Proton, the Swiss-based pro-privacy productiveness app maker, has a brand new feather in its cap after bringing doc creation, enhancing and collaboration capabilities to its safe cloud storage providing. The launch of Docs in Proton Drive, as the brand new product is branded, follows its acquisition of safe note-taking app Normal Notes in April.
Proton launched Proton Drive, its end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) cloud storage service, again in September 2022, beginning with net assist and increasing to cellular later the identical yr.
The brand new collaborative doc options are being made out there inside Proton Drive, additional extending the corporate’s trademark pitch of sturdy safety to a different key productiveness device for each info employees and people alike.
Proton is pitching the combo of Docs in Proton Drive as a safe and privacy-focused various to Google Drive and Docs, provided that the latter’s rival merchandise lack Proton’s flagship zero-knowledge structure.
“This landmark addition to Proton’s suite of privacy-focused merchandise offers a strong various to present doc editors like Google Docs, guaranteeing that privateness and safety are paramount — with out compromising on important options,” the corporate wrote in a weblog put up.
E2E encryption refers to a technical structure whereby the entity offering the software program is unable to entry person content material because it doesn’t maintain encryption keys. This enables Proton to make a trustless pledge of privateness that provides a transparent differentiation versus data-dependent enterprise fashions, comparable to Google’s.
“Docs affords the identical degree of encryption as Proton Drive, which means all of the contents are protected by E2EE,” an organization spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch. “Even modifications and keystrokes are encrypted, in addition to file names and file paths.”
“Constructing collaborative paperwork that retain E2EE was extremely tough, and one thing that we haven’t seen anybody else doing in the marketplace. It entails key change and synchronized key info, plus the flexibility to ask folks to collaborate, and revoke these permissions, in addition to to share paperwork privately,” the corporate additionally stated.
Proton says it should replace its web site within the subsequent few weeks to enter extra element about how Docs works behind the scenes. The corporate notes it had already launched enhanced sharing options on Proton Drive a couple of weeks in the past in anticipation of this launch.
Per Proton, Docs in Proton Drive consists of fashionable and “important” options, comparable to full assist for markdown and wealthy textual content, code blocks and checklists. It additionally confirmed compatibility for a number of file sorts, together with Microsoft .docx, and the flexibility to embed pictures in paperwork.
Collaboration options embody the flexibility so as to add and reply to (and resolve) feedback, and see who else is viewing a doc in actual time with “collaborative cursors.” Invitations to collaborate on docs are additionally supported; individuals and not using a Proton account will probably be prompted to create a free account to achieve entry, which may assist it drive further registrations and stoke its development.
According to Proton’s freemium ethos, the brand new doc options could be accessed without cost via Proton Drive, which affords as much as 5GB of free storage. After this threshold, customers desirous to faucet the doc capabilities might want to improve to a paid tier of Drive.
Extra options are within the improvement pipeline. Proton stated its roadmap will purpose to reinforce person expertise and productiveness beginning with extra highly effective collaboration instruments for groups. Given Proton’s safety pledge, it’s pitching Docs in Drive at companies which are topic to excessive information safety compliance necessities, comparable to these in industries like healthcare, media, finance and authorized. Nevertheless, particular person customers can profit, as nicely.
The corporate confirmed that code for docs will probably be open-sourced “quickly,” permitting for unbiased auditing and verification of its safety claims.
In an additional reassuring step for customers, final month Proton introduced it’s transitioning to a nonprofit basis construction mannequin, with the brand new basis turning into the primary shareholder within the (for-profit) enterprise. It stated this governance change is designed to safeguard its pro-privacy mission for the long run by enabling it to be self-sustaining and unbiased of different industrial agendas.
The app maker, which was based a decade in the past as an E2EE webmail service (ProtonMail), has grown utilization over time by increasing to supply a collection of pro-privacy freemium productivity-focused apps, together with its cloud storage service, together with a calendar app, VPN and password supervisor device.
Proton now studies greater than 100 million person accounts in whole, with 500 workers holding all its tech ticking over.
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