• uberlaff

  You should add Web API’s to your list. The first to successfully implement and market these to developers will start to gain the most traction.

• Guest

  Skydrive Web API – since at least 12/2011 – http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/live/default.aspx

• http://twitter.com/ssimpson205 Stephen Simpson

  The big problem with Skydrive, IMHO, is that you can’t access the files you uploaded with the Windows PC client (Mesh?) from Windows Phone. What’s the point of cloud storage if each device can only access its own little walled off cubby of files?

  • markjonson

    Agreed. But that is supposed to change with this new SkyDrive for Windows coming out later this year.

    • http://twitter.com/efjay01 Ef Jay

      By that time google would have mopped the floor with skydrive with cool marketing. Microsoft should really start striking back when they can instead of putting all their eggs in the “later this year with Windows 8″ basket. There’s a chance that people just wont care at that point.

      • markjonson

        It is already happening. Many people are satisfied with their iPads and Android tablets, and may not even try Windows 8 on a touch-capable device. Windows Phone, as well as Windows 8, really needed to be here about 3 years earlier than they were/will be. I realize that’s far easier said than done, but from an analytical perspective it means they need to get what they have already further into the public eye. Despite the rumored “$150 million” marketing budget for the Lumia 900, I’m still only seeing a few TV ads. That’s where Apple has always excelled, and even Google is finding success marketing its ecosystem around the Chrome browser.

        And Google makes an excellent case study for poor marketing too: Google failed to market their Chromebook well and nobody in the mainstream even knows what a Chromebook is. It’s exactly what Microsoft is doing with Windows Phone, and the effect has (so far) been exactly the same.

        • Joe_HTH

           You must be joking? Android tablets have been a dismal failure. Even by the most conservative estimates, Windows 8 tablets will smoke Android tablets, if for no other reason than sheer volume. Not to mention Windows destroys Android, especially considering Microsoft is ten times the software developer Google ever dreamed of.

        • symbolset

          We’ve had Windows tablets for 15 years or more.  They’re a “farewell” product.  They’re what you sell to a customer you don’t want to have to deal with any more because they’re such a pain in the ass.  Sell them a Windows tablet just once, and they’ll never darken your doorstep again.

          Disclosure: I’ve sold 10,000+ Windows tablets over the years and advised every buyer against it but they insisted so I gave them what they demanded and lost them all anyway.  Some of them were kind enough on the way out so say “you should have said ‘no’ and let the other guy fail”.  Yeah, I knew that, but you see I have a boss…  And what part of “this is a bad idea, Windows tablets suck” did you not get?  How is that my fault?  But they’re gone for good and persuasion isn’t going to get them back.

          The W8 tablets are a grand product to have in your product book when the customer is seriously chafing your hide.  Sell them a Windows tablet and you’ll be rid of them forever.

      • Joe_HTH

         LOL! Google Drive mop the floor with Skydrive? How is 5GB of free storage going to mop the floor with 25GB?

        • symbolset

          Thank you for moderating your language to something less unpleasant.  You’re still a stupid ass, but now you’re a less obnoxious stupid ass.

      • Zicoz

        Since when has Google been able to do anything with “cool marketing”?

    • jkth

      I harbour hopes that “later this year” means “in the next few days”. I’m quietly confident that’ll be the case too if I’m reading the tea leaves correctly.

      • gmanthebrave

         

        As I see it, Microsoft has the advantage if they are waiting
        to release, because they can still make the necessary adjustments to compete better
        with Google Drive.  I know a lot of companies improve upon
        themselves, like when I upgraded my DVR from 55 hours to 150 hours of HD
        recording time when I bought the Hopper whole-home DVR from my employer,
        DISH.  I like that it stopped our family
        from fighting over how much storage each family member “overused.”  Perhaps Google will provide a decent product,
        but I like that there is competition to make them offer a better product at a
        better price.

  • Vishal

    Use the Skydrive app available for Free on the  WP marketplace, and you can access your files.

• markjonson

  Until SkyDrive is made a first-class citizen in Windows 8 and people see the benefits to 25GB of storage (which I hope doesn’t change, per the aforementioned rumor), SkyDrive will not be recognized for the great service that it is.  Nothing is more frustrating than working in academia where faculty and students alike prefer using Google Docs and its horrid interface or Dropbox with its limited space.  I’ve tried to enlighten all those who are willing to listen, but it’s amazing how stubborn people are despite the huge storage advantage of SkyDrive and the inclusion of a far-superior web-based office suite in Office Web Apps.

  • Joe_HTH

     Google Docs is more comparable to Office, not Skydrive, and Office destroys Google Docs, not only in usage but also sales.

    • Guest

      When he mentions office, he means Office Web Apps, which are easily superior to Google Docs.

      They are directly comparable.  Use that little brain of yours :P

    • symbolset

      Microsoft Office is the least compatible office package on Earth, by design.  That’s a shame, because it makes nice documents.  But making nice documents is becoming more of a hygiene issue, and less of a wonder.  We’ve had 30 years of document processing science after all, and there are only so many ways to do a mail merge and lay out a page.

• winch103

  Now I understand why dropbox doubled its referral rewards to 500MB per referee, up to 32Go of free space.

  BTW for those who still don’t know the Ref’Around project (I’ve referred already 16 times for dropbox in less than 2 weeks) it’s “the first refer-a-friend matchmaking site in the US” :�
  http://www.refaround.com/dropbox

  It looks quite recent (still in beta) but I’m already lovin’ it!!

• http://doctorwhofan98.wordpress.com/ doctorwhofan98

  I really hope the SkyDrive storage won’t drop to just 7GB…

  • jkth

    As I write I’m using skycmd.com to fill my skydrive up to the brim with worthless junk in anticipation of this.

• http://doctorwhofan98.wordpress.com/ doctorwhofan98

  https://skydrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=20F065AFC1ACDB2E!1258&cid=20f065afc1acdb2e SKYDRIVE JUST RELEASED AN UPDATE!!!

• http://twitter.com/efjay01 Ef Jay

  No excuses for Microsoft anymore, the competition is not sitting still and pushing forward, coming from behind Microsoft should be pushing harder and faster. Need to stop half assing things or they will become irrelevant, as so many seem to want.

  And frankly if they can’t compete maybe that’s what they deserve.

• SchranzHanz

  You should also note that the sync for SkyDrive (aka Mesh) only works for 5 of those 25 GB, which is one of the most critical issues for me.

  • jkth

    Its actually 5GB in addition to the 25 GB but nonetheless, I agree its a very critical issue.

• jakebraca

  Accounts less than 7GB staying at 7GB? Uh oh, time to hurry and upload 7GB worth of stuff! lol

  • jkth

    What I’ve done is upload a big file and copying it around to loads of different places in a folder called “junk” using skycmd.com. Note that the maximum file size for files that can be copied is 100MB.

• http://gregsedwards.wordpress.com Greg Edwards

  You can mark ODF support as confirmed. The document that the SkyDrive team used to make the announcement is an ODT. http://sdrv.ms/JbpjH4

• R.

  I just saw an option to add a computer in my SkyDrive (see screenshot 1). When I clicked on ”Add a Computer” I was told I first needed to download the SkyDrive for Windows app (see screenshot 2). Unfortunatly, the download link just redirected me to the SkyDrive homepage, and then the option to add a computer was gone.

  Please note that the screenshots are from the Dutch version.

  • Corven22

    I got the link too and when i clicked i was asked to download the skydrive app… When i clicked to download it told me page not found.

  • jkth

    cool. Shouldn’t be long now!

• http://profile.yahoo.com/WPI6C3VWZNC7QOIRXLLT7BZR54 Chris

  Microsoft should release the Windows 7 SkyDrive Desktop App now instead of waiting to coincide with Windows 8.  Otherwise, I fear that they will miss the window of opportunity that is quickly closing.  Their haphazard implementation of SkyDrive and Live Mesh to date has hindered their adoption and allowed DropBox, iCloud, and now possibly Google Drive to take market share.

• Asgardii

  I can already see how this goes. Google releases overall far worse service than SkyDrive is but fixes some SkyDrive’s problems (mostly usability and usage limitations) with better integration. Result is that even if GDrive is worse, it will be a great success and SkyDrive will suffer Bing’s and Windows Phone’s fate.

  Now Microsoft has tied all of its new products success to Windows 8. I mean tablets, phones, Bing and SkyDrive can be a success for Microsoft if Windows 8 is a success. But for now it doesn’t look like that and I hate this fact.

  • Joe_HTH

     The vast majority of Google products are abject failures. Buzz, Wave, Notebook, Jaiku, Audio Ads, Answers, Wiki Search, and sooner or later Google+. Google is a company that throws shit at a wall to see what sticks.

    • Guest

      Those projects are betas and they use users as free beta testers.  They simply create them so they can see the best parts of them to integrate into other projects.  You don’t think Buzz and stuff like that played a part in Google+’s create?  I’m pretty sure they reused some parts :P

      That’s the whole point.  Only difference is that Google has Labs and Betas instead of “Microsoft Research” which also sees its fair share of failed projects.

    • symbolset

      And yet Google garners a much higher P/E than Microsoft: 18 to 11.

      The market is betting that one of these is executing better than the other one and has a brighter future.  Why is that?

• nampat

  I really like Skydrive and WP7 and overall windows products, but I think that Microsoft has to hurry and add functionality faster to their products. Smaller changes with small releases happening often. People aren not used to wait 1,5 year for update anymore because everything else is changing very quickly. Lets take Google – google docs, google+ and gmail are getting small changes all the time and people seem to love it. Although Google+ is the product driving me away even from gmail, because i don’t like social network that thinks i want to be social 24/7. If I want to be social, I’ll open the application, but no – google+ looks at you in every google products and reminds you that you should waste your time there…

• Imaginer

  I just went to Skydrive and it said for a limited time period I can upgrade my 7 gig, which I didn’t know I had, to 25 gig, for free. I clicked on it and it now shows I have 25 gig. Didn’t have to fill up the 7 gig. In fact, I never ever before today used skydrive, but somehow a picture file I emailed a few days ago using windows live mail and a hotmail account, is there and it’s shared with the person I e-mailed it to  :( I’m not sure I can trust my files in a Microsoft server. I don’t need 25 gig. I need about 2 gig to be synchronised so I think I’ll rather wait for google drive. Hopefully they will allow files bigger than 100 meg and be more discreet with my data. If ever I need more than 5 gig, well, I have 25 Gig from MS. But by the time I need that much, Google will probably have matched Microsoft anyway.

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