Google Drive and We Video collaborative editing - Does this change everything?

When Google Drive was announced yesterday, everybody just thought it was just a similar product to Dropbox with competitive pricing. For us video editors, there's a lot more to it than just file sharing. Is this the future?

Providing storage online isn't new, we mentioned Dropbox as an example, but there are plenty of others that provide a similar service. Now Google have got in on the act with Google Drive, with an agressive pricing structure and integration with Google Docs. The Google marketing department call it 'A place where you can create, share, collaborate, and keep all of your stuff.' The first 5GB is free, then you can choose to upgrade to 25GB for $2.49/month, 100GB for $4.99/month or even a whopping 1TB for $49.99/month. That's a lot of 'stuff.'

Online editing isn't new either, you've been able to mash up YouTube videos in a browser for a long time and We Video has been advertising their cloud based video editing service for a few months now.

Put Google Drive together with We Video and bingo you have online cloud editing with up to 1 terabyte of space for your rushes and a collaborative workflow chucked in for free.

Granted the timeline looks a bit basic, but let's just think what is going on here. This is cloud based video editing with other editors being able to view and edit with your footage at the same time. Is this the Holy Grail of editing, being able to access and share your footage no matter where you are in the world as long as you have a decent Internet connection?

The mind boggles with all the possibilities.

Let's bring this back to our core focus, Final Cut Pro X. What if FCPX had a link to either a Google Drive or Apple's own cloud based storage? Would you be able to edit your footage on an iPad and then pick up the sequence from the Cloud in Final Cut Pro X for finishing?

Of course all pure speculation but it reinforces the thought that FCPX has been built for expansion. Expansion with new features that FCP7 would never have been able to accommodate. Adobe are going down that route with the Creative Cloud so are we going to see a similar service from Apple in the future?

Maybe the puck is further away than we think.