GOOGLE IS SHUTTING DOWN........??what's next

Google is killing its “Drive” sync 'n' share file locker in two ways.

For users of Google's G Suite customers, death will come in the form of a new desktop application called “Drive File Stream” that does pretty much everything Drive does now, but which Google says “allows you to quickly access all of your Google Drive files on demand, directly from your computer, meaning you use almost none of your hard drive space and spend less time waiting for files to sync.”

File Stream has been available since last Saturday, meaning “Google Drive for Mac/PC is officially deprecated.” The old app is still around but support ends on December 11th, 2017. Google says it will shut down completely on March 12th, 2018.

File Stream lets users define which files they need stored locally – which may sound painful until you consider that some users may use shared Drives, or seldom enjoy fast connections, or use laptops with limited storage. In any of those scenarios, automatically sucking down an entire Drive can be unwelcome, so this change should go down well.

Any data you have in Drive is absolutely not going away just because the app of the same name will soon be deceased. But come March 12, 2018, users will need to get their paws on either the new File Stream client or Google Backup and Sync if they want to see their data.

Why two apps? This is where things get confusing: G Suite users are being herded towards File Stream but could also choose to use Google's “Backup and Sync” app instead.

That second app will replace the consumer version of Drive. Backup and Sync is an already-available app that does what it says on the can – but adds photos to the mix. Again, data's not going anywhere. But by tying photos to a file locker, Google probably hopes it is making its consumer services rather stickier. Which it needs given Facebook keeps punters' pics in perpetuity, but Google+ is a punchline of social networking history.

Google warns that G Suite users “may start seeing messages in the product notifying them that Drive for Mac/PC is going away” as of an unspecified day in October. G Suite admins are therefore going to need to be ready to explain themselves.

End of an Era

The announcement brings an end to one of the longest running Google features, and one that is used by many millions of people around the world. Users still running the app after today will begin to see “going away” notifications in October. Google will likely begin to steer those users (me included!) toward one of their replacements, consumer or business user alike.

The demise of Google Drive has been on the cards for several months. Earlier this year,Google announced that they would consolidate desktop file sync applications into a single new app.

The new app, Backup and Sync, offers a streamlined approach to both Google Drive and Google Photos. As well as providing functionality for those combined services, the new app uses a simpler interface that can also backup files from USB-connected devices

From within the new app you’ll be able configure other settings, like your photo upload quality, file deletion policies, and specifying upload and download rates. Within that photo upload quality is a slight bonus: Original quality images will count against your drive use, but using the High quality setting does not.

A few important things to note:

• In October, Drive for Mac/PC users may start seeing messages in the product notifying them that Drive for Mac/PC is going away.
• If a user is running both Drive File Stream and Backup and Sync on the same machine, they’ll be prompted to stop syncing My Drive with Backup and Sync in order to save disk space.
• Team Drive editors won’t be able to edit their Team Drive files when they’re opened in Drive File Stream; they’ll only be able to view them. To edit these files, they’ll need to open them in Drive on the web.