Yesterday Google launched its new Google Docs replacement/Dropbox competitor Google Drive. The new service retains all the functionality of Google Docs, while also allowing users to store files of any kind. They even promise that eventually users will be able to edit and otherwise manipulate all sorts of files.
Now it looks like Google also intends Drive to be tightly integrated into a forthcoming update to Google’s notebook operating system, Chrome OS. Though Chrome OS generally works pretty well using only web apps, the one glaring oversight in its design is any kind of actual method of managing files and file locations. Google Drive, it seems, will serve to rectify that. Google’s product manager for Google Drive, Scott Johnson told Wired that a Google Drive will be integrated into Chrome OS’s native file system, so that when the user clicks “save file” in their Chrome window, they will be taken to Google Drive.
This, interestingly, will have the effect of not only improving the way Chrome OS handles files, but also making the OS even more cloud-based and dependent on the web. With Google Drive integration, a user could save a file to their Chromebook and be able to access it from any other computer with a functioning internet connection via Google Drive.
According to Johnson and Google Senior Vice President Sundar Pichai, Google Drive integration will be coming in version 20 of Chrome OS. The OS is currently on version 18, with version 19 in development. So, don’t get too excited about getting Drive on your Chromebook just yet, because it looks like you’re in for a bit of a wait.