A section of text in a Google PowerPoint presentation described the concept of storing 100 percent of a user’s data; what started as a one-off observation made by a blogger rocketed all the way to a lengthy mention in the Wall Street Journal.
Do you want Google to organize all of your information? Can the company really accomplish a goal that would require nearly infinite storage space? And what the heck is Lighthouse? Clue us in at WebProWorld.
Greg Linden posted his thoughts after taking a look at the PowerPoint presentation Google made available as part of its Analyst Day. One slide described the concept of a GDrive and the potential for Google to be the 100 percent storage solution for users.
Then, several things happened at once. Other bloggers picked up the story; ZDNet blogger Garett Rogers noted how GDrive could function as a network shared drive; the concept would be familiar to workers in a networked environment who use network shares every day.
After more commentary and wider coverage of the GDrive, Google made the comments in question disappear from the Analyst Day PowerPoint package. Google was its usual helpful self in clarifying that to the Journal:
A Google spokeswoman said the notes weren’t intended for publication. “We are constantly working on new ways to enhance our products and services for our users, but we have nothing to announce at this time,” she said.
Of course, placing something online and then removing it did not prevent the presentation from being downloaded and retained by other users. One commenter on Linden’s blog posted the alleged comments from slide number 19, which contained the Store 100% reference. A section of that text shows what Google thinks it can do for users and their data:
As we move toward the “Store 100%” reality, the online copy of your data will become your Golden Copy and your local-machine copy serves more like a cache. An important implication of this theme is that we can make your online copy more secure than it would be on your own machine.
Another important implication of this theme is that storing 100% of a user’s data makes each piece of data more valuable because it can be access across applications. For example: a user’s Orkut profile has more value when it’s accessible from Gmail (as addressbook), Lighthouse (as access list), etc.
The important thing to note here, though, is that other than Linden’s blog, there is no way to confirm these notes were truly part of the original presentation, other than inferring from Google’s comment to the Journal about them.
Slide number 19 has a picture and the words Store 100%, but no comments now. Google isn’t talking about it. Analysts in attendance haven’t mentioned this online. Maybe this will turn out to be another “Google buys Opera” prank and ‘Golden Copy’ is another way of saying ‘Gotcha’!
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David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
