Those were the days. When Yahoo! Briefcase had a Windows DLL you could
download and install that made your Briefcase folders appear as if they were simply on a virtual drive on your
computer. It was called Y! Drive and it was the greatest thing. You could drag and drop files using Windows
Explorer. I am not sure it worked with all applications but I recall opening and saving files directly from
applications (e.g. word processing, spreadsheet, etc.). It was a brilliant tool and seemed to indicate the return
to file storage away from the workstation. But it suddenly became flaky. On again, off again. Then new
versions were released which crippled it (intentionally it seemed). Eventually it was announced that Y! Drive was
no longer supported. Arg! To give you an idea of how long ago that was... It worked with Windows 98.These thoughts all came back to me today as I read about a Google presentation where Googlers alluded to soon coming out with a GDrive. There is a hack available (it's been out for about as long as GMail has) that sets the same hooks into Windows to easily move files in and out of your GMail account for an online storage solution. Google doesn't directly support it but they don't seem too bothered by it either. But now it seems they are toying with the idea of a legitimate implementation. Maybe I have a use for GMail after all.
1. I dont remember Yahoo drive, but I use yahoo briefcase now. It hasnt been upgraded in years it seems. The prices are ridiculous, and not even comparable with other online storage sites. But, it itntegrates with My Yahoo, and thats why I use it.
Posted at 2:43PM on Mar 7th 2006 by Michael