Microsoft SkyDrive Cloud Storage Gunning For Dropbox

Microsoft released an update to their SkyDrive product, and they did its in a big way. This is a serious challenge to Dropbox, with the addition of Mac and Windows native app, and mobile apps for iOS and Windows Phone. But not Android mobile, which is a shame, because it would have been just as easy to write an Android client at the same time.

This is a big win for those who already have a SkyDrive account, you can be grandfathered into a 25GB plan, everyone else will be offered a 7GB plan. I've had my SkyDrive account for years but there hasn't been any integration with the desktop (not Mac anyway), and no mobile use until just recently.

SkyDrive is available everywhere I travel; laptop and mobile.

There are a few quirky things about the interface. The layout isn't like Windows Explorer, or Mac Finder. Files and folders are represented by big blocky icons, no detail list. And even weirder was they stuck the mechanism to change from large icons to small icons in the Pull Down process to refresh the screen.

Why do I think this is a serious player? Because aside from Android, which I'm sure is on the way, SkyDrive now integrates with all your systems, and you get more space. Microsoft says a study they did indicates most user have less than 7GB of data stored in the cloud, and that may be true, but the the big reason I don't have as much as I want in the cloud, is the file size limitation. I would push video files to the the cloud drives if most didn't limit to 100MB or less. That's a service imposed limit, not a user issue.

Limitations aside, 25GB is a lot of space, and I intend on using it, all of it. Get a SkyDrive and software here.

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Mozy Changes Backup Plans and Pricing

Mozy sent me an email this morning, which I'm sure went out to all their customers, outlining new pricing plans. According to the email, MozyHome Unlimited has been discontinued, and they are moving to a tiered storage structure:

50GB of storage for $5.99 a month for one computer.
125GB of storage for for $9.99 a month for up to 3 computers.

Not having an unlimited plan will force some to rethink what they backup. Most will probably fall into the 50GB plan, but with hard drives reaching the terabyte range, full hard drive backups will cost considerably more.

Mozy competitor Carbonite.com still has an unlimited plan which only costs $4.57 a month. I wonder if the move by Mozy will signal their competitors to follow suite, or keep plans and pricing the same.

Do you use Mozy? What has your experience been? I've used Mozy for a long time, and they have been 100% reliable. I've never had a problem backing up or restoring.

Update: Several people reminded me today that they have terabytes of data backed up on Mozy. After calculating the costs, yeah, it skyrocketed for sure. For example, if you have 1 Terabyte of data backed up on Mozy, your looking at something like $110 a month now up from basically $5.

• 1TB of backed up date - 125GB of alloted backup space = 975GB of storage not covered under the high end plan
• 975GB / 20GB = roughly 50 20GB block of storage that you must pay for each month
• 50 20GB blocks * $2.00 a month = $100 per month
• $9.99 monthly cost + $100 overage cost per month = $110
• That looks like a +/- 95% increase in cost

My math could be wrong, and if it is, I apologize, love to have someone gently correct me.

I wonder how many others have that much data backed up on Mozy. At $5 for a terabyte, I wonder if they were losing money. I think businesses should make money. And if this is what it takes for Mozy to make money, then I'm all for it. I just know several people who are looking for cheaper solutions now.

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