Today Microsoft made the announcement that SkyDrive had been updated to full HTMl5 glory. What does it mean for SkyDrive users? The service is a lot faster and easier to navigate, provided that a HTML5 capable web browser is used to access the service.

Performance and speed has been optimized considerably. Core tasks like opening folders or navigating photo albums have been improved, with Microsoft citing reductions of 6 to 9 seconds for those tasks. SkyDrive is now making use of hardware accelerated graphics, provided that the web browser and video card support the feature. Microsoft furthermore removed “anything that slowed the experience down or got in the way of a fast, clean site”.

The layout of SkyDrive has been optimized. It resembles the Windows Explorer layout of Windows 7 now, with menus on the side and top, and the folders and files in the center of the screen. Users should now be able to reach their destinations faster, be it files, folders or albums.

The photo viewer has been improved as well. It now utilizes HTML5 and displays in a clean and rich manner. Infinite scrolling has been added to eliminate page switching to see more photos.

Microsoft has added HTML5 video playback support of H.264 files to SkyDrive. The videos can have a size of up to 100 Megabytes.

Internet Explorer and Windows 7 users can utilize jumplists to pin Skydrive to the Windows 7 Taskbar for access to often used features and sections.

Here is a short video of the new SkyDrive demonstrating the new features and capabilities of the file hosting service.

You can check out SkyDrive at the official website. Everyone is free to join and will get the 25 Gigabytes of online space.

Windows users can use the Windows Live SkyDrive Explorer software to access SkyDrive directly from their desktop. (via HTML5 SkyDrive Now Available)

While it is possible to integrate Windows live SkyDrive in Windows, for instance with the free Windows Live SkyDrive Explorer tool, it may not be as intuitive as integrating the online service directly in Microsoft Office.

The Office add-on is compatible with any version of Microsoft Office which adds support for SkyDrive in Office editions that do not support it.

Installation of the add-in is simple and straightforward. Users need to execute the file after download. It is probably a good idea to close Office in case it is open.

The new options are then available under the new Office Live Files menu entry in the main interface. The interface offers to load, browse and save files to Windows Live SkyDrive. A sign in prompt is displayed and users need to enter their Windows Live ID and password to make use of the features.

It is then possible to load documents already stored on Windows Live SkyDrive in the appropriate Microsoft Office application or upload documents from the local computer to the online storage.

Office Live Files is available for download at the developer website.

No official software to maintain the files is provided by Microsoft. Thankfully some third party developers have stepped in and created applications like Windows Live SkyDrive Explorer or SkyDrive Synchronizer which is reviewed in this article.

SkyDrive Synchronizer is a new application released as an early beta currently which has a few limitations. The beta software can be used to one-way synchronize files, upload and download files, delete files on web or locally, schedule file operations and split files into smaller ones which is handy considering the 50 Megabyte file size limit.

The synchronization software is console based and the first step that needs to be undertaken is to edit the ConsoleApplication1.exe.config file to specify the username and password of the Windows Live account as well as the source and destination folders to be synchronized.

SkyDrive Synchronizer is a free portable software program for the Windows operating system (with the aim to make it usable on Linux via Mono as well). The software can be downloaded from the Codeplex website.

The free software program SkyDrive Explorer integrates the Windows Live SkyDrive storage space in Windows Explorer. It will display a new SkyDrive Explorer icon in the My Computer menu after installation. A login to Windows Live is required to access the data that is stored in Windows Live SkyDrive. The program will automatically display the login window with options to store the login data for easier usage.

SkyDrive Explorer currently offers the following functionality:

• View the structure and contents of folders in SkyDrive.
• View files information (type, size, creation date in GMT format).
• Create new root folders and subfolders.
• Copy files into the storage.
• Delete files and folders.
• Copy files from the storage to the computer.
• Copy folders and subfolders from the storage to the computer keeping their structure.
• Use Drag & Drop for files operations.
• Rename files and folders.
• Create links to SkyDrive folders on your computer.

SkyDrive Explorer makes it easier to work with files that are hosted at the Windows Live SkyDrive service. It provides access to some features that are not offered by the web service itself including multi-file-operations like renaming, deleting or copying multiple files or folders. The standard Microsoft library for Windows Live ID services is used which means that the personal information are not passed to the SkyDrive Explorer engine. The traffic between the local computer system and the online storage uses the https protcol to protect against network snooping.

Windows Live SkyDrive Explorer is available for 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. The program executables can be downloaded from the developer’s website.

Each can then be accessed like any other folder in the Windows operating system. Integrating Google Docs would for example display all documents that are stored in that service on the local computer desktop. Gladinet will automatically synchronize the folders whenever data is edited, added or removed from one of the installed data storage services.

New online storage services and applications are added by providing authentication information in a simple form, usually the username and password to access the service online. Some, like WebDav servers require an url, IP or additional information besides the basic authentication data.

Gladinet runs in the Windows system tray on the local computer system from where it can be accessed and configured. It only takes a few clicks to add a new online storage service in the software. The professional and premium editions of the service add new features to the software including:

• Advanced Task Scheduler/Manager (Run Once or Recurring with Pause, Resume and Reschedule Support)
• Incremental Backup to Mounted Cloud Storage (with File Type Filtering*)
• Advanced Download/Upload Acceleration Technology (Compression, Chunking, Parallel Uploads/Downloads, Bandwidth Throttling)
• Encrypted Local Profile and In-Memory-Only Profile for Better Security
• IIS/Apache Support (Avoid Port 80)

Users who regularly work with the previously mentioned cloud storage providers might want to give Gladinet a try.