By Glenn Fleishman, Macworld | Storage, cloud storage, dropbox Add a new comment
You can also directly edit files in the browser for Excel, Word, OneNote, and PowerPoint formats, as well as create new files of those types. This is a fantastic option for those who either dont own any or all of these apps or work with people who lack them. Options are less extensive than in full versions, but more than enough for editing. (A click on a button in the editor Web page opens the file in a desktop app if its installed, too.)
The SkyDrive app has a neat simplicity. It provides a straight forward view of items, along with the ability to preview those types supported in iOS, which includes Word and Excel, or downloaded and then opened in another app. Images can be viewed as gallery thumbnails or downloaded to local pictures storage. The app can generate and send links to items and folders, as well as upload photos and videos.
Microsoft includes a hearty 7GB of storage for free accounts, although previous users of SkyDrive had the option for a free bump to 25GB. The fees for more storage are relatively inexpensive. Add 20GB on top of existing a 7GB or 25GB free allocation for $10 a year, add 50GB for $25 per year, and add 100GB for $50 per year. Thats half of Dropboxs rate (revised in July), which are 100GB for $99 per year (or $10 per month) and 200GB for $199 per year (or $20 per month). Googles combined Drive, Gmail, and Picasa storage is slightly more expensive than Microsofts.
Macworlds buying advice
An argument for using Microsoft more mediocre products was once that it made sense if you worked mostly or largely with people running Windows. That argument isnt viable any more, as SkyDrives competitors perform as well under Windows as they do under Mac OS X, and SkyDrive both works well taken by itself and compares well to others. Still, its hard to find a single compelling reason to pick it outside of its superb use of the Web.
Glenn Fleishman, a senior contributor to Macworld, is currently crowdfunding his book Crowdfunding via Kickstarter. Really. He is.