No hosting with Google Drive yet, but that’s ok

My Google Drive just finished preparing. Mashable reports:

Like Microsoft’s SkyDrive and Box, Google Drive offers in-browser access to files and folders, including document editing via Google Docs.

And like SkyDrive, Box and iCloud, third-party applications can plug into Google Drive to retrieve or store files. This makes keeping apps synchronized across devices and platforms much more seamless.

..

Google is pricing Google Drive at a VERY aggressive level. For $30 a year ($2.50 a month), users get 25GB to use for Google Drive and Picasa, plus 25GB of Gmail storage.

This is more than what Amazon and Microsoft charge for an additional 20GB, but less than the price of Dropbox, Apple and Box.net.

We appreciate more virtual breathing room, but does Google Drive offer anything more for the casual user? Looking back to Dropbox synchronization, collaboration and public URLs were the main three features I liked. It seems Drive is lacking the latter – it doesn’t work as a static site server off the bat. Even making images public requires a roundabout way compared to Dropbox’s drag & drop public folder. Google Docs integration hardly makes up for it.

Assuming Google will implement public URLs or make a good reason not to, it looks as if Drive will at least simplify many more Google and non-Google services to come. Do be excited, if not for the present then for the future.