Tag: Cloud

Microsoft Teams got a free version

Microsoft is pushing their collaboration solution “Teams” further into the market by providing a free version for smaller companies.

Until now, Microsoft Teams was only available for customers owning an Office 365 Business or Enterprise plan. There was no option to get only Teams and skip the other tools like Exchange, SharePoint and OneDrive for Business. In comparison to the competitor Slack, that made Microsoft Teams quite pricy.

With the free option, Microsoft now provides a competitive solution and could get Slack customers to switch to Teams.

 

SkyDrive vs. SkyDrive Pro

As there is some confusion about SkyDrive and SkyDrive Pro, here are my findings after some tests.

SkyDrive

imageSkyDrive is the consumer online storage service which Microsoft provides for Windows Live users.

Offline Synchronization:

Since 2012 Microsoft provides a simple sync-application to sync your SkyDrive content into a selected folder in your local file system. The SkyDrive client can be easily downloaded from the web.

imageMetro Client:

For the use on tablet pcs using Windows 8, there is a Metro style application for quick and easy touch-enabled access to all of your SkyDrive files. Other than the desktop application, this app doesn’t sync your files for offline use.

SkyDrive Pro

imageSkyDrive Pro is an online service for business users using Office 365 business plans, which include SharePoint Online, or SharePoint Server 2013. SkyDrive Pro is not really a new invention in SharePoint Server 2013. The SkyDrive Pro is only a website with one specific document library which works similar to other document libraries in SharePoint, but is included into the MySite of the user and per default only accessible for that specific user. In the previous version of SharePoint it was called “My Content”, which was a Website, including 2 document libraries for personal and public documents.

Offline Synchronization:

To get your files offline, there is a client application which syncs files of a selected document library into a local folder. This application is called SkyDrive Pro. In earlier versions it was called SharePoint Workspace 2010 and before that it was called Groove. The SkyDrive Pro client, as far as i found out, is included in Microsoft Office 2013 Professional Plus, as its predecessor SharePoint Workspace 2010 was in Office 2010 Professional Plus.

Syncing Files offline without SkyDrive Pro or using the consumer SkyDrive application is not possible. Pressing the sync-Link in SharePoint 2013 without SkyDrive Pro client installed will only give an error “No apps are installed to open this type of link (grvopen)”.

Cloud Storage Comparison

Dropbox vs. Box.com vs. Microsoft SkyDrive vs. Google Drive

 

For a long time, dropbox was the only cloud storage service to provide a real simple Windows Explorer integration and sync. Non of the other services, like Box.com, Google Docs or Microsoft SkyDrive had something comparable.

Sure, Microsoft SkyDrive had the Windows Live Mesh client, but was it really useable? As it was limited to 5 of the whole 25GB, for me not. Dropbox instead, with its nearly perfect client, was a bit to expensive, as soon as you need more space (50GB sell for 7.50 € per month). Google Docs was at all limited to 1GB space and Box.com provided many space (for a few tablet owners free 50GB) but no client application.

A few days ago, Microsoft and Google launched new versions for their cloud storages.

Microsoft offers now 7GB free storage (still 25GB for users who registered before the 1st of April) and a client which works quite similar to the dropbox client. If you need more space, expansions are much cheaper than for dropbox, 20GB cost only 8€ per year.

Google launched the new service “Drive”, which completely replaces the Google Docs, on the same day. They are providing 5GB of storage and also a client application. Further to the integration into Windows Explorer the client also allows you to select which folders you want to sync between hour PC and Google Drive. Very nice feature for users with only limited space on their hard drive, in times of expensive SSD drives something one might worry about. Further space is a bit more expensive than the SkyDrive space, 25GB cost around 1.90 € (2.49 USD) per month.

 

Comparison:

Dropbox Box.com Microsoft SkyDrive Google Drive
Free Storage 2GB (more free space for sharing,…) 5GB (more free space for tablet owners, e.g. Sony Tablet S) 7GB (25GB for registered users before 1st April) 5GB
Windows Client yes not free yes yes
Mobile Client yes yes no (no official for Android) yes
Applications none several free, and buyable (in Browser editing, etc.) free online editor for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote free online editor for Google Docs formats
Price of extra storage 50GB for 7.50 € /month 25Gb for 7.50 € /month 20GB for 8€ /year 25GB for 1.90 € /month

 

Conclusion:

The services of Microsoft and Google can now, with the new client applications, compete with Dropbox. And with their low prices they try to attack Dropbox. Maybe Dropbox will lower their prices soon too.

With the decreasing prices, Cloud Storage may get more and more interesting for everyone who wants to access all if his/her data everywhere.