Google Cloud Print: towards a universal printing system

Printing can be a pain, but Google is currently developing a system that could help make things a little bit easier. In fact, Google Cloud Print will allow any application, on any device, to print files on any printer in the world.


As the name suggests, the solution involves connecting printers in a cloud. This means that instead of having to install drivers on each and every device, the various applications would use the Google Cloud Print service directly. This service would in turn be responsible for sending each print job to the appropriate printer together with the various options pre-selected by the user.

From Gmail documents to iPhone applications to word processing programs, any type of application will be able to use Google Print Cloud.

The long-term aim is to cut computers out of the loop by allowing users to print all kinds of documents from all kinds of devices directly via Google's service. However, to turn this idea into reality, the firmware of pretty much every printer in the world would have to be updated, as few models are yet 'cloud-aware'.

In the meantime, then, we'll have to make do with USB flash drives and the downloadable printing applications for iPhone and iPad.


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