Google never did give us the fabled GDrive for which we’d all been hoping. Sure, they allowed Google Docs to store files of any type which was much appreciated, but it certainly wasn’t Skydrive material. Then, 2 months ago, a company named Memeo came along and released the beta of their Memeo Connect software which, for Google Apps Premier customers, was as close to what the GDrive should have been as it looked like we were ever going to get. Today, Memeo is bringing their Connect software out of beta, along with a new iPhone app, and is also releasing some surprising beta usage statistics.
As Memeo’s press release today points out, their Connect product is a major upgrade and value add over the beta version:
After a eight-week beta program, Memeo launches Memeo Connect 2.0, a significant version release to the popular Google Docs sync and data management application for SMBs and enterprises. Memeo Connect 2.0 launches concurrently on both Windows and Mac OS. Memeo Connect 2.0 incorporates crucial features that enable Google Docs to be even more SMB and enterprise-ready.
Additionally, Memeo is also launching Memeo Connect Reader 2.0 on the iPhone….Due to overwhelming demand and interest from users, Memeo decided to fast track iPhone support for its popular Memeo Connect and Memeo Connect Reader offerings.
In addition to a full-blown “GDrive” that is mounted and accessible from your Windows or Mac PC, Version 2.0 of Memeo Connect offers some extremely compelling features for users that significantly enhance the overall utility of Google Docs across platforms:
- ‘GDrive’
- Full text, Google-powered search
- Multi-select capability (delete)
- Ability to cancel all uploads
- Advanced document filtering option by Office and Google categories and file types
- ‘Download All’ Google Docs option
- Trash now shows how many items are in it
- Integrated Site License Server
- Real-time Account status panel
- Folders Shared with Me filter
- View Online and Share Online context menu options for Folders
A couple interesting statistics came out of their beta program that helped shape enhancements and also gives us some clues about adoption (and barriers to adoption) of Google Apps:
- Users of the software were disproportionately Mac users. 24% of active Memeo Connect Beta users were running Mac OS.
- 36% of beta users leveraged the GDrive across multiple machines.
- 10% of users accessed their GDrives on both Windows and Mac PCs.
- 30% of users were international.
- Users ended the beta with an average of 480 files across 60 folders in their GDrive.
- There were many more native Google Docs accessed than Microsoft Office documents.
- Users were more likely to use the Google-powered search to find files (average 10 searches per day) than navigate to them.
Next: 26% Mac users, eh? What else does this tell us? »
Chris Dawson is a freelance writer and consultant with years of experience in educational technology and web-based systems. In 2011, he became the Vice President of Marketing for WizIQ, Inc., a virtual classroom and learning network SaaS provider.
Disclosure
Christopher Dawson
Christopher Dawson is the Vice President of Marketing for WizIQ, Inc., by day and a freelance writer and educational technology consultant by night. Well, most of his colleagues at WizIQ are based in India, so really he's working with them whenever he can stay awake. He has worked for his local school district as a teacher and technology director, for the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, and for Biogen, Inc. (now Biogen-IDEC, Inc.).
He has also consulted with STATNet and Cytyc Corporation and retains close ties with X2 Development Corporation (now owned by Follett Software, the supplier of the student information system he administered for several years). Follett is paying him a monthly honorarium to act as a presenter for their "SIS Voices for Student Achievement" community (he produces occasional blog posts and hosts a monthly webinar on the use of student information systems to inform data-driven instruction and school-wide change.
He regularly purchases and/or recommends Dell hardware. This is because Dell makes good hardware and has truly committed itself to education in innovative ways, particularly with their "Connected Classroom" initiative. It isn't because he has dealings with the company through his role at WizIQ (which he does) or because they have provided him with long-term loans of a variety of equipment for in-depth testing (which they have).
Intel (reference designer for the Classmate PCs he has implemented in his local schools) has provided him with long-term loans of Classmate PCs for testing, as have Dell and Lenovo with their educational offerings. He may report on any of these companies as his experiences with them have direct bearing on educational technology; positive reports are not necessarily an endorsement and he receives no direct financial compensation from these companies or any others.
Intel paid all expenses for his attendance at the 2009 Intel Classmate PC Ecosystem Summit which he attended as the sole representative of the technology press. He was invited to attend in 2010 but his wife would have killed him if he spent 3 days in Vegas geeking out and left her home alone with a new baby. Acer provided him with a 50% discount on an Aspire One netbook in early 2009 after he tested it for 30 days through their educational seed program. He liked the netbook at the time but it has since broken and sits unused in his office. Canonical sent him Ubuntu lanyards, t-shirts, and mousepads for his kids. He stole one of the lanyards and proudly hangs his keys from it and occasionally features his 8-year old wearing an oversized Ubuntu t-shirt on his Facebook profile. Gunnar Optiks sent him a pair of computer glasses to evaluate for a holiday gift guide. He is wearing them now as he types this because they never asked for them back and they rock out loud. Seriously - they work brilliantly and make it much easier to spend 20 hours a day staring at an LCD. If they ever asked for them back, he would fork over the $99 and buy a pair.
Microsoft gave him 2 free copies of Office 2010 professional, a desktop clock, and a useless book on Office 2010 when he attended the launch of Office/Sharepoint 2010. He occasionally uses the SharePoint lanyard they gave him instead of the Ubuntu lanyard for his keys, but feels dirty afterwards.
Adobe provided him with a pre-release version of the CS5 Master Collection for evaluation and ultimately provided a full, licensed copy for ongoing testing of educational applications of this admittedly expensive software. Like the Gunnars, if the license expires or they come out with CS6, he'd actually go out and buy it himself. Which is saying something, because he's actually pretty cheap.
Any other companies wishing to send him cool things to evaluate, wear, or otherwise adorn his kids are more than welcome to; he promises to disclose it here if he keeps any of the stuff.
Finally, because WizIQ is a virtual classroom and learning network provider, Chris, as VP of Marketing, frequently interacts with, seeks out deals with, and directly or indirectly competes with a whole lot of LMS, SIS, and other Education 2.0 companies. In general, he'll limit his reporting about these companies to news that does not impact his relationship with them or with WizIQ. If he reports on them, it's because what they are doing is newsworthy or worth the attention of his readers and not because he's trying to broker some deal, damage competition, or otherwise advance his position in his day job. LMS and SIS companies, along with other online learning communities, are a pretty important part of Ed Tech. If he stops reporting on them completely, there won't be a whole lot left. He'll be sure to call out any overt conflicts of interest if they are unavoidable.
Finally, Follett Software Company pays him a little tiny honorarium every month to present on their SIS Voices webinars and to write the occasional blog or discussion thread for them. Since Follett recently bought X2 (maker of an awesome web-based SIS that Chris just happened to have used, served in advisory groups for, and frequently reported on), this is probably also worth disclosing.
Biography
Christopher Dawson
Christopher Dawson grew up in Seattle, back in the days of pre-antitrust Microsoft, coffeeshops owned by something other than Starbucks, and really loud, inarticulate music. He escaped to the right coast in the early 90's and received a degree in Information Systems from Johns Hopkins University. While there, he began a career in health and educational information systems, with a focus on clinical trials and related statistical programming and database modeling. This focus led him to several positions at Johns Hopkins, a couple-year stint in private industry, teaching high school math and technology, and 2 years as the technology director for his local school district. Most recently, he started his own consulting business and is now the Vice President of Marketing for WizIQ, Inc., a virtual classroom and learning network provider.
He lives with his wife, five kids (yes, 5), 2 dogs, and a hateful cat in a small town in north-central Massachusetts. Although he is no longer teaching, his roles with WizIQ and ZDNet allow him to continue helping students and teachers add value to education with technology rather than merely adding to the bottom line.
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