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Undid revision 485738937 by 2.137.149.118 (talk) - citation does not mention encryption, nor does it mention US government having access to files. Very misleading edit.
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===Download as .zip file===
===Download as .zip file===
Entire folders can be downloaded as a single .zip file with SkyDrive
Entire folders can be downloaded as a single .zip file with SkyDrive

==Issues==
===Privacy concerns===
SkyDrive files are not client side encrypted. So, Microsoft and the US government have access to file contents. Microsoft monitors service usage by inspecting uploaded files.<ref>[http://wmpoweruser.com/microsoft-monitoring-censoring-skydrive-uploads/ Microsoft monitoring, censoring SkyDrive uploads? | WMPoweruser]</ref>


==See also==
==See also==

Revision as of 05:23, 9 April 2012

SkyDrive
Developer(s)Microsoft
Initial releaseAugust 2007; 17 years ago (2007-08)
Stable release
Wave 5 (Build 16.2.2907.1020) / November 29, 2011; 12 years ago (2011-11-29)
TypeFile hosting service
Website

SkyDrive (also called Microsoft SkyDrive or Windows Live SkyDrive) is a free-of-charge file hosting service that allows users to upload files to a cloud storage and then access them from a Web browser. It is part of Windows Live range of online services and allows users to keep the files private, share them with contacts, or make the files public. Publicly-shared files do not require a Windows Live ID to access.

The service offers 25 GB of free personal storage,[1] with individual files limited to 100 MB.[2] The service is built using HTML5 technologies, and files can be uploaded via drag and drop.

History

On its launch, SkyDrive, known as Windows Live Folders at the time, was provided as a limited beta available to a few testers in the United States.[3] On August 1, 2007, the service was expanded to a wider audience. Shortly after, on August 9, 2007 the service was renamed Windows Live SkyDrive and made available to testers in the United Kingdom and India.[4] As of 22 May 2008 SkyDrive was available to 62 countries and regions.[5][6] On December 2, 2008, the capacity of an individual SkyDrive account was upgraded from 5 GB to 25 GB, and Microsoft added a separate entry point called Windows Live Photos which allowed users to access their photos and videos stored on SkyDrive. This entry point allowed users to add "People tags" to their photos, download photos into Windows Live Photo Gallery or as a ZIP file, as well as viewing EXIF metadata such as camera information for the photos uploaded. Microsoft also added full-screen slide show support for photos using Silverlight.

SkyDrive was updated to "Wave 4" release on June 7, 2010, and added support for Office Web Apps, offering versioning support. In this update, due to the discontinuation of Windows Live Toolbar, the ability to synchronise and share bookmarked Web links between users via SkyDrive has also been discontinued. However, users are still able to use Windows Live Mesh to synchronise their favorites between computers, although the "cloud" storage component of the bookmarked Web links is no longer available. This feature replaces the previous Windows Live Favorites service.

In June 2010, users of Office Live Workspace, released in October 2007[7], were migrated to Windows Live Office. The migration included all existing workspaces, documents, and sharing permissions.[8] The merger of the two services is a result of Microsoft's decision to merge its Office Live team into Windows Live back in January 2009[9], as well as several deficiencies with Office Live Workspace, which lacked high fidelity document viewing and did not allow files to be edited from within the web browser.[10] Office Live Workspace also did not offer offline collaboration and co-authoring functionality – instead documents were "checked out" and "checked in," though the service did integrate with SharedView for real-time screen sharing.

On June 20, 2011, Microsoft overhauled the user interface for SkyDrive, built using HTML5 technologies. Microsoft also doubled the file size limit from 50MB to 100MB per file, as well as adding new features such as caching and hardware acceleration, support for HTML5 videos, Quick views, cleaner arrangement of photos, infinite scrolling. This update also brings together the different entry points for SkyDrive, such as Windows Live Photos and Windows Live Office, into one single interface. Files and folders shared with a user, including those in Windows Live Groups are also accessible in the new interface.[2]

On November 29, 2011, Microsoft updated SkyDrive to make sharing and file management easier, as well as HTML5 and other updates. This update also allowed users to see how much storage they had (and how much they had used), a feature that had been removed in the previous update as part of the redesign.[11]

On December 3, 2011, Microsoft released a SkyDrive for iPhone/iPod Touch app, and a SkyDrive for Windows Phone app, which are available in the App Store and Windows Phone Marketplace respectively.

Future

On February 20, 2012, Microsoft announced that Windows 8 will be able to connect to and store files on SkyDrive. The announcement says that users will be able to connect their computers to SkyDrive accounts to increase their capacity. SkyDrive will also support files as big as 2 GB.[12]

Features

Office Web Apps

Microsoft added Office Web Apps support to SkyDrive in its "Wave 4" update allowing users to upload, create, edit, and share Microsoft Office documents directly within a Web browser. Users can create, view and edit Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote documents within the Web browser. In addition, Office Web Apps on SkyDrive also allow multiple users to simultaneously co-author Excel directly within the web browser, and co-author OneNote documents with another web user or the desktop application. Users can also view version history of Office documents stored on SkyDrive.[13]

Office Desktop App Integration

Users of recent versions of Microsoft Office (for Windows or Macintosh) can use the desktop applications to edit the same section of documents stored on SkyDrive simultaneously. Changes are synchronized when users save the document, and where conflicts occur, a user is given the selection to choose which version to keep. [14] This is a collaborative real-time editing suite as multiple users can use combinations of desktop applications and the web apps to edit a document.

Hotmail integration

SkyDrive integrates with Hotmail which allow users to:

  • Directly upload Office documents and photos within Hotmail, store them on SkyDrive, and share them with other users[15]
  • Directly save Office documents within Hotmail to SkyDrive, and view or edit these documents directly within the web browser[16]
  • Allow Hotmail users to edit Office documents within the web browser using Office Web Apps, and reply directly back to the sender with the edits made[16]

Bing integration

SkyDrive integrates with Bing's Save & Share feature, allowing users to save search histories into a SkyDrive folder.

Windows Live Groups integration

Each group within Windows Live Groups are provided with 5 GB of storage spaces on SkyDrive to be shared between the group members. Group members are allowed to access, create, modify and delete files within the group's SkyDrive folders, as well as other functionalities that SkyDrive provides.

RSS feeds

It is possible to subscribe to RSS feeds of the content of public folders. The feeds contain preview images of the added files—either a thumbnail of an image or an icon representing the file type—and links to the file download pages.

Download as .zip file

Entire folders can be downloaded as a single .zip file with SkyDrive

See also

References

  1. ^ "Office Web Apps: Control permissions". Windows Live SkyDrive Help Center. Microsoft Corporation. Retrieved August 17, 2011.
  2. ^ a b "Introducing SkyDrive for the modern web, built using HTML5". Inside Windows Live. Microsoft Corporation. June 20, 2011. Retrieved June 20, 2011.
  3. ^ Thurrott, Paul (June 27, 2007). "Windows Live 2007: A Look at the Next Generation". Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows. Penton Media, Inc. Retrieved November 27, 2010.
  4. ^ "Introducing Windows Live Skydrive!". Windows Live SkyDrive team blog. Microsoft Corporation. August 9, 2007. Retrieved November 27, 2010.
  5. ^ "Welcome to the bigger, better, faster SkyDrive!". Windows Live SkyDrive team blog. Microsoft Corporation. February 21, 2008. Retrieved November 27, 2010.
  6. ^ "Hot new updates to SkyDrive!". Windows Live SkyDrive team blog. Microsoft Corporation. May 22, 2008. Retrieved November 27, 2010.
  7. ^ Ars Technica: First look: Microsoft Office Live Workspaces goes public
  8. ^ Sengupta, Sam (May 13, 2010). "Your Office Live Workspace is soon upgrading to Windows Live SkyDrive". Office Live Workspace Blog. Microsoft. Retrieved February 3, 2011.
  9. ^ "Looking ahead and bringing you even more". Office Live Workspace Team Blog. Microsoft. January 23, 2009. Retrieved January 24, 2009.
  10. ^ Perez, Sarah (March 4, 2008). "Office Live Workspace vs Google Docs: Feature-by-Feature Comparison". ReadWriteWeb. Retrieved February 3, 2011.
  11. ^ Inside Windows Live: SkyDrive gets simple app-centric sharing for Office, powerful file management, HTML5 upload, other updates
  12. ^ Steven, Sinofsky; Shahine, Omar; Torres, Mike (February 20, 2012). "Connecting your apps, files, PCs and devices to the cloud with SkyDrive and Windows 8". Building Windows 8. Retrieved February 23, 2012. Oh, and we will also have support for uploading large files (up to 2GB) through Explorer, another big request from SkyDrive.com users over the years.
  13. ^ Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows: Office 2010 Review, Part 3: Office Web Apps
  14. ^ http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/web-apps-help/work-together-on-a-document-in-word-web-app-HA102506009.aspx
  15. ^ Hotmail: Send documents with SkyDrive
  16. ^ a b Getting started with Word Web App – Open an Office document on the web Office.com. Microsoft. Retrieved February 7, 2011
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