Google Drive team announced during Google I/O 2012 two new ways to get things done in the cloud (1) offline editing and (2) iOS integration.
From what I can tell, offline editing works by having Google Docs save to a local cache, which then automatically syncs once it detects a stable Internet connection. Ideally, the future will see us living in a world where local governments provide general Internet access as a public utility. Until that happens though, offline editing is definitely a welcome addition to anyone trying to stay productive on the go. And given the news in South Carolina, the days of municipal broadband access might take awhile before it comes to fruition.
Playing well with iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch is simply playing catch up since many more people actively work on these devices than on the various Android devices. However, I’m sure internal executives were fighting against this as long as possible because they don’t want to give any ground to their competitors. Case in point, did anyone else feel like Google generally avoided mentioning Apple in most of their keynotes? I understand that Google doesn’t want to give their competitors any air time, but perhaps they could poke fun at them by calling them a “fruit company” or variation thereof. To avoid the rest of the industry seems like an elephant in the room, but I digress.
At the end of the day, Google Drive (and as an extension Google Docs) is still the closest product out in the market today that truly matches the vision of creating a simple tool that allows you to create, organize, and share all your great ideas.
http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2012/06/announcing-your-two-most-requested.html
