A Look At Microsoft’s Online Storage Offerings
Posted by Admin | Filed under GDrive Alternatives
I thought it was a good idea to provide a considered look at the online storage offerings from Microsoft.
Unfortunately I cannot fully test integration as I am not a PC user but I have certainly been able to test interfaces etc.
The most basic option from Microsoft is Windows Live Skydrive. I say “basic” because it is a browser-only service. There is no desktop application that allows you to mount your Skydrive as a virtual disk.
Having said, that, it does offer a massive 25GB of space for free so if you are looking for a simple of way of storing files online and don’t mind using a web browser every time you want to add / remove / update files, Skydrive gives a great storage deal.
More intricate in its design is Live Mesh. It works similarly to services like Syncplicity, Mozy and Dropbox in that an application installed on each machine you want to sync up will keep those files in sync across the machines, as well as storing the files online. Change a file anywhere and that change is reflected across your Mesh. At the moment, no Mac client is available but one is planned, as is a Windows Mobile client.
Interestingly, there is no plan to charge for the service, or even place a storage limit.
Microsoft also offers a simple sync client that synchronises files across machines but does not store them. In this case, you will want to check out Windows Live Sync.
To be fair, it is a decent toolset and one that you may not have looked at but the PC-centric offerings limits its feasibility as a true cross-platform solution of which there are many.
Tags: cloud storage, gdrive, live mesh, live sync, microsoft, online storage, skydrive
