Mikey Campbell
The purported SkyDrive images were posted on Saturday by Brazilian blog Gemind, and show demo downloads (machine translation) for Windows or Mac apps that will allow for automatic syncing, storage and remote access to files from the cloud.
Also of note are paid storage options that can be purchased in 20GB, 50GB or 100GB flavors for approximately $10, $25 or $50 per year, respectively.
The extra space will supplement the already copious 25GB in free storage offered by SkyDrive. In comparison, iCloud only offers 5GB of free cloud storage, however Apple's system does not count Photo Stream, iTunes' media, apps and iBooks against the limit.
According to Microsoft's blog, the Metro-style cloud-based Windows 8 app will share characteristics with Dropbox in that users can sync and backup certain files automatically, though SkyDrive goes further and allows limited remote access to files not synced to the cloud. Maximum file size for remote file fetching is pegged at 2GB.
Screenshot of purported Microsoft SkyDrive Windows and Mac client downloads. | Source: Gemind
Ars Technica points out that website LiveSide.net also posted screenshots that showed SkyDrive would support file sharing through social networks like Twitter and Facebook, BitLocker recovery keys, OpenDocument files from Office Web Apps and URL shortening.
iCloud's current file-syncing implementation is aimed mainly at iOS users who can backup device profiles and data to the cloud. Apple's free service does support certain automatic syncing to OS X programs such as Photo Stream and a clunky Pages document syncing procedure, but the process is not as smooth as other third-party solutions.
This situation could change when OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion is released this summer as many iOS features like Notification Center and iMessage will be ported to the desktop operating system, though no official word has been given regarding iCloud upgrades.
Apple has invested heavily in iCloud, and the service which was introduced alongside iOS 5 could be getting more features, as previous reports that the company offered to buy Dropbox in a failed nine figure deal point to a definite interest in automatic file storage and syncing.
The SkyDrive update is set to launch later this year with support for Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8 already announced.
It remains to be seen which Windows 8 SkyDrive features will be implemented in the rumored Mac client, if any, and to what extent the service will affect iCloud.
Charles Martin
Christine McKee
Oliver Haslam
William Gallagher
73 Comments
Nothing but good can come of this. iCloud needs competition.
I use Microsoft Live Mesh already on all my Macs. It gives me UNLIMITED GB of syncing across three machines. There is no cloud storage, but I don't need it if it is syncing to all my machines (about 230GB and works flawlessly).
It looks like SkyDrive and Live Mesh have a lot of overlap...I don't know why they can't just combine the products into one.
Nothing but good can come of this. iCloud needs competition.
True.
Seems like more of a DropBox killer than an iCloud killer to me though.
Maybe it will make Apple bring back some kind of unstructured file storage to iCloud which is really the only thing missing.
Maybe it will make Apple bring back some kind of unstructured file storage to iCloud which is really the only thing missing.
There are APIs for iCloud that would let Dropbox, SugarSync, anyone with some Objective-C knowledge, and even MS create their own hierarchal storage system that syncs via iCloud.
Also, even with the Open dialogue box in apps for iCloud there is a structured file system, but it's been simplified to match that of the iOS Home Screen as access from iDevices is the main reason for its inclusion.
Apple is going down! Daddy has come to the party!