The Windows Live SkyDrive Team has posted a in-depth post offering a overview of what’s coming with their next update. First and foremost: Windows Live SkyDrive will be boosting everyone’s storage from 5GB to 25GB. Secondly, they want to give you more control over your files by offering you new features to do so:

Download photos directed to your to Windows Live Photo Gallery.

Download as a .zip file. Download an entire folder in one compressed file (initially available only in the United States, Denmark, and Ireland).

Move files between folders.

Copy files to multiple folders.

Sharing photos is huge these days. They’ve added almost 20 new features to make the photo experience on Windows Live SkyDrive even better such as supporting People Tags, bigger thumbnails, and a new online slideshow using Microsoft Silverlight.

You will be able to also keep your Internet Explorer favorites synced up with multiple PCs using Windows Live SkyDrive and Windows Live SkyDrive.

There is a lot coming to Windows Live SkyDrive! Check out their blog post for more details on what’s coming up.

Today Windows Live SkyDrive leaves the "Beta" tag behind - introducing 5GB of storage for its users and becoming available in 35 new countries and regions. Read the Windows Live SkyDrive launch announcement from their team blog!

On top of being available to users in the United States, United Kingdom, and India, Windows Live SkyDrive is now available in the following 35 countries and regions:

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Finland, Guatemala, Honduras, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and Turkey.

With 5GB of storage, you can store quite a bit of your photos, music, Office documents and more. Did I mention that the 5GB of storage is also free?

For those who have been beta testing Windows Live SkyDrive - with today's launch you can expect to see improvements with the backend that help improve performance on top of the increase to 5GB of storage from 1GB previously.

Here on the Windows Experience Blog, I use Windows Live SkyDrive to host the OPML files for my Microsoft Team Blogs page. Yes, the page may be a little out of date but a big update is coming very soon with a few more categories. You can download the OPML files and add them to your RSS feed reader directly from Windows Live SkyDrive. We also have a Public Folder setup on Windows Live SkyDrive for the Windows Vista Team Blog too.

You can head on over to skydrive.live.com and login with your Windows Live ID to use Windows Live SkyDrive today.

Today Microsoft is announcing the final product name for what was previously known as Windows Live Folders. Windows Live SkyDrive gets not only its final product name but also a few new features and enhanced UI reflecting changes coming across many of the Windows Live services including Windows Live Spaces.

So what’s Windows Live SkyDrive? Windows Live SkyDrive is a brand new Windows Live service that gives users 500MB of web space for the storing and sharing of files. Think of it as a personal “harddrive” on the internet - or “the cloud”. By default, you get several protected directories which you can store your files in. These directories are completed protected from the public. Only you can view them. However, Windows Live SkyDrive allows you create or choose specific folders to share with everyone (Public folders) or specific people on your Windows Live Contacts list. You can set specific permissions for those viewing your folders as well - such as someone who can contribute (add and remove files) or someone who is simply just a reader. Your Public folder allows ONLY reader permissions for the public in viewing files within the folder. No need to worry about people maxing out your account with files.

I put together a small demo outlining Windows Live SkyDrive and several of today’s beta improvements with a few new features. Check it out:

Video: Demo: Windows Live SkyDrive

For those who’ve been using the beta of Windows Live SkyDrive, today’s changes and updates include the new Windows Live UI (header), improved file upload, thumbnails in folder views, and a section for visited SkyDrive folders from other people.

Nick and I use Windows Live SkyDrive quite a bit in sharing files. With me being outside Portland and him of course in Redmond - Windows Live SkyDrive has enabled us to quickly access and share files while working on projects. It has been a tremendous help overcoming the distance.

Give Windows Live SkyDrive a spin and let me know what you think. I’ll be setting up a Public folder for you all to check out with some photos while visiting Redmond.  

Screenshots:
   

Today Microsoft is announcing the final product name for what was previously known as Windows Live Folders. Windows Live SkyDrive gets not only its final product name but also a few new features and enhanced UI reflecting changes coming across many of Read More……(read more)

In my previous demo of Windows Live OneCare 2.0 (beta) I was pretty general about its features. But I’d like to dive a little deeper into some of the enhancements and features coming with Windows Live OneCare’s next major release. Coming with Windows Live OneCare 2.0 will be a brand new way to backup your most important and precious digital photos called Online Photo Backup. With Online Photo Backup you get 10GB of online storage to store your digital photos. Take a look at this small demo I made showcasing Online Photo Backup:

Video: Online Photo Backup with Windows Live OneCare 2.0

Making sure your digital photos are backed up is a high priority for Microsoft and the Windows Live OneCare Team. A user could have many years worth of digital memories stored on their PC and if that PC crashes, those memories are lost. Of course you can back those photos up to another PC, or a DVD but those don’t come entirely risk-free. Backing up to another PC doesn’t mean that PC won’t fail and with backing up to a DVD, you run the risk of that DVD becoming damaged in some way and then unreadable to restore the data. With Online Photo Backup - you take those risks away.

I currently have over 5 years worth of digital photos on my PC with Windows Live OneCare 2.0 backing them up to my Online Photo Backup storage space. I have photos ranging from college experiences and events to WinHEC 2006 and 2007 to CES last year and the Windows Vista Launch in New York City. These are memories I would never want to lose.

With the Windows Live OneCare 2.0 beta - Online Photo Backup is an “add-on” to your OneCare Subscription and allows you to backup photos to any of your PC’s in your OneCare Circle. According to the Windows Live OneCare Team Blog - when Windows Live OneCare 2.0 is released, Online Photo Backup will be an added cost to your standard OneCare Subscription package.  

For updates on Windows Live OneCare - stay tuned to their official team blog.

Be sure to also check out my previous Windows Live OneCare 2.0 demo as well.

In my previous demo of Windows Live OneCare 2.0 (beta) I was pretty general about its features. But I’d like to dive a little deeper into some of the enhancements and features coming with Windows Live OneCare’s next major release. Coming with Windows Read More……(read more)