Microsoft OneDrive vs Google Drive: Can you move everything to the cloud?

Cloud computing is amazing. All your files can be accessed from any device anywhere in the world as long as you have an internet connection. With two step security no one can see anything unless they have the password and the email or the mobile phone.

So far sounds perfect.

I tried Google Drive for a while and I am surprised to see what we have been missing. We no longer need to have pen drives everywhere, moving and updating the files manually like in the 90's or forgetting files at home while we are in the office. Now with the cloud all the files are up to date all the time and pretty secure.

The cloud has a few problems. One is you don't have the same processing power like when using the desktop on a fast computer. Things take longer to move, read, write and access because of the cloud system and because you are using a browser. Another problem is it takes time to get used to use the files on the cloud and forget about easy copy paste, creating and deleting files very fast. For heavy computer users it takes a lot of time to adapt to this new work system.

Google Drive is a "true" cloud solution. I say true because Google does the best to move all your work entirely to the cloud to eliminate the need to have a desktop. You have all the files in the drive. To create or delete a document you just need to access the drive. The same is true for a spreasheet or a presentation. The advantage is clear, you can create (for free) documents and work together with anyone you want. All the files are in the cloud all the time (free from the desktop) and can be accessed anywhere.

Drive search is like in Gmail, very fast and accurate even when there are thousands of files inside the Drive. The disadvantage is simple, it does not have a lot of power to work with heavy files. Even simple sheets take several seconds to load and to update especially when there is a lot of math involved. Since you work with a browser everything moves a bit slower than on the desktop. You will take some time to get used to it, but once you master the Drive, it's hard to want to go back to the desktop.

Why?

Everything is secure, search is very fast even with a large number of files whereas on the desktop once you start having thousands of files search takes several seconds even a minute to complete. The files on the cloud are updated all the time. You don't have to worry about updates, security (just keep the password and the mobile phone safe) backups, multiple files on multiple devices and out of date versions.

The only thing Google should improve is the response speed especially when using large files.

Microsoft Drive wants to be the best in the cloud and it offers Word, Excel and Powerpoint online. These free online versions are a bit slower than on the desktop, don't have all the features but are more powerful and complete than Google's solution. Just like other solutions, Microsoft offers for free plenty of space, access from anywhere, two step security and another thing the competition does not have yet which is the full power of the desktop software to work on the files on the cloud, giving the best of both.

With Office 365 you can have all the features of Microsoft Office suite, for a reasonable monthly price and save all the files on the cloud. The advantage of this system is clear, work on the desktop or on the cloud with the online suite, save the files in the cloud (or on the desktop) share and collaborate, move from computer to computer and everything is there and don't worry about backups and file versions.

Think of OneDrive as the cloud solution for heavy work.

Is this the right time to move everything to the cloud?

The answer I see from specialists on magazines, blogs, forums is it depends on the kind of work you do and how sensitive it is. My experience is the peace of mind of having everything important to your work available all the time.