Google re-works cloud storage plans; kills off a few services
Google has announced that it is making some tweaks to the cloud storage plans for all users, across Google Drive and Picasa services. The search giant also continued its spring-cleaning efforts, killing off a few more services.
Google has integrated Google Drive storage with Picasa. Till now, users got 5GB of free storage with Drive and an additional 1GB for Picasa. Now, however, Picasa’s storage is also a part of the 5GB that users get with Drive, with the additional 1GB being removed.
For the paid users under the current Google Drive scheme, the extra space that was paid for was added on to the free 5GB space. For example, if someone purchased 25GB, they would get 31GB space (5GB 1GB 25GB). However, the new policy means that the user with get only the amount of space that is being paid for, with the basic free storage (Drive and Picasa) being removed from the equation. Hence, if someone is buying the 25GB plan, they will get a total of 25GB space only, and not 25GB additionally over the basic free space.
Incidentally, Gmail storage will not have any changes for the moment. Google, in its blog post, justifies these changes saying, “We believe this approach will make it much easier for users”. These updates will be rolled out over the next few months, for all users.
Meanwhile, the spring-cleaning continues with certain services and features being discontinued. The ones in the line of fire this time around are – Google News Badges, AdSense for RSS feeds, spreadsheet gadgets, Classic plus (let users upload custom images for search page) and the Places directory app. The trimming effort now means that around 60 services have already faced the axe, in an effort to make the offerings more streamlined. For more information, refer to Google’s official blog post.