Google Drive Goes for a Spin

After weeks of rumors, Google has finally launched its cloud-storage service, Drive.

Like Microsoft SkyDrive, Dropbox and Amazon Cloud Drive, the service syncs users’ offline files with an online storage space that can be accessed from anywhere.

Unlike these other services, however, it has Google Docs built right into it.

Just like before, users can collaborate and comment on docs. But now those files will also automatically be backed up offline, and content added to the offline Google Drive folder will automatically show up in the online Google Drive tab among their Google Docs (up to 5GB of free storage). All files can also be accessed through a Google Drive Android app.

Google also brought some bells and whistles to the game, such as technology that makes PDFs and scanned books searchable. Stuff on your Drive is easy to access from Google+; the company says it will soon make it just as easy to attach that content to Gmail messages.

Meanwhile, the company is working with third-party companies such as fax machine replacement HelloFax and video editor WeVideo that will incorporate Drive into their products.

Bottom line? Google Drive is Dropbox with double the free space (Dropbox offers 2.5GB) and added Google Docs functionality.

Its 5GB of storage space isn’t the largest the industry has to offer — for that, you’ll have to turn to Microsoft’s SkyDrive. But it will probably end up being the most widely integrated, and thus most useful, cloud service out there.