at least 7 slidesppt persentation+ Speech draft (about 5-10 mins)

In the Cloud….Choosing a cloud service can be overwhelming leaving many questions as to which one is best and especially the best fit for my needs. To help answer this question, I have looked at four popular cloud services and their features: Dropbox, OneDrive, iCloud, and Google Drive. At the end of the presentation, I will conclude with my thoughts on which services have the most to offer.

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I’ve selected these 4 since they all offer some free storage space, and because of their popularity might offer the most compatibility or familiarity to most users. I will include details about storage, pricing, and other features.

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Dropbox was one of the first cloud services to gain popularity. For free, you get 2 GB of space to start off with. Dropbox is unique in that you can “earn” more free space- 500 MB for each friend that you invite to join. This has a cap of up to 16 GB that you can earn. One benefit of Dropbox is that it works with any of the major operating systems, and you can share files with anyone- even if they don’t have a Dropbox account. If you would want to purchase more space, Dropbox charges $9.99/month or $99.99/year for 100 GB. For each additional 100 GB, it is an extra $10/month or $100/year, with a cap of 500 GB. (Dropbox, Inc., 2014) For the individual user who needs more than 16 GB, Dropbox does not offer the best deal.

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Next, we have OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive), which is Microsoft’s service. OneDrive offers 7 GB of free space to start off with, plus you can “earn” an additional 8 GB by inviting friends and setting up automatic mobile photo back-ups. If you would want more space, they charge $25/year for 50 GB, $50/year for 100GB, and $100/year for 200 GB. (Microsoft, Inc., 2014) Like Dropbox, it is compatible with any major OS, and you can share with anyone whether or not they have a Microsoft account. Probably the nicest feature of OneDrive, however, is the ability to utilize Office applications Word, PowerPoint, and Excel in the cloud. Using these cloud applications, you can create, edit, and save documents- all for free. This makes OneDrive appealing for business users.

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Next, we have iCloud- Apple’s service. With iCloud, you have 5 GB for free, and you can get 10 GB for $20/year, 20 GB for $40/year, and 50 GB for $100/year. (Apple, Inc., 2014) iCloud works exclusively with Mac applications, including Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Notes, iTunes and iWork. It works by syncing the content of these applications across all devices. Your devices don’t necessarily have to be Apple, but your applications do. The biggest drawback to iCloud is that you can only share files with others who also have an iCloud account, and it is also pricey if you want more than the free 5 GB. iCloud is most useful as a personal content backup and sync for those who own Apple devices. iCloud also offers Apple’s iWork applications on the cloud for use.

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Lastly, we have Google Drive. Google Drive starts off all Google account holders with a free 15 GB of space. This space includes your Gmail and Google+ Photo. Google offers very competitive pricing for purchasing more space. They charge just $1.99/month for 100 GB, and $9.99/month for a whole Terabyte! Beyond that, you can get 10 TB for $99.99/month, and each additional 10 TB for $100 more per month. (Google, Inc., 2014) Google also offers it’s own productivity applications on the cloud, including the popular Google Docs. It is also possible to share files with those who do not have a Google account (although most probably do!) Google Drive is also leading the way in group project collaboration. Their new “activity stream” (in the upper right hand corner) shows users anything that has changed with their shared files since they last viewed them, and who made the change. (Weiss, 2014)

Get 1 TB for the price of 100 GB on Dropbox per month! Google Drive: $299.99/30TB = $10/1TB/Month Dropbox: $9.99/100GB/Month

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Dropbox: $99.99/100GB = $1.00/GB/Yr

OneDrive: $100/200GB = $0.50/GB/Yr

iCloud: $100/50GB = $2.00/GB/Yr

Google Drive: ($1.99*12)/100GB = $0.24/GB/Yr

Google Drive (TB): ($299.99*12)/30TB/1024GB = $0.12/GB/Yr

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If we compare all four of these cloud services only in terms of how much free space is available, Dropbox takes the lead with 16 GB (via inviting friends), Google Drive and OneDrive come in close second with 15 GB (although there is no “earning” involved with Google Drive), and iCloud falls way behind with only 5 GB. All but iCloud are also able to share with “outsiders.” All but Dropbox offer cloud productivity apps, with Google Drive and OneDrive taking the lead. When we weigh all of these factors, I would say that Google Drive and OneDrive have the most to offer. Google Drive takes the lead by far in the amount of free storage you get right off the bat, and in the price for additional storage. OneDrive comes in second in price and also offers the benefit of Microsoft’s staple Word, PowerPoint and Excel applications. If I were to pick a single best cloud service of the four, I would have to pick Google Drive. Not only does it offer the most bang for your buck, but it is also widespread in its popularity (most people already have a Google account) and it makes collaboration easy. If I were to pick just one cloud service to use, it would be Google Drive for sure.

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