In the last few years Google has struggled with staying ahead of rival services such as Mobile Me (now iCloud), iWork.com and services like Drop Box. Drop Box has offered plug in services such as Drop it to Me and Send it to Me. Beyond all of these services, Google Drive is still convincing me to cancel my Drop Box account. Here’s why:

1. Mac Desktop App: Google is offering the Drive app. This is a similar concept to the Drop Box desktop app. This interfaces within the cloud-based or web-based access of Google Docs. It consistently synchronizes with the mother ship. You can use Google Drive just like a Documents folder on your desktop. This part blows Dropbox out of the water…when you click on a document to access it, it automatically opens your default browser and accesses the doc within the Google platform. You still can access the same great sharing capabilities!

2. Offline Syncing: Google drive lets you access your stuff without an active Internet connection. To take advantage of this, you need to download the Google Drive Mac desktop plugin.

3. Expanded Storage: Everyone now receives 5 gigabytes of space to store files. Any files.

4. Mobile access: Google says Google Drive will be available on iOS and Android devices, soon!

To get started with Google Drive visit http://drive.google.com/start.

Have a mac and want to download Google Drive? It is actually difficult to find this and download it but Mac Update has what you need. You can download here: http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/42735/google-drive

Google Apps customers will see this functionality soon as well! Google is slowly rolling this service out to users. You might see a waiting list when you try to enroll.

Google Drive brings the best of both worlds together. you have web-based cloud storage that meets the functionality of a desktop file folder, with full iOS and Android integration. Google finally cut a bit ahead of the curve on this one!

A fully produced video for getting started with Google can be found here: http://youtu.be/wKJ9KzGQq0w