Google announced that it is merging two of its Workspace products that allow professional and personal users to access files on Google Drive.
In an announcement released February 4, the company announced that it would be consolidating Drive File Stream, a service developed for professional and business users, and Backup and Sync, its consumer-facing version.
“Some of our Google Workspace customers have deployed both sync solutions, which can be confusing for end users and challenging for IT departments to manage,” stated the announcement. “To address this, we're planning to unify these sync clients later in 2021, bringing the most used features from both Drive File Stream and Backup and Sync to all of our users.
The transition will start with the re-branding of Drive File Stream to Google Drive for desktop, which will be effective as of the release of version 45 of the software. Backup and Sync users will more gradually be transitioned over to Google Drive for desktop, which will boast more features.
Current Backup and Sync users can apply for a beta version of Google Drive for desktop.
While the software itself will be changing, Google assures users that files themselves will not be affected.
This move seemingly reverses Google’s prior forking of its Drive backup systems and is one of several adjustments made to Google Workspace. Google’s frequent changes to its product names, features, and functionality remains an ongoing sore point for many of its users.
Confused by Google’s latest move? Not sure how this will affect your workplace? Contact Nodal today!