Google: Infinite Storage

I have not posted about Google for a while, so it's time to look again at what is brewing in Mountain View. At the moment I'm browsing through the slides from the Google Analyst Day (last Thursday, March 2nd, 2006). There has been a long debate whether Google will finally offer infinite storage space for every user. Gmail is an area where it has already happened. If you use Gmail, you have probably noticed your mailbox grows faster than the space you use. So for one application we may already consider the infinity is reached. It does not matter, if it is theoretically 2GB or 3GB or something. As long as it is more than you are able to fill, it is infinite.

My long time dream has been to move my entire Windows profile to some server storage. Windows profile is a directory structure below [C:\Documents and Settings\], holding things like local settings (links and cookies), your Desktop and most importantly [My Documents] folder where you store all documents, pictures, songs and videos. When you purchase a new machine, first thing you want to do (after installing all the applications you use) is to transfer the Windows profile to a new one, so that all your documents, songs, etc are present. The profile is what should be backed up and taken care of.

Due to PC-centric thinking at Microsoft (they assume you have one PC for your lifetime), it is very difficult to maintain synchronized profiles, when you use more than one machine. You change a file on one PC, and the change is not reflected on the other. BTW this is one of the things that keeps me from being enthusiastic about the new Origami gadget - just another profile to maintain. The ideal solution to the Windows problem (something that Google just loves to give) is to store a master copy of the profile somewhere on the Web and have the local copy of the profile set as a cache, that synchronizes in the background with the master. You loose your laptop? You loose nothing - get a new one and refill the cache. Upgrading to a new PC? Easy - get a new one and refill the cache with YOUR data. Having more than one PC and troubles keeping things in sync? Set up your master profile on the Net and replicate the changes. Is a service like that in the works? Surely is.

The slides from the last Analyst Day carry some hints. Page 19 - "Store 100%", "the online copy of your data will become your Golden Copy and your local-machine copy serves more like a cache". Of course there will be a long debate about privacy, but in the end people will understand where they should keep the data - in the bank, not at home. "An important implication of this theme is that we can make your online copy more secure than it would be on your own machine.". So from now on, I'm in the waiting mode for the inifinite Gdrive.