Microsoft Reveals SkyDrive Will Be Integrated Into Windows 8
There are not many Windows 8 features that excite me as much as the planned integration of Microsoft's online storage and document editing service SkyDrive in the operating system. A new blog post over at the Building Windows 8 blog reveals how the Redmond company intents to integrate SkyDrive into the Windows operating system.
The post highlights three big features, and promises in the end that the announcement is not the end of it for SkyDrive in Windows.
The three big features that Microsoft announced today are a new SkyDrive Metro style app for Windows 8, SkyDrive file integration into Windows Explorer for Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8, and remote file access through SykDrive.com.
A Metro style SkyDrive app
This is the feature with the least appeal to me personally. I can however see that users who will make use of Metro actively will love it. The new SkyDrive app will launch with the Consumer Preview of Windows 8 at the end of February. Windows 8 users can see and access their files in the Metro user interface directly, on all PCs they have access to.
If a user signs in with a Windows Live ID, Windows 8 will automatically check if important system files, like settings, customizations or the browser history, are stored in the cloud. If they are, they are made available on the system as well.
I'd assume that Windows will ask before transferring the files to the Internet and back to the current PC. This has not been explicitly mentioned though, and we may need to wait for the developer preview before we can test the feature to see how it works.
Other Metro apps can make use of SkyDrive as well. Microsoft notes that this "will bring a file cloud to every Metro style app".
SkyDrive Desktop App
SkyDrive for the desktop will be offered as a small standalone installer. It takes about ten seconds to install the program on the desktop, and will create a SkyDrive folder in the userprofile folder. This works exactly like the Dropbox folder. All files that you put into the folder will automatically be synchronized with the cloud.
The app will run on Windows 8, but also on Windows 7 and Vista (sorry no XP version). We are also pretty sure that there will be a SkyDrive desktop app for the Mac as well.
SkyDrive's current file size limit of 100 Megabyte would definitely be to low for this application, which is why Microsoft has increased the maximum file size to 2 Gigabytes. This is actually the same size that free Dropbox account owners get in total.
SkyDrive for the desktop integrates with Windows Explorer to provide a seamless experience.
Windows Vista or Windows 7 users who plan to upgrade to Windows 8, can use the SkyDrive application to move all of their important files to the cloud before they do so, to get them synced on the new PC or after the update.
Remote File access in Windows 8
The third and final feature adds remote file access to SkyDrive in Windows 8. It is not clear if both PCs need to run Windows 8, or only the desktop app for the feature to work. It basically allows you to connect to a remote PC to transfer files from that PC to the PC you are currently working on. The remote PC needs to be online for this to work.
This feature uses a 2-factor authentication, for instance by mobile phone or email, to make sure that only authorized users can access data on the remote PC.
SkyDrive currently provides users with 25 Gigabytes of free storage. We mentioned earlier that Microsoft plans to offer storage upgrades at a fair pricing for users who need more space in the cloud.
It is to early to tell if this will be one of the killer features that every Windows enthusiast has been waiting for. From the looks of it, it could very well scare the hell out of Dropbox and other cloud hosting and data synchronization providers.
What's your take on this?
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What mental age of reader are you targeting with the first sentence? 10?
Why not write an article on how to *avoid* upgrading from W10 to W11. Analogous to those like me who avoided upgrading from 7 to 10 for as long as possible.
If your paymaster Microsoft permits it, of course.
5. Rufus
6. Ventoy
PS. I hate reading these “SEO optimized” articles.
I used Rufus to create an installer for a 6th gen intel i5 that had MBR. It upgraded using Setup. No issues except for Win 11 always prompting me to replace my local account. Still using Win 10 Pro on all my other PCs to avoid the bullying.
bit pointless to upgrade for the sake of upgrading as you never know when you’ll get locked out because ms might suddenly not provide updates to unsupported systems.
ps…. time travelling?
written. Jan 15, 2023
Updated • Jan 13, 2023
This happens when you schedule a post in WordPress and update it before setting the publication date.
Anyone willing to downgrade to this awful OS must like inflicting themselves with harm.
I have become convinced now that anybody who has no qualms with using Windows 11/10 must fit into one of the following brackets:
1) Too young to remember a time before W10 and W11 (doesn’t know better)
2) Wants to play the latest games on their PC above anything else (or deeply needs some software which already dropped W7 support)
3) Doesn’t know too much about how computers work, worried that they’d be absolutely lost and in trouble without the “”latest security””
4) Microsoft apologist that tries to justify that the latest “features” and “changes” are actually a good thing, that improve Windows
5) Uses their computer to do a bare minimum of like 3 different things, browse web, check emails, etc, so really doesn’t fuss
Obviously that doesn’t cover everyone, there’s also the category that:
6) Actually liked W7 more than 10, and held out as long as possible before switching, begrudgingly uses 10 now
Have I missed any group off this list?
You have missed in this group just about any professional user that uses business software like CAD programs or ERP Programs which are 99% of all professional users from this list.
Linux doesn’t help anyone who is not a linux kid and apple is just a fancy facebook machine.
Microsoft has removed KB5029351 update
only from windows update though
KB5029351 is still available from the ms update catalog site
1. This update is labaled as PREVIEW if it causes issues to unintelligent people, then they shouldn’t have allowed Preview updates ot install.
2. I have installed it in a 11 years old computer, and no problems at all.
3. Making a big drama over a bluescreen for an updated labeled as preview is ridiculous.
This is probably another BS internet drama where people ran programs and scripts that modified the registry until they broke Windows, just for removing stuff that they weren’t even using just for the sake of it.
Maybe people should stop playing geeks and actually either use Windows 10 or Windows 11, but don’t try to modify things just for the sake of it.
Sometimes removing or stopping things (like defender is a perfect example) only need intelligence, not scripts or 3rd party programs that might mess with windows.
Windows 11 was a pointless release, it was just created because some of the Windows team wanted to boost sales with some sort of new and improved Windows 10. Instead, Microsoft cannot support one version well let alone two.
Windows 11 is the worst ugly shame by Microsoft ever. They should release with every new W11 version a complete free version of Starallback inside just to make this sh** OS functionally again.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released a statement regarding the “unsupported processor” blue screen error for their boards using Intel 600/700 series chipsets & to avoid the KB5029351 Win11 update:
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/MSI-On–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–Error-Message-of-Windows-11-Update-KB5029351-Preview-142215
check out the following recent articles:
Neowin – Microsoft puts little blame on its Windows update after UNSUPPORTED PROCESSOR BSOD bug:
https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-puts-little-blame-on-its-windows-update-after-unsupported-processor-bsod-bug/
BleepingComputer – Microsoft blames ‘unsupported processor’ blue screens on OEM vendors:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-blames-unsupported-processor-blue-screens-on-oem-vendors/
While there may be changes or updates to the Windows 10 Store for Business and Education in the future, it is premature to conclude that it will be discontinued based solely on rumors.
My advice, I left win 15 years ago. Now I’m a happy linux user (linuxmint) but there is Centos, Fedora, Ubuntu depending on your needs.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released new BIOS/firmware updates for their Intel 600 & 700 series motherboards to fix the “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR” problem (Sept. 6):
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/Updated-BIOS-fixes-Error-Message–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–caused-BSOD-on-MSI-s-Intel-700-and-600-Series-Motherboards-142277
I try to disable the Diagnostics Tracking Service (Connected Devices Platform User Services) but it wont let me disable it, any help will be greatly appreciated.
Tank you for your help