New version of Skydrive released

Skydrive, Microsoft's cloud storage system, has recently been updated to add HTML5 support. It gives Skydrive a more user friendly interface that reminds me a lot of the Windows File Explorer. It lays everything out in a simple, straight forward fashion that anyone can pick up with ease.

Performance has also increased with focus on the following areas:

  • Improvement for many core tasks and scenarios. For example, clicking folders and navigating photo albums will go from 6-9 seconds down to 100-300 milliseconds, and we took advantage of hardware accelerated graphics to make it fast to click through photo slideshows. Additional core tasks will be enhanced with future updates.
  • Focus on building a site powered by HTML5 to allow the inclusion of advancements like HTML5 Video, CSS3, and client rendered experiences, as well as making sure our slide show experience was great in all browsers without any special software.
  • Evaluation and removal of anything that slowed the experience down or got in the way of a fast, clean site.
  • With Internet Explorer 9 on Windows 7, you can pin SkyDrive to your taskbar for faster access to your files. You can create Word, Excel, or PowerPoint docs stored in the cloud in just one click.

Additionally, Microsoft made sure that the improvements were universal in that it doesn't matter which browser you're using. With this update, it appears that Microsoft focused on performance, navigation, and photo/video experiences.

While this update version of Skydrive won't really impact Windows Phones, we know that Skydrive integration will improve with the Mango update. To borrow a line from Microsoft blog, "this release represents the beginning of a lot of things we're (Microsoft) excited to bring you."  Things that we're excited to see.

You can find out more by visiting Skydrive.com

source: windowsteamblog Thanks to everyone who tipped us on this!

George Ponder

George is the Reviews Editor at Windows Central, concentrating on Windows 10 PC and Mobile apps. He's been a supporter of the platform since the days of Windows CE and uses his current Windows 10 Mobile phone daily to keep up with life and enjoy a game during down time.