14 DAY TRIAL // At the beginning of the past month, Microsoft offered for download the first beta of the next version of Windows Live OneCare. Described as all-in-one PC care, Windows Live OneCare 2.0 Beta 1 comes with a range of improvements over the previous version. And one of the features strongly emphasized by the Redmond company is Online Photo Backup. Microsoft's Brandon LeBlanc compiled the video demonstration embedded at the bottom of this article, advertising OneCare online photo backup.
"Making sure your digital photos are backed up is a high priority for Microsoft and the Windows Live OneCare Team. A user could have many years worth of digital memories stored on their PC and if that PC crashes, those memories are lost. Of course you can back those photos up to another PC, or a DVD but those don't come entirely risk-free. Backing up to another PC doesn't mean that PC won't fail and with backing up to a DVD, you run the risk of that DVD becoming damaged in some way and then unreadable to restore the data. With Online Photo Backup - you take those risks away," LeBlanc stated.
A total of 10 GB of online backup storage space will be made available for users of Windows Live OneCare 2.0. Microsoft's anti-virus comes with multiple licenses. And in this context, a maximum of three computers can run a single copy of OneCare 2.0, but this means that all the machines will share the same 10 GB of space. Still, according to LeBlanc Microsoft plans to expand the current 10 GB in the cloud storage. Still, this will not be offered as a part of the company's Software plus services strategy, in which users would buy OneCare 2.0 and get storage for free. As a matter of fact, online photo backup with OneCare 2.0 will only be free as long as the product is in beta stage. Once it is finalized, Microsoft will also place a price tag on the service.
"With the Windows Live OneCare 2.0 beta - Online Photo Backup is an "add-on" to your OneCare Subscription and allows you to backup photos to any of your PC's in your OneCare Circle. According to the Windows Live OneCare Team Blog - when Windows Live OneCare 2.0 is released, Online Photo Backup will be an added cost to your standard OneCare Subscription package," LeBlanc revealed.