Windows 8 SkyDrive cloud service promised to be 'seamless'

Users of Microsoft's cloud-based file storage service SkyDrive stand to get a "seamless" experience of opening and saving their SkyDrive-based files on the upcoming flagship operating system Windows 8.

 

Mike Torres and Omar Shahine, Group Program Managers for SkyDrive, said the SkyDrive app for Windows 8 promises to let Windows 8 users open, edit and save SkyDrive-based files as if the files were on their own hard or flash drives.

 

"SkyDrive is available as a file picker, so from any app you’ll be able to open files from, and save files to your SkyDrive. If the app developer chooses, you’ll even be able to save files automatically back to SkyDrive. Alternatively, if you’re using a content creation app like a document editor, you’ll be able to save files back to SkyDrive in any folder that you choose," they said.

 

"No copying files from one cloud to another just to share or collaborate. No converting files or having to switch to new apps. No searching across different storage areas to find files," they added.

 

They noted SkyDrive presently provides personal cloud storage for 17 million active SkyDrive customers who use the service every month to privately share photos and collaborate on Office documents.

 

"We currently store approximately 10 petabytes of user data (one petabyte is a million gigabytes, or a million billion bytes) and we expect to grow that beyond what some of the largest scale services on the Internet support today," they said.

 

They added SkyDrive shares much of the same structure with Microsoft's email service Hotmail, which stores over 100PB of user data.

 

Metro-style SkyDrive app

 

With the SkyDrive app, an early version of which will be available at Consumer Preview, Microsoft focused on two things:

 

 

"We built the entire app using modern web technologies like JavaScript, CSS, and HTML5, and because of our recent updates to SkyDrive.com, we were able to use the same JSON APIs and JavaScript object model that the website uses. The only difference on Windows 8 is that we bind the results to modern controls that were built for touch," they said.

 

For app developers

 

For app developers, they said this means that so long as their apps support opening and saving documents and photos, such apps will automatically support SkyDrive without any additional work.

 

SkyDrive will also be available via the Share charm, which allows one to send documents or photos through the Mail app on Windows 8.

 

"With one tap, you will be able to choose to share files through SkyDrive instead of sending them as attachments, which means you won’t have multiple copies of your files, each with their own set of changes. And of course, you won’t be limited to the small number of attachments and total file size of most email services since the files are stored in your SkyDrive," they said.

 

Working with other metro-style apps

 

They said the best part is that any Metro style app that lets its users open and save files will get SkyDrive integration for free.

 

"Without adding a single line of code, users of the app will be able to access and store files on SkyDrive. So essentially, SkyDrive is one touch away from any Windows 8 app," they said.

 

SkyDrive on the desktop

 

SkyDrive power is also available on Windows 8 desktops through Windows Explorer and to desktop apps like Office as well.

 

They added SkyDrive on the desktop will also run on Windows Vista and Windows 7.

 

"If you want to make sure your files come with you to Windows 8 and you’re still running Windows 7, you’ll just put them in your SkyDrive folder. This makes it easier to upgrade to Windows 8 or make sure you can access your files across all of your PCs," they said.

 

Also, SkyDrive for the desktop will also provide the ability to sync up to one's available quota of storage and the ability to unlock more.

 

Microsoft will also support uploading large files (up to 2GB) through Explorer, another big request from SkyDrive.com users over the years.

 

'Forgot something' feature

 

Microsoft also built a new feature that allows one to “reach across” the Internet to access any file, stream videos, or view photo albums from a remote PC that is running SkyDrive on the desktop.

 

"For any remote folder or file, you can also choose to 'copy to SkyDrive,' so that you’ll always have it across your devices," they said.

 

"Internally we call this the 'Forgot something?' feature. If you forget to put something on SkyDrive, you’ll still be able to access it on your remote PC through SkyDrive.com. We’ve done special work to enable remote streaming of video, and we’ll treat photo albums on your remote PC exactly as we do photo albums in SkyDrive, with the same beautiful full-screen viewer," they added.

 

To protect from abuse, Microsoft will require a SkyDrice user to provide a second factor of authentication - a code sent to a mobile phone or alternate email address in addition to having access to your account.

 

"This means that anyone wanting access to your remote PC would have to have access not only to your account, but also to either an alternate email or your phone (which they would need to physically possess)," they said. — TJD, GMA News