

SkyDrive and Windows 8 - taylorbuley
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2012/02/20/connecting-your-apps_2c00_-files_2c00_-pcs-and-devices-to-the-cloud-with-skydrive-and-windows-8.aspx

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Michiel
I wonder if the European Commission will open another antitrust case. The last
one was about the "Tying of Internet Explorer to Windows", this one could be
about the "Tying of Cloud Offerings to Windows"

To me it seems that when users are going to upgrade to or buy Windows 8, they
will probably opt-in to cloud storage from Microsoft. Long term Microsoft may
lock-in a very significant percentage of desktop, laptop, smartphone and
tablet users to their services. It doesn't seem to be a level playing field
for e.g. Dropbox.

More generally speaking, it looks like the big three have a strategy to use
the OS as the 'gateway drug' to their online (cloud) offerings. By offering
integrated always available API's to 3rd party developers they ensure the path
of least resistance always leads towards iCloud, Google Docs/Drive and Windows
Live/SkyDrive.

Microsoft still has a monopoly on the desktop as far as I can tell. So it's
going to be interesting if another antitrust case will be started. We may end
up with a 'Windows 8 N' or a "Select your cloud provider" choice screen in the
future.

~~~
bwarp
I think that is a load of toss.

Sure there are dedicated clients for Windows, but you can access the entire of
their "cloud offerings" via the web and some rather nifty APIs.

Ultimately my point is that it is no different to any other "cloud" provider
out there.

You can also quite happily create a word doc on skydrive from a web browser.
You can even mount a skydrive volume on Linux as it's just a WebDAV share as
well.

Microsoft aren't the same company these days.

Check this out:

[http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/dd208104(v=prot.10)....](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/dd208104\(v=prot.10\).aspx)

~~~
downx3
I can't find info on mounting a Skydrive via webdav from Linux. You sure about
this?

[http://windowslivehelp.com/thread.aspx?threadid=cac1c1ae-b78...](http://windowslivehelp.com/thread.aspx?threadid=cac1c1ae-b783-4d8a-8d5d-d6191323c4e5)

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yread
Wow. If your PC is on you will be able to stream video (and browse pictures
and files) with a 2 factor authorization. Pretty impressive (even though that
probably won't be available outside US). They took their sweet time with the
SkyDrive desktop app but it seems it's worth it

~~~
barista
Windows 7 already does remote streaming. [http://windows.microsoft.com/en-
us/windows7/products/feature...](http://windows.microsoft.com/en-
us/windows7/products/features/remote-media-streaming)

It's an awesome feature that not many people know they have.

~~~
PlanetFunk
Only problem is both server and client need to be win7. Would be more useful
if the client could be anything.

~~~
bwarp
That's not true. Any DNLA client works as well. In my case a Bravia EX series.

I can right click and "play to Bravia" on any media file and browse my media
from the TV unit.

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georgemcbay
I hope they fix the file locking issues Mesh has had since the beginning. I
was a big fan and user of Mesh for quite a while but switched to Dropbox 100%
because of this problem.

For whatever reason Live Mesh appears to lock files for way too long such that
if you use it to sync files that are always changing (because you're a
compulsive manual saver in your IDE for example) you're bound to see conflicts
between the program trying to save the file and Mesh.

This sort of conflict occurred for me all the time when using Mesh, even the
newest one in Live Essentials 2011.. make a change, save it, now Mesh has to
sync that file, you make another change and save it again and your code editor
complains about not being able to write to the file (because Mesh is holding a
lock on it for far longer than seems necessary). Haven't had this issue once
with Dropbox so that's why I use Dropbox and ditched Mesh.

If anyone from Microsoft's Mesh/SkyDrive/Win8 teams sees this, please fix this
issue because it makes Mesh nearly unusable for me, but other than this one
thing I prefer Mesh to Dropbox (I like being able to sync any directory
anywhere on my system without jumping through hoops, YMMV).

~~~
justncase80
Why are you using mesh to save source code? This is what source control
software is for. Getting it onto other machines is only half the point, also
revision history, branching, blaming and conflict resolution are important.

Not that that should detract from your main point about locking for too long,
that isn't good. But I wouldn't recommend using that sort of thing for source
code is what I'm sayin'.

~~~
georgemcbay
I'm not using Mesh for SCC, I'm using it for file sync.

Basically, I want my desktop and laptop to have a set of directories
(including, but not limited to, some that include source code) that are always
in sync so I can switch from one to the other seamlessly. I use source code
control (svn and git) in addition to the local file sync.

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voidr
This is just like Dropbox without cross platform support.

~~~
joenathan
Except for the fact that the predecessor to Skydrive was released before
Dropbox and is cross platform
<http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=26811>

No reason to assume Skydrive wont also be cross platform.

~~~
bwarp
You can actually access Skydrive on any platform via the web if you set up a
sync profile to your online storage.

~~~
oakgrove
Comparing a web "sync" to an integrated solution like Dropbox? Tell me another
one.

~~~
freehunter
Dropbox is a web "sync" with a client. Skydrive is a web "sync" with a client
and an API to write clients for other OSes. I don't see the outrage.

~~~
toomuchtodo
Its not a solution if I have to go write the multi-platform clients myself.
Dropbox > Skydrive

~~~
bwarp
You don't - you can mount it with WebDAV.

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yelloweye
nobody can beat dropbox. it is simple to use.

~~~
freehunter
Bollocks. "Nobody can beat x" is never true. "Simple to use" is one of the
worst arguments to make, especially when it requires a third-party download to
your OS. Skydrive is simple and readily available. If it's installed by
default, then yes, somebody can beat Dropbox.

