Skydrive img taken from Vinh Nguyen's MacBook Pro and Skydrive account.
I’m rushing this blog post out as for a limited time, Microsoft Skydrive allows users to retain their 25 GB of free storage space, and in the very near future Microsoft will only allow Skydrive users to have only 7 GB of free storage space. How come? According to a piece on Techradar.com (Microsoft SkyDrive cloud storage gets Dropbox-like features boost), Microsoft has added new features to Skydrive that behave similarly to how the features that can be found on Dropbox. I’ve not yet able to experiment these features such as syncing files from Desktop to Skydrive folder (i.e., allowing files to be remotely synced to Skydrive’s servers/cloud), because like I’m saying I have to rush this blog post out. Anyhow, I had gone ahead and installed Skydrive app on Mac, and so now I have Skydrive folder in my finder. So, in a way I think Skydrive will be very similar to Dropbox even though I have not yet used it in similar manners to how I would use Dropbox. Nonetheless, I can feel that Microsoft has turned up the heat in regarding to the race in the cloud.
Skydrive is supporting so many devices and operating system types! On Skydrive app download page (https://apps.live.com/skydrive) where you can download the Skydrive apps, it appears that Skydrive has apps for Windows Phone, iPhone and iPad, Mac. I don’t really have to mention that Skydrive has a Skydrive app for Windows, but I guess I just did. Anyhow, this means users can now access files that are residing on Skydrive with most devices, allowing users to feel that their files are more accessible. I’m sort of disappointed that Skydrive has not yet come out an app for Linux (i.e., I don’t see Skydrive app for Linux on Skydrive app download page). Hopefully though, Linux users will soon be able to use Skydrive just like users who use other popular devices and operating systems.
In conclusion, I think Skydrive will now be more appealing than before since it has been revamped with new features that compete against a very popular cloud service Dropbox. Plus, Skydrive provides 2 GB more of storage space than Dropbox (i.e., 7 GB free storage space). For limited time, Skydrive allows users to retain 25 GB of free storage space. Of course, if you or any Skydrive user isn’t going to log-in into their Skydrive account now to retain their 25 GB of free storage space, sooner or later, Microsoft will stop giving out 25 GB of free storage space — users will then have to play with 7 GB of free storage space only. With Skydrive and Dropbox services are available for free, I think my using of these services have just allowed me to make the files that I want to have easy access to from anywhere are now even more resilient (i.e., in case of either one of the services is down or inaccessible).
Related articles
- Microsoft Takes on Dropbox with Major SkyDrive Update (webmonkey.com)
- Cloud Storage Battle: iCloud vs. SkyDrive vs. Dropbox vs. SugarSync (ios-empire.com)
- Microsoft Takes On Dropbox With SkyDrive For Windows, Mac and iOS (techcrunch.com)
- Microsoft’s SkyDrive For Mac: Not Dropbox, But Not Too Shabby Either [Review] (cultofmac.com)
- Blog: Microsoft’s Dropbox alternative – SkyDrive (with free upgrade) (musingsfromsussex.com)
- SkyDrive storage space land grab for grandfathers (sciencetext.com)
- Microsoft Introduces New SkyDrive For Common Man; Paid Storage, Sync & More (techie-buzz.com)
- Grab your 25 Gigabyte SkyDrive Storage, UnderStand FetchFile Implications (ghacks.net)
- Skydrive, Dropbox improved to fight Google Drive (motls.blogspot.com)
- Cloud war is on: Microsoft adds SkyDrive apps for Windows and Mac, paid options (venturebeat.com)
Filed under: Microsoft and Windows, Web Services Tagged: cloud, Dropbox, iPhone, Linux, Microsoft, Microsoft Windows, SkyDrive, web service, Windows Live SkyDrive, Windows Phone
