able to get your data off of it and move it to another vendor's solution.

payomdousti 13y ago

I don't think this is a fair comparison considering those were all free services.

Tloewald 13y ago

Google Drive has been around in some way/shape/form for a long time, I don't think it's going anywhere. And I doubt Google is going anywhere soon (it's probably going to survive five years even if it gets disrupted). The big losers here will be Dropbox, HubiC, Box, etc. who will feel price pressure.

quackerhacker 13y ago

I don't think you should worry about the reliability of Google "wanting," users to host their content. Considering Google builds one of the most extensive, profitable, and privacy scaring profile on each IP address, MAC address, and user of any of their services for free. The simple fact that Google can get paid for a service that only helps them further their profiling and profitability in ads and Chrome OS is more reason for them to offer the service. I don't question reliability. I question privacy, and until Dropbox makes their NSA agreement (which I remember reading they didn't)...Dropbox is my goto!

robertlf 13y ago

I kind of agree with simonsarris. You take a risk if you rely on a company's product if that company doesn't rely on that product to stay in business. Dropbox lives and dies by its storage feature; Google doesn't.

dragonwriter 13y ago
> You take a risk if you rely on a company's product if that company doesn't rely on that product to stay in business. You take a risk even if it does, because a company can change their business focus, or it can go out of business, or it can be acquired by another company that doesn't rely on the product, even if the acquired company did, and you have no control over any of those contingencies.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

balladeer 13y ago

Google (or read Company X with deep pockets) offers Dropbox N billion dollars and then Dropbox is no longer Dropbox that you are hoping to see in coming 5 years.

Gustomaximus 13y ago

There is a bit of debate who is more likely to shut down below. I can't answer than myself but if Google did shutdown Drive it would likely be because they want out of the market and would give a long warning. If Dropbox left the market it would probably be because they can't afford to keep the doors open and may close in a hurry if this did happen. Either way I like the competition and whichever one has better security would be my preference. But in terms of shutting down I think it's important to consider how they would shut down if they did, as much as 'if they would'.

yohanatan 13y ago

Is it really so hard to take the 30 day notice (or more) they would give you and actually download your stuff locally? Or, better yet, just let Google Drive operate in the mode it installs with which keeps local copies of everything anyway?

enscr 13y ago

2 counter arguments: 1. Dropbox has a high potential to be acquired by a big company when the price is right. 2. Cloud storage service is something that you don't need to be attached to. Use Google till it's good. The day it isn't, simply switch to Dropbox or whatever.

cddotdotslash 13y ago

Everyone has spent time arguing which service will exist in five years. If you like Google's offering now (and I do as it's cheaper and more integrated with my workflow), then use it. Even if Google shutters it and Dropbox prevails, I'm positive they would give advanced notice. At that point, switch to Dropbox. We're acting like this is some kind of lifelong decision, but it's more importantly about what is best right now.

dwg 13y ago

If you're only in it for the storage, I don't find it to be important whether or not Google Drive will eventually be shuttered—there is a very little barrier to switch to another provider if the need arises. Google has a good track record for letting you get your data out in such a case.

ithkuil 13y ago

Well, a cloud storage is central to the ecosystem they are trying to build, think of Chromebooks. It's not a periferic product like Reader or experiment like Wave. There is no guarantee of course, in theory it could be replaced by a rebranded product with a completely incompatible API later on; but I doubt it would happen because it looks like Google already went through a spring cleaning of products, with the explicit aim of killing dying, orphaned products in order to strengthen the core products.

jotm 13y ago

Google Drive is being monetized - that's the difference. Neither Reader, nor Wave, nor Finance nor a dozen other Google products were/are monetized, so they're the first to go when managements decides so. If Drive is used by paid users, I think it won't go away anytime soon, just like Google Cloud or Gmail.

rip747 13y ago

I highly doubt that Google will ever abandon Google Drive since its part of Google Apps for Business: http://www.google.com/enterprise/apps/business/ http://www.google.com/enterprise/apps/business/ Google Reader was a _free_ application and like all _free_ applications, once they start losing money they are discontinued.