Pardon the pun-ny headline. Microsoft is apparently pleased to announce that their cloud-based storage service SkyDrive that we have come to know and love, will soon be known as OneDrive. So what spurred the change in the first place?
Microsoft first launched SkyDrive in 2007, and since then the cloud storage service has grown to over 250 million users worldwide. Whether Microsoft’s legal team should be blamed for the oversight, the name SkyDrive, unfortunately, has been dealt with a deathblow. A UK leading home entertainment and communications provider called British Sky Broadcasting Group (“BSkyB”) claimed the name “SkyDrive” infringed on its own trademark.
To make a long story short, BSkyB took Microsoft to court in 2011 specifically covering the European Union market. BSkyB eventually won a judgement in England and Wales High Court in 2013. While Microsoft could have rebranded SkyDrive to OneDrive specifically for the European market, it eventually decided not to appeal the court’s decision and moved on to transition to a new brand.
http://youtu.be/e4NsPPUDjyU
Calling it OneDrive though, does make sense.
Microsoft, on its OneDrive blog quips, “Why OneDrive? We know that increasingly you will have many devices in your life, but you really want only one place for your most important stuff. One place for all of your photos and videos. One place for all of your documents. One place that is seamlessly connected across all the devices you use. You want OneDrive for everything in your life.”
And there’s also the Xbox One. Moving swiftly on.
If you’re already a user of SkyDrive or SkyDrive Pro, your data/content will transition to OneDrive and OneDrive for Business respectively. No action or change is needed on your part. It will be seamless, transparent.
Microsoft has not announced when it will officially roll out the new-name service, but currently has a webpage up which is accepting email sign-ups for updates.
So, OneDrive. One place for everything in your life. What do you think? Is this the one for you?
