Google Drive Puts Microsoft, Dropbox on Notice

In addition to going head-to-head with Microsoft's just-announced SkyDrive and Apple's iCloud, Google is rattling Dropbox's cloud with the introduction of Google Drive, which lets users "access their files, even the big ones, from wherever they are. Share them with whomever you want, and edit them together in real time."

As Google notes in a blog post today, Google Drive "is built to work seamlessly with your overall Google experience. You can attach photos from Drive to posts in Google+, and soon you’ll be able to attach stuff from Drive directly to emails in Gmail. Drive is also an open platform, so we’re working with many third-party developers so you can do things like send faxes, edit videos and create website mockups directly from Drive."

Compatible with Windows, Mac OS X and Android devices, Drive encompasses Google Docs, Gmail, videos, photos, PDFs, and more. The basic level offers 5GB of storage for free, 25GB for $2.49/month, 100GB for $4.99/month and 1TB for $49.99/month. Paid accounts get expanded Gmail account storage from the 10 GB everyone now gets to 25GB. (Click here for a pricing comparison with rival cloud-based integration services including Dropbox and Box.)

More details in the video below: