Microsoft Enhances Its One Drive with New Features On iOS

Microsoft has finally made a significant number of changes in the look, feel and functionality of its popular cloud storage service OneDrive app for the iOS based users. The tech giant has given heed to the users based on Apple’s iOS platform by updating its official OneDrive app with highly improved photo management and a sophisticated integrated access to OneDrive for Business.

This updated app will simply allow the users from varied devices like iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch to create photo albums for better viewing in a single place. Users would be required to copy or move the file essentially in their albums. This features would streamlined the viewing the photos as well as make it appear less cluttered and organized.

Features Debuted On iOS Platform

Tagging feature is also introduced wherein users can tag the photos manually or even allow the app to automatically generate tags. Tagging feature works on the basis of impressive object recognition technology powered by Bing and Microsoft Research. This makes it possible for the OneDrive to recognize the visual content associate it with different tags such as people, animals, buildings and others with ease. Tags would provide a new way of browsing through the picture and lane of memory with grace.

Another notable feature is the text recognition in photos along with the content of documents. This feature makes it easier to search among the hoards of files and photos. There is also a feature which brings in the seamless integration of password management apps including the 1Password and LastPass. Apart from these update had made some bug fixes and certain important improvements like the one for audio and video playback.

Microsoft had also released a public preview version specifically for the Mac users with its Mac sync client for OneDrive for Business. This will help them in managing files and later syncing them offline.

Microsoft Brings Simple Solutions For Businesses

OneDrive for iOS will feature a built in access to OneDrive for Business. This simply translates that businesses doesn’t have use the separate app for assessing the OneDrive for Business. Those users could easily connect with their OneDrive for Business accounts from a single app and could view their business files along with the personal files. On security from users should be relieved that their business files would still be secured, managed and covered by Microsoft’s Office 365 enterprise service.


Microsoft Increases The Storage on OneDrive

Microsoft has also given a boost to the users by increases their offered storage for free on OneDrive from standard 15 GB to 30 GB if they turn on their automatic camera backup. This hefty increase by Microsoft fives direct competition to other cloud storage services mainly Dropbox and iCloud. Furthermore OnDrive is giving free increase in storage which is not available on these high paying competitors. Microsoft even couples this with distinctive changes made in uploading, organization as well as the searching of files on its cloud storage which had made it extremely easier and beautiful system in itself.

Microsoft to Integrate MS Office with the Dropbox for Increasing the Cloud Productivity

In the recent times, we have seen many market giants and rival companies collaborating for increasing the quality of their product or even their service. One of the latest additions in this is the approach from Microsoft.

Microsoft is coming together with one of their major competitor and has struck a deal with the DropBox Company; this will allow enhanced interoperability between the Dropbox’s cloud storage and Microsoft Office and further improve the file sharing services offered to the businesses as well as consumers.

This partnership was announced on Tuesday and took the entire industry by surprise as it was being terms as a “coopetition” relationship which indicated co-operation as well as competition. This was due to the fact that Dropbox’s name sake consumer service as well as Dropbox for Business was competing against the Microsoft’s OneDrive and OneDrive for Business.

What is the motivation behind this deal? 

The main motivation behind this step is to make the life much easier for the company’s vast number of customers who are currently storing 35 billion Office files in the Dropbox. Although in Microsoft, almost all the Office users completely rely on the OneDrive for Business and OneDrive, Dropbox has managed to amaze people with 300 million people using their service and on the other hand Microsoft Office has about 1.2 billion users.

The driving force behind this deal is one the same line with the other motivations which has encouraged Microsoft to get into partnerships in the recent times. The Company has made a deal with IBM about cloud computing and tie with Salesforce.com.

According to Satya Nadella, CEO, they will keep on looking for possible partnership deals as long as it will yield a considerable amount of benefit for their existing customers by ensuring they are developing products that work together more efficiently and being offered by the teaming up of Microsoft and the other companies.

What in-stored in the future? 

According to Nadella, they will keep on looking for all possible partnerships in the coming months. They understand that at the moment we have “heterogeneous mobile-first cloud-first world” environment and partnerships are becoming the best way to provide excellent services and products to the customers.

With this new partnership of Office and Dropbox, the users will be able to access Dropbox from their office interface and this is being achieved by focusing on the Word, PowerPoint and Excel. Users will be able to make changes to their office files in Dropbox interface and the updated file can be synched between many devices.

In the coming weeks, this updated is expected to be rolled out on Office apps for Android and iOS. The company is hoping to release the web version of the same during the first quarter of 2015. According to this deal, Dropbox will be required to develop a mobile app for the windows platform in the coming few months. This most recent feature will be available to office users having access to Dropbox account as well.

Microsoft SkyDrive is renamed OneDrive

As part of the renaming campaign, Microsoft is apparently feeling generous and have been given 20 GB of extra storage for one year. However, it is not yet clear how Microsoft selected this “valued customer“. The software giant Microsoft has entered in to the conflict with the British TV channel Sky and has to change the name of its cloud storage SkyDrive.

It is still unclear whether SkyDrive should be renamed only in Britain, else throughout the globe. In future the SkyDrive will be called as OneDrive making the name similar to their game console Xbox One and the Domain onedrive.com will soon replace the skydrive.com and already a promotional video has been published.

The agreement entered with Sky Broadcasting Group has given reasonable time to migrate to the new name and the whether the agreement include cash payment was not yet known. This is the second set back for Microsoft earlier it was forced to retire from use of “Metro” in the user interface of Windows 8 since the Metro AG group challenged the use.

Defeated in court by British TV channel Sky in 2013, Microsoft was forced to abandon to SkyDrive brand. Hence online storage file services of Microsoft’s SkyDrive, name will be changed. This was formally announced by Ryan Gavin, head of services and applications, in a blog post without giving much detail.