4 reasons Google Drive 'broke' Microsoft SkyDrive

Google Drive's online storage service dominates SkyDrive thanks to the Google Docs office suite, strong search capabilities, video preview .

Google's Google Drive online storage service is finally available after many years of rumors. But, in parallel, it is the arrival of Microsoft's SkyDrive service, which provides more storage space and can better integrate with Windows 8. Will Google Drive make users waste a wait?

Comparing these two services, Google Drive seems to be winning thanks to 4 reasons below.

Google Docs works better

Google has a six-year journey with the Google Docs office suite, while Microsoft's Office Web suite has only been launched nearly two years ago.

Docs has a clear interface with the usual features arranged in the small menu bar at the top of the screen, while the Web Office brings the ribbon interface from Office on the computer to look more messy. Docs can easily save documents in different formats including Word, and Office Web documents are saved only in Office's own format. Docs completely opened the document in less than 5 seconds while Web Office took 2 to 3 times that time to open the document.

Google Drive with features to display grid files, watch videos, and open files on tablets thanks to the ability to synchronize.

Better search capabilities

Search is a disadvantage to SkyDrive because this service is only compatible with Office file format. Meanwhile, Google Drive's search function has many advantages: besides Office formats, it is possible to search any file format that Google Docs can save (such as ODF, PDF, TXT).

The ability to recognize print characters helps Google Drive can search for scanned content (like scans of a paper on paper). The picture is similar.

Google Drive looks for your images thanks to the exclusive photo search technology first introduced in 2009. Photos will be compared to the existing database to be able to find relevant results. For example, a photo of a friend and a close friend in front of the Eiffel Tower may show up in search results with the keyword 'Paris'.

Some experts have discovered a number of errors in image search, but Google believes that image recognition technology is in the early stages of development and will gradually improve over time.

Preview the video

To view multimedia files from SkyDrive, you'll have to download them to your computer. Meanwhile, Google Drive has a pretty good feature that allows previewing any time the video is uploaded. Later, the videos are streamed online from Google services when viewing them on Google Drive. Google does not support such files for MP3 audio file format: these files must be downloaded for listening. Anyway, Google doesn't block shared file formats.

Premium hosting packages

Google Drive users are offered a wide range of storage options to suit their needs. The cheapest storage is 25GB for $ 2.49 / month. In addition, there is an option to store 16TB, although it costs up to 800USD / month. In addition, these paid packages come with the following promotion: Gmail accounts will have 25GB of storage and any available storage space can be used to save your photos from Picasa service. by Google.

SkyDrive also offers 20GB of storage, only 10USD / year, cheaper than the popular rate, but if you need 100GB of storage, you have to pay 50USD / year.