14 DAY TRIAL // Cloud storage seems to be having quite a week. Dropbox dropped some pretty big news with its public share links, Google Drive is said to launch in a day or two and now Microsoft has released the SkyDrive Windows app.
The app itself is pretty standard, you get one folder on your computer that is synced to the cloud, Dropbox style, no more multiple folders mess.
Everything you put in there is automatically uploaded. A very cool feature of the new SkyDrive is that, once you link up a computer, you can remotely access any file on it, even if it's not in the SkyDrive folder, via the website as long as the computer is running.
Along with the app, Microsoft also revealed storage plans and pricing and they're quite enticing.
"The benefits of SkyDrive integration with Windows are clear: you can now drag-and-drop to and from SkyDrive with files up to 2GB, access all of your files offline, and have the full power of Windows Explorer available to manage your SkyDrive files and folders," Microsoft explained.
"Files stored in your SkyDrive are in a plain folder on your PC, which means any app that works with local folders and files can now work with SkyDrive," it added.
You get 7 GB of storage for free, more than any of the other comparable services including Google Drive which is said to launch with 5 GB.
As a perk to those that have been using SkyDrive so far, any account registered up until April 22nd is eligible, will be able to upgrade to 25 GB for free, the same amount they had until now. There would have been plenty of angry users if Microsoft hadn't done this.
Another 20 GB of storage will set you back £6, $9.68, €7.31 per year (that's important), 50 GB is £16, $25.8, €19.5 per year and 100 GB is £32, $51.6, €39 per year.
Dropbox charges $9.99, €7.56 per month or $99, €75.6 per year for 50GB of storage. Google currently charges $5, €3.78 per year for 20GB, which works out at $12.5, €9.45 per year for 50GB, but it remains to be seen whether the pricing remains the same for Drive users.