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Google Drive service unaffected, app being shut down

About a week ago, Google made a confusing announcement in their G Suite Updates Blog. It resulted in shocking many Google Drive users that their favorite service is being killed off by the search giant Google. Even tech blogs kept trumpeting the false information without taking care to verify the rumors that were spreading about.

But thankfully, there are those who saw through the folly and are trying their best to clear the confusion. Here's what's actually happening:

The name ‘Google Drive’ refers to two different things:
  • Google Drive online service to create Docs, Sheets, Slides and other collaborative documents, as well as backup your files.
  • Google Drive app (a.k.a. computer program) that runs on your Mac or PC, which gives you access to those documents and files, and also syncs the files with the service.
Here’s what Google said (read it with a big bag of salt):
With this launch, Google Drive for Mac/PC is officially deprecated. It will no longer be supported starting on December 11th, 2017, and it will shut down completely on March 12th, 2018. We encourage you to use Drive File Stream. As an alternative to or in addition to installing Drive File Stream, you can upgrade to the new version of Drive for Mac/PC, called Backup and Sync.
Here’s what is actually happening:
  • Google Drive online service will remain unchanged. Nothing is going to happen to it.
  • Google Drive app is being replaced by another app called Backup and Sync, for regular users.
  • Google Drive app is being replaced by another app called Drive File Stream, for enterprise users. Regular users can also install it if needed.
  • Google Drive app itself will no longer be offered for download after Dec 11, 2017 and it will no longer function after March 12, 2018.
This is really Google’s fault for causing so much confusion. Google ought to have worded their announcement in a much different way.

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