AT&D #53. Cloud Storage

Discuss and contrast the user interface (UI) by the two competing cloud offerings from Microsoft (OneDrive) and Google (Drive)

When contrasting both the UI of Microsoft’s OneDrive versus Google’s Drive, the former has the advantage of consumer brand familiarity regarding Microsoft’s typical design of their programs’ menus, buttons, color scheme and general easiness of finding features (we see that throughout many classic iterations of Windows, even up to Windows 7) while the latter has a disadvantage in that it looks too basic and stripped down (white background and very few menu options respectively).

Furthermore, since a larger amount of consumers are Windows users than Apple users, for instance, OneDrive has another advantage, being that it incorporates the style and format of Windows’ own OS interface in which people are used to interacting with. Windows users may still use Google Drive but why would they when they already have a native option, I have to point out? Apple users either can get their own version of cloud (also a native option) or get Google’s but the point is that Google isn’t nearly as accessible or popular enough for users to get accustomed to besides using their ubiquitous search tool and even if they do, its interface doesn’t stand out as exactly user-friendly (unless one is already familiar with Google products).

However, this doesn’t mean that Google Drive is completely out of touch; they have a few good ideas concerning its interface, some that are superior to OneDrive. One particularly noteworthy function is sharing and storing documents (via Google Docs) between multiple computers under one Google account; this is all possible by cloud technology which makes flash drives a thing of the past. Certainly, this can help anyone when this useful function is available through the main menu of the Drive, right after signing in.

Although the design of Google Drive’s UI is currently lacking (it seems like a secondary focus for whoever was the initial developer for it), the functions more than compensate for it (and there are other functions than simply sharing documents between computers as a matter of fact). If it had a more vibrant and creative layout for its design, the potential for Google Drive to succeed and dramatically take off would be significant.