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[rcjordan]

25 cents / gig / year. 1st gig is free.

http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2010/01/upload-and-store-your-files-in-cloud.html

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[isthisthingon]

I may have missed some fine print but the terms of service and the privacy policy appear to suggest that Google will not be looking through these particular files to upsell, etc.  Regardless, $0.25 per year for data that you're not privacy-concerned about?? 

It's pricing, service and data security (backups, etc.) that this form of cloud computing has which is a huge advantage to buying, maintaining and backing up external USB2.0 drives and other in-house solutions.  The TCO & cost/benefit comparison between the old method of purchasing/maintaining storage and this approach tells the story of where things are going.  We can hate it with a feverish passion all we want.  But the logic of this transition is hard to argue with 

Now that high-speed Internet is common and cheap enough, the economies of scale that cloud services will offer the world may become the most disruptive technology chapter we've seen since the Internet was formed.

[rcjordan]

I'll use it to have some files omnipresent. But, since I like to own rather than rent, I'll likely only use it as a 4th-level backup just below my usb stick.

[isthisthingon]

I'll use it to have some files omnipresent. But, since I like to own rather than rent, I'll likely only use it as a 4th-level backup just below my usb stick.

Personally I doubt I'll use it at all, except for evaluating the technology.  Perhaps in a few years if I haven't bought any more storage and my existing drives begin dying off I'll consider it. 

[isthisthingon]

Just doing some math.  1TB is about $21 bucks per month ($20.83).  Adding up all the costs from new hardware purchases to error-prone personal disaster recovery plans, that's not a bad number.  Additionally you can encrypt the data for security.  Having someone hold on to a compressed, encrypted 1,000GB of personal backup that will probably be far more secure and fail-safe than anything the average person can come up with is actually a tempting offer.

Considering prices for the Iron Mountains of the world, this isn't a bad option.

[rcjordan]

Now consider what this does for mobile dataplan users.  The smartphone just becomes a conduit. No more worries about whether to get the 4-, 8-, or 80GB handset.

And bolt this on to the Chrome OS and you could conceivably have a netbook compete with a 'real' laptop.