Windows Live Skydrive is Microsoft's latest addition to the Windows Live family of online services. Microsoft recently released the product into beta testing and we were able to get our hands on a beta invitation and we checked out the service and played around with it. They give you 500MB of free storage space online where you can store anything you want. You can keep your files private if you want, but you can also put them into public folders where you can share them with your family and friends via e-mail links you can send them.
To start, Microsoft gives you 500MB of free online storage space, but we feel that is a little small for today's day in age. Services like Google Gmail gives you 2GB of free e-mail storage space. Hopefully in the future Microsoft will upgrade this to at least 1GB. The interface of Windows Life Skydrive is pretty sleek, but it sometimes isn't as intuitive as we wished. It has a very Hotmail-like feel and will really feel at home for people who are family with Microsoft's other Windows Live online services.
The Skydrive interface is pretty simple, which is a good thing, but it can be a little lacking and unfriendly in some areas.
In the upper right corner is a convenient little gauge that shows your current online storage space in both picture and words. This will be key for those of you who plan on uploading a lot of files and such because you'll need to keep an eye on your free storage space because of the small 500MB limit.
The online storage gauge lets you keep an eye on your free and used space on Skydrive.
When you want to upload a file to a folder, you simply click the folder that you want to add files to and click the "add files" button once you are in the folder you want. This brings up a nice little upload form with the ability to upload up to five files simultaneously. There is an upload size limit of 50MB per file, but that's not too bad considering the 500MB overall file limit. When you start to upload the files, a cute little Flash game appears to give you something to do while you're waiting for your files to upload.
Skydrive allows you to upload up to five files at once, which helps save time if you have to upload a lot of files.
While your files are uploading, you can play a little Flash-based game to take up the time.
Once you have uploaded files, you can click on them and it will give you details on the specific files that you have clicked. It will give you file size and attributes information along with a secure https URL to access that specific file without going to the Skydrive site. You also have the option of downloading, deleting, or renaming the file right from the file details screen. If you have files uploaded in your public folders, you also will have the option of sending a link to the file via your default e-mail program installed on your PC. Keep in mind that you friends that want to access your files will need to have a free Windows Live ID.
If you click on a file that you have already uploaded, you'll be presented with several options and well as lots of file information.
Skydrive will work on any Windows or Macintosh computer with Firefox 1.5 or higher, or Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher. That way no matter where you or your friends and family are, they will be able to access and view your files. We really like the idea of storing files online for backup or sharing between other people and Skydrive certainly isn't the first service to do this and it isn't the best either. However, it is coming along and hopefully by public release they will have added more storage space and worked out some of the interface bugs.
If you want to sign up for the beta, head on over to the Windows Live Skydrive site.
