Google has finally launched its long-anticipated cloud storage service Drive.

Offering 5GB of free storage to anyone with a Google Account, the service outdoes similar offerings from Dropbox, and matches that offered by Ubuntu One.

Drive is accessible from any web browser at drive.google.com or one of the dedicated clients it provides for Windows, Mac and Android. An iOS app is to follow in the coming weeks.

Amongst the features touted by the service: –

Collaborative editing

‘Smart Tagging’ feature

OCR support (inc. for images)

Support for 30 different types of file in the browser – including Photoshop and Illustrator files

Buy up to 16TB of space

99.9% Uptime Promised

Open Platform

But for all the celebration there is something missing: a Linux client.

It was hoped that, based on past software offerings from the search giant, that Linux users would be provided with a desktop client similar to that offered for Windows and Mac users.

The good news is that Google have made Drive an open-platform, with third party developers free to add additional functionality – such as sending faxes, editing videos and create models – to the service .

And as Linux users can take full advantage of the web-interface, there is in theory at least, the potential for some form of desktop integration (even if it’s notification support for updated/edited files) to appear down the line.

But there’s still reason to believe that a Linux-client of Drive could yet appear. Google say that today marks only the beginning of Drive, and that there are many developments yet to come.

Here’s hoping that one of those ‘many developments’ is a treat for faithful Linux users.

Edit: Commenter Matt Katzenberger suggest using the Google Drive feedback form to let Google know there is a demand for a Linux version.