Author Topic: Microsoft takes on Dropbox with major SkyDrive update (Read 42870 times)

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #25 on:** April 24, 2012, 05:56 PM »

Question - I have installed the SkyDrive app for windows 7 - fine.

How do I sign out of it and login with a different hotmail account?

In fact short of uninstalling it I can't see how to logout or change user credentials???

lanux128 · « **Reply #26 on:** April 24, 2012, 08:45 PM »

How do I sign out of it and login with a different hotmail account?
-Carol Haynes (April 24, 2012, 05:56 PM)

try the 'unlink skydrive' option. it will prompt the "getting started" screen again and you can enter another credentials.

Microsoft SkyDrive [SkyDrive]_25_04_12_002.png

Microsoft takes on Dropbox with major SkyDrive update

cyberdiva · « **Reply #27 on:** April 24, 2012, 08:52 PM »

@cyberdiva: i read somewhere that if you are using more than 5GB of the storage and your account will be auto-upgraded. no opt-in necessary. anyway, i'm posting the screenie i took earlier..
-lanux128 (April 24, 2012, 08:10 AM)

Thanks very much for the screenshot and the info. Since I already had about 18 GB of stuff stored on SkyDrive, I guess they "upgraded" me automatically to the 25 GB they offered when I signed up originally.

nosh · « **Reply #28 on:** April 24, 2012, 11:53 PM »

Google Drive, SkyDrive & Dropbox compared [Digital Inspiration]
http://www.labnol.or...drive-dropbox/21214/

The 2-step (phone based) security that Google provides is the killer feature for me.

lanux128 · « **Reply #29 on:** April 25, 2012, 12:10 AM »

and Dropbox ups the ante!

• Share your stuff with a link! http://blog.dropbox.com/?p=1138

Jibz · « **Reply #30 on:** April 25, 2012, 12:30 AM »

"GDrive" is Google's version, to be announced any day now. I love all this storage; the more companies offering free products, the more users can be selective. Go * Microsoft.

* = away
-zridling (April 23, 2012, 11:41 PM)

Everyone record this day. These are words that I NEVER thought I would see coming from Zaine's fingers!
-Josh (April 24, 2012, 03:25 AM)

+1

No doubt!
-Renegade (April 24, 2012, 05:37 PM)

I think you forgot to read the small print

.

Jibz · « **Reply #31 on:** April 25, 2012, 12:48 AM »

Google Drive, SkyDrive & Dropbox compared [Digital Inspiration]
http://www.labnol.or...drive-dropbox/21214/

The 2-step (phone based) security that Google provides is the killer feature for me.
-nosh (April 24, 2012, 11:53 PM)

From the review:

SkyDrive offers plenty of storage space but the best part is that the SkyDrive web app lets you access files and folders of all your other computer right from within your browser. You just need to have SkyDrive on these machines and you can then easily access any of their files from any other computer, anywhere simply using your Windows Live ID.

Worries me slightly. I mean, it sounds like a nice idea, I'm just not sure I think Windows Live ID provides enough security to give access to all your files.

nosh · « **Reply #32 on:** April 25, 2012, 01:05 AM »

Yup, scary stuff. The blackhats must be ecstatic!

lanux128 · « **Reply #33 on:** April 25, 2012, 01:21 AM »

Worries me slightly. I mean, it sounds like a nice idea, I'm just not sure I think Windows Live ID provides enough security to give access to all your files.
-Jibz (April 25, 2012, 12:48 AM)

more of that here. apparently there is a "second factor of authentication".

Note that, in order to access a remote PC you will have to provide a second factor of authentication beyond your account password. You’ll need to enter a code that we send to your mobile phone or alternate email address even if you’re already signed in to your SkyDrive account (if you’re already on a trusted PC, you won’t have to do this every time, and it is easy to do this one-time setup). This means that anyone wanting access to your remote PC would have to have access not only to your account, but also to either an alternate email or your phone (which they would need to physically possess).

https://blogs.msdn.c...&Redirected=true

nosh · « **Reply #34 on:** April 25, 2012, 02:08 AM »

Still worrying. It would have been nicer if the second factor was restricted to just the mobile phone. There are a whole lot of people working with already compromised email accounts.

Jibz · « **Reply #35 on:** April 25, 2012, 02:10 AM »

It looks like this feature is disabled by default, thankfully.

lanux128 · « **Reply #36 on:** April 25, 2012, 02:17 AM »

Still worrying. It would have been nicer if the second factor was restricted to just the mobile phone. There are a whole lot of people working with already compromised email accounts.
-nosh (April 25, 2012, 02:08 AM)

already compromised?!? then they have plenty of other stuff to worry about rather than an insecure Windows Live ID..

nosh · « **Reply #37 on:** April 25, 2012, 02:27 AM »

Files + info you've shared over email vs. every single file on your computer.

Kind of a big step up, I'd say!

But I agree with you in principle, they have a lot to be worried about.

*note to self: change passwords*

Josh · « **Reply #38 on:** April 25, 2012, 03:18 AM »

"GDrive" is Google's version, to be announced any day now. I love all this storage; the more companies offering free products, the more users can be selective. Go * Microsoft.

* = away
-zridling (April 23, 2012, 11:41 PM)

Everyone record this day. These are words that I NEVER thought I would see coming from Zaine's fingers!
-Josh (April 24, 2012, 03:25 AM)

+1

No doubt!
-Renegade (April 24, 2012, 05:37 PM)

I think you forgot to read the small print .
-Jibz (April 25, 2012, 12:30 AM)

You had me going there! But, none-the-less, I have a screenshot of Zaine giving praise to Microsoft. HAH!

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #39 on:** April 25, 2012, 03:44 AM »

more of that here. apparently there is a "second factor of authentication".
-lanux128 (April 25, 2012, 01:21 AM)

When I set up the desktop app I had to enter a code received by text.

Not a terribly convincing form of security, especially as I have never seen second factor authentication via a browser.

What is the point of this code when anyone hacking your email account (and I have seen this happen many times in recent months) can access all you files.

IainB · « **Reply #40 on:** April 25, 2012, 09:16 AM »

Has anyone been successful in downloading and installing their application on XP?
-app103 (April 24, 2012, 07:40 AM)

You maybe don't need to, depending on your requirements.
I haven't finished playing about with it enough to be sure just yet, but the application appears to be integrated with the shell for Windows Explorer and also acts as a sync tool for SkyDrive - i.e., I think it creates a local sync copy of what is on Sky Drive.
I already had my directory listing of SkyDrive in my Windows Explorer from a while back - I had mapped it as a network drive. You can drag and drop to it, etc.
I'm not so sure I want a redundant/duplicate local sync copy of SkyDrive on my local drive, so I may disable it if it does what I think it does.

I already have a Sync tool for Google docs, and I disabled that for the same reason - redundant/duplicate local sync copy. I still keep it as a mapped network drive though.

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #41 on:** April 25, 2012, 11:28 AM »

I'm not so sure I want a redundant/duplicate local sync copy of SkyDrive on my local drive, so I may disable it if it does what I think it does.
-IainB (April 25, 2012, 09:16 AM)

Sounds like you're more trusting than I. I tend to stay focused on the possibility of their stuff failing (regarding the cloud in general...not just MS). In a major failure data recovery scenario 3% loss is acceptable ... unless of course all your stuff just happens to be in that particular 3%

I'm toying with syncing my projects & source code archives between the office & home via the SkyDrive account. But that's allowing for a local copy bolted to the floor (and backed up) on both ends. The only stuff I'd store exclusively in "the cloud" is the stuff I don't give a damn about losing.

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #42 on:** April 25, 2012, 03:25 PM »

From what I read (sorry can't remember where) the desktop app is not XP compatible.

Deozaan · « **Reply #43 on:** April 25, 2012, 04:45 PM »

and Dropbox ups the ante!

• Share your stuff with a link! http://blog.dropbox.com/?p=1138
-lanux128 (April 25, 2012, 12:10 AM)

So now you don't have to put stuff in the public folder to share it with people? Cool!

rgdot · « **Reply #44 on:** April 25, 2012, 04:52 PM »

and Dropbox ups the ante!

• Share your stuff with a link! http://blog.dropbox.com/?p=1138
-lanux128 (April 25, 2012, 12:10 AM)

So now you don't have to put stuff in the public folder to share it with people? Cool!
-Deozaan (April 25, 2012, 04:45 PM)

That's it? Is that really such a big deal?

Deozaan · « **Reply #45 on:** April 25, 2012, 05:01 PM »

and Dropbox ups the ante!

• Share your stuff with a link! http://blog.dropbox.com/?p=1138
-lanux128 (April 25, 2012, 12:10 AM)

So now you don't have to put stuff in the public folder to share it with people? Cool!
-Deozaan (April 25, 2012, 04:45 PM)

That's it? Is that really such a big deal?
-rgdot (April 25, 2012, 04:52 PM)

I don't think it's a big deal, but I think it's a useful feature.

Though there's a pretty good argument against it:

Nice feature for individual users - but a privacy nightmare for Dropbox Teams!!

Imagine a group doing joint work in a closed group which is shared through Dropbox. Some group member wants to share (in good faith) with another person and sends him a public link. The other person thinks "wow, interesting" and shares (in good faith), say, on his Facebook page. Suddenly, privacy of a whole team is compromised without the team even knowing about it!! Unlike adding a new member to the Shared Folder, group members have no means to know that some group member has shared group-confidential stuff with the rest of the world!!

To me this is a major disaster and show stopper for using Dropbox for team work

Second scenario: Some person decides (or is politely asked) to leave a Dropbox team. He/she may of course keep the stuff elaborated jointly so far. Before the guy leaves the shared folder he "gets a link" - which allows him "eternal" read access to this folder, including all future additions to it, without being a group member anymore.

This is like installing a bugging device on a shared folder ==> Show stopper for Dropbox-based team work.

Do I need to give more examples?

Please add a feature to turn off public link generation for any given shared folder by the folder owner. To promote trust, this attribute should also be viewable by all subscribers to this public folder.

I know that people can always "steal" and publish stuff that should stay private. But the "get link" feature as it is implemented right now just makes it too easy to do it even unintentionally!
-http://blog.dropbox.com/?p=1138#comment-508832964

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #46 on:** April 25, 2012, 07:01 PM »

I have had two BSOD 0x1e errors since I installed the desktop SkyDrive app on Windows 7 x64, uninstalled and haven't had one since. Think I will give it a miss.

lanux128 · « **Reply #47 on:** April 25, 2012, 07:41 PM »

and Dropbox ups the ante!

• Share your stuff with a link! http://blog.dropbox.com/?p=1138
-lanux128 (April 25, 2012, 12:10 AM)

So now you don't have to put stuff in the public folder to share it with people? Cool!
-Deozaan (April 25, 2012, 04:45 PM)

That's it? Is that really such a big deal?
-rgdot (April 25, 2012, 04:52 PM)

i actually like this feature. if you want to share a certain file in a folder, there is no need to move that file into the 'Public' folder. thus orphaning it from the rest of the items in the original folder.

agreed, no big deal but it's an oft requested feature and quite convenient too.

IainB · « **Reply #48 on:** April 26, 2012, 09:22 AM »

Sounds like you're more trusting than I...
...
...The only stuff I'd store exclusively in "the cloud" is the stuff I don't give a damn about losing.
clusively in "the cloud" is the stuff I don't give a damn about losing.
-Stoic Joker (April 25, 2012, 11:28 AM)

No, I think I may be just as mistrusting as you.

I don't store anything exclusively in the cloud. I have it all on two laptops and my daily backups, and probably in my restore points. If I put something in the cloud, it's usually because I want to be able to use it for sharing with others (i.e., not between my disparate PCs).

By the way, the Syncdocs thing seems to be a bit of a scam. After it has synced 500 documents, it stops syncing and asks you to start paying a fee for the service. Since I don't value the service nor the data, I am hardly likely to be willing to pay for it - in fact, I think the bandwidth it uses in duplicating all those files is a waste of money.
For example, if I have a document in (say) 3 different Gdocs virtual folders (they are really labels), then SyncDocs faithfully creates 3 "real" folders on my local PC and puts one copy of the document into each of them. Sheesh.

IainB · « **Reply #49 on:** April 26, 2012, 09:31 AM »

i actually like this feature. if you want to share a certain file in a folder, there is no need to move that file into the 'Public' folder. thus orphaning it from the rest of the items in the original folder.
agreed, no big deal but it's an oft requested feature and quite convenient too.
-lanux128 (April 25, 2012, 07:41 PM)

That has been possible for ages with Gdocs. You just email people with a sharing link to the document, and the link can give anyone who has it read access, or write access, if you stipulate that.
At any time, you can revert the file to non-shared/"private" status, and thus remove further read/write access to the file at that point - thus rendering the sharing link obsolete.