14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is reportedly preparing a new set of updates for its cloud storage service, SkyDrive, and it might be set to make them available starting with the last week of July this year.
The Redmond-based software giant has already made available a series of enhancements for its service, which included the release of dedicated Windows and Mac clients, yet more of them are set to arrive this year, it seems.
One of them would include the release of a Metro application for the upcoming Windows 8 platform, accompanied by support for Android.
Sometime in July, most probably in the last week of the month, Microsoft should make available a Milestone 3 release of SkyDrive, a recent article on The Verge reads.
The update is reportedly meant to bring a series of enhancements to the iPad app, along with simple file sharing capabilities.
The web interface is also expected to suffer some changes, which should have something to do with the UI modifications that Windows Live was recently rumored to see.
Microsoft’s entire set of web services is expected to get a taste of the Metro UI that dominates Windows 8, and SkyDrive is one of these.
Additionally, there should be a second update pushed to the service in late 2012. Set to arrive as Milestone 4, that update reportedly packs better Android support, along with a new Recycle Bin feature. Through this enhancement, SkyDrive would offer backup options to its users.
No specific info on when the Milestone 4 release is set to land has emerged so far, but we might expect it soon after Windows 8 is released.
In addition to these official features set to make their way to the file hosting service, we also hear that there might be some of them coming from third-party developers, such as the integration of SkyDrive into GNOME 3.6.
GNOME already has support for Windows Live, while the upcoming release will enable the GNOME Documents app to access files stored in a SkyDrive account.
SkyDrive is already available for Linux users via web browsers, but this implementation would offer them direct access to documents from the OS.
Similarly, owners of Android device can access SkyDrive accounts through their browsers, the same as other mobile phone users can.
However, if the above prove true, we should see SkyDrive apps on all sorts of platforms before the end of the year, including Windows, Mac, iOS, Windows Phone, Android and Linux, greatly expanding the service’s reach to users.