Home
Reviews

Google Drive Third-Party Apps: An Introduction

Comments | Todd Ogasawara, BYTE | February 25, 2013 08:00 AM


Google Drive (formerly referred to as Google Docs) provides cloud storage and web-based applications. Up until recently, the handful of applications were all provided by Google and focused on the office functions of word processing (Document), slide deck presentations (Presentation) and spreadsheets (Spreadsheet). On Feb. 8, 2013 Google announced that third-party web applications could be installed and launched from the Google Drive Create button. The ability to access apps from a common Google-provided launch point and work with Google Drive's cloud storage, creates a unified platform that (Google hopes) has the potential to challenge Microsoft's long running dominance of the desktop application space.

Selecting the "Connect more apps" option in the Create button menu lets you browse through these third-party apps for Google Drive.

Currently, there are several dozen Google Drive apps in nine broad app categories: Business Tools, Education, Entertainment, Games, Lifestyle, News & Weather, Productivity, Social & Communication, and Utilities. A 10th category collects the apps developed by Google itself. Some of these apps are the ones that have long been associated with Google Drive. Others (Drawings and Forms) are optional apps. The experimental Fusion Tables data visualization tool is also available.

You can also view Google Drive apps in a collection in Google's Chrome Web Store. Note that while most apps in the Chrome Web Store are intended for use in Google's Chrome web browser, third-party Google Drive apps, like Google's own Drive apps, are browser independent. The screenshot here and a few that follow were taken using Internet Explorer 10 running on a Microsoft Surface with Windows RT tablet.

All of the third-party Google Drive apps are free to install. However, some have fees associated with continued usage or access to additional features. This is not obvious at all if you choose to install an app from the tiled app selection view. It may not be obvious even when reading the product overview page accessed by clicking on a tile. Previously installed apps are identified with a green diagonal band with a white checkmark symbol.

Page 2: Using the apps...



Related Reading

News

Commentary

Most Popular

On the Web

Slideshow

Video

More Insights

White Papers

More >>

Reports

More >>

Webcasts

More >>


Currently we allow the following HTML tags in comments:

Single tags

These tags can be used alone and don't need an ending tag.

<br> Defines a single line break

<hr> Defines a horizontal line

Matching tags

These require an ending tag - e.g. <i>italic text</i>

<a> Defines an anchor

<b> Defines bold text

<big> Defines big text

<blockquote> Defines a long quotation

<caption> Defines a table caption

<cite> Defines a citation

<code> Defines computer code text

<em> Defines emphasized text

<fieldset> Defines a border around elements in a form

<h1> This is heading 1

<h2> This is heading 2

<h3> This is heading 3

<h4> This is heading 4

<h5> This is heading 5

<h6> This is heading 6

<i> Defines italic text

<p> Defines a paragraph

<pre> Defines preformatted text

<q> Defines a short quotation

<samp> Defines sample computer code text

<small> Defines small text

<span> Defines a section in a document

<s> Defines strikethrough text

<strike> Defines strikethrough text

<strong> Defines strong text

<sub> Defines subscripted text

<sup> Defines superscripted text

<u> Defines underlined text

BYTE encourages readers to engage in spirited, healthy debate, including taking us to task. However, BYTE moderates all comments posted to our site, and reserves the right to modify or remove any content that it determines to be derogatory, offensive, inflammatory, vulgar, irrelevant/off-topic, racist or obvious marketing/SPAM. BYTE further reserves the right to disable the profile of any commenter participating in said activities.

COMMENTS
Tune In to BYTE
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Newsletter RSS
Whitepapers
whitepaper
CIO Strategies for Consumerization: The Future of Enterprise Mobile Computing
In this paper you will learn the five trends shaping the future of enterprise mobility. Learn how the rise of social media as a business application, the lurring between work and home, the emergence of new mobile devices, the demand for tech savvy employees and changing expectations of corporate IT will fundamentally change the workplace.
whitepaper
Media Tablets in the Enterprise
In a survey of more than 1,700 information workers (iWorkers) in North America, notebooks, desktops, and smartphones were found to be “must-have” devices, while tablets, slates, and netbooks were relegated to “nice-to-have” status, according to a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Dell and Intel.
Sponsored by: Dell
Upcoming Events
  • Consumerization of IT – Self Service Leads the Way
  • Mobile DevOps - Handling Platform Sprawl
  • App Development for a Multi-Platform Environment that Won't Break Your Back or Budget
  • Thriving in a Multi-Platform World: Integrating Mobile Device Management into Your Overall Security Strategy
  • What Impact Will Windows 8 Have on the Tablet Market?


    • More Webcasts>>