Had an opportunity to play with the beta of Windows Live SkyDrive today.
The service recently became available in the UK, in addition to the US and India, and allows you to store files and folders on-line ala XDrive and other similar services. You could upload those important documents, some music, photographs – anything – and then access them securely wherever you can gain access to a web-browser.
If you’ve already got a Windows Live ID, then you’ve got a SkyDrive setup already for free. Just go to skydrive.live.com and login!
You’re given a generous 10GB allowance and the web interface is easy to use to upload and download files with. It seems to work just as well under Firefox as it does under Internet Explorer too – which is a pleasant surprise!
As well as allowing you to securely access your files, you can make individual files or (and this is cool) entire folders available for sharing with either other specific Windows Live contacts, or the unwashed masses.
So whilst I’m not crazy about the name of the service (Windows Live Folders was just fine for me…) it is a thumbs up to the features!
This could prove a good alternative to YouSendIt when you want to give ongoing access to certain files for an indefinite period to either a closed group of people, of the genera public. Just upload the files, send those folks the URL – and you’re away. No time limits before the files are removed.
About Richard Tubb
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