blog.onedrive.com/onedrive_changes_FAQ/
Microsoft, citing abuse by some users, is severely cutting back on the amount of storage they're making available to individuals. You'll have time to transfer your stuff if you're effected.
New Limits To One Drive
(8 posts) (2 voices)-
mikiem2
ModeratorI've always been maybe too much of a cynic, though I admit to preferring the word: realist. I simply don't & haven't had a lot of trust issues with any company because I feel that any company, & the people in charge of that company can change on a whim. What they do for you today they might not do for you tomorrow. What they say they will do for you is marketing, often masking what they hope to get from you -- when they don't get what they want [or not enough of it], whatever was promised goes away.
But we're all unique, and I can't/don't expect everyone else to look at stuff the same ways that I do. And in that vein I thought this column by Thurrott interesting, giving a look at how someone with a different perspective is effected by Microsoft's new One Drive policies. I'm not saying my way of looking at things is better -- as anyone who looks at things differently will tell you, my sort of skepticism certainly can have its drawbacks. Beyond being interesting I think Thurrott's reaction, & his write-up, might also be useful understanding where Microsoft is, where it's heading, & where their missteps might lead it.
thurrott.com/cloud/7586/thinking-about-trust-and-cloud-services
Posted 8 years ago # -
ChrisS
AdministratorI'm somewhat conflicted about the change.
I can compare Microsoft's claim that "a small number of users backed up numerous PCs and stored entire movie collections and DVR recordings. In some instances, this exceeded 75 TB per user or 14,000 times the average..." to the actions of a few at GOTD who broke the old wrapper because they couldn't live with "the day" part of the license. All visitors at GOTD now get to "enjoy" the new wrapper and all OneDrive users will get a less fluffy cloud.
On the other hand, although he's wrong about it being an issue of trust, Thurrott does point out the problem with the myriad versions of Windows 10. Microsoft wants one OS to rule them all, with one account to connect them all, and then Microsoft says "Oh, by the way, we can and will change the terms of service at our sole discretion. Get all of your devices updated to Windows 10 today!". It's an effective public service announcement about the dangers of tying yourself to a single service provider.
Posted 8 years ago # -
mikiem2
ModeratorOn the trust issue I'm totally at a loss... it's actually hard for me to imagine trusting any big corp. like Microsoft. But if a significant number of people did trust them, & come to feel that trust betrayed, could wind up with something like the backlash when the Start Menu disappeared, only worse since it effects what they're using today, not what they're expected to use tomorrow.
It's an effective public service announcement about the dangers of tying yourself to a single service provider.
Couldn't be more true IMHO.
The lack of consistent messaging OTOH kind of worries me... It used to be easy to see & predict somewhat where Microsoft was heading, then find those areas where their best interests coincided with mine. Today I don't know if something out of Microsoft is intended for Wall St. or users [&/or potential users] -- if it represents a CEO that *really* doesn't understand the consumer market, &/or has no patience, or maybe even tolerance for it -- if their leadership is/was weak in letting idgits come to power that they are now listening to as they give terrible advice.
FWIW, IMHO etc... Kind of a dangerous time for Microsoft to be be messing with consumers... With Google [finally] moving Android to PCs/laptops after their success with Chromebooks, & manufacturers seeing consumers have an appetite for cheap hardware, all it will/would take is something sparking new lost confidence in 10, e.g. if free licenses seem to start deactivating in sufficient numbers [due to new hard drives or whatever], and they could find the numbers of devices running 10 starting to fall off a cliff.
OEM hard drives last what, a couple few years, & a good part if not most of that was spent running 7 or 8. Most people don't back up, & how many held onto install discs IF they got one. Choice A: buy a new license for 10 for $100+ -- Choice B: load a free copy of a Chrome/Android, & have instant access to the App Store.
Posted 8 years ago # -
ChrisS
AdministratorThe lack of consistent messaging OTOH kind of worries me
I find it more worrisome that the messaging might actually be consistent. Are they missteps or are they walking the path to oblivion? It looks like they're consistently telling PC users "you're not the customers we're looking for".Posted 8 years ago # -
mikiem2
Moderator"you're not the customers we're looking for".
Well, I'll tell ya -- I'm NOT the person they're looking for with their #@$&*@!!! Store!
I'm no where near an Android guru or anything, but I've managed my tablet, a few cells, my wife's Kindle HD etc. And I've set them up with quite a few accounts, set them up with our WiFi & extended WiFi networks [using close to a max length key], set up Android-based Blu-Ray players & HDTVs & so on.
OK, so I've got my small cheapie Windows tablet with 10 on it, & compared to the 8.1 it came with, I'm reasonably satisfied. But 10 on it has one major shortcoming -- until this November update I can't put apps from the store on its microSD card. I'm anxiously waiting for it because we've got quite a few Kindle books on one acct, & quite a few on a separate acct. for the family's tablets, cell phones, & Kindle. But Amazon sent me an email where I get a credit if I set up the Amazon app right now & just sign in. The credit wasn't big enough -- what should have been a trivial 4 minutes took over an hour.
The Store icon's right there on the desktop -- figured how hard can it be. Open the Store as usual [always check for default app updates], search for an find the Amazon app, click the Free [Install] button, and... Nothing. All right, Task Mgr. shows the Store app using a bit of CPU, so I wait, & 1/2 an hour or so later shut it down, try again a couple times, & nothing. SO I go to check the acct. setting for the Store -- nothing happens when I click it in the menu. Close the Store, go to win10's settings, click Accounts, & nothing happens but the progress indicator.
OK, restart, go to Settings -> Accounts, & this time it works. Shows everything's cool, I'm signed in when I signed into Windows with my pin. Figure OK, let's try to enter a rebate debit card for payment -- maybe it requires it, even if the app's free? [The Play Store doesn't, but this is Microsoft.] SO jump through the hoops to get that entered -- side note: being a Windows device, next time I use the USB dongle with both a keyboard & a mouse since 10's touch keyboard is DISMAL.
So, try the store again, & while it's starting up the user icon changes to the one I use for 10 on the tablet, & Bingo, everything's in place, clicking the user icon I get the full menu like in *SOME* of my desktop & VM installs [10 is not consistent across all my installations]. Now I go to the Amazon app & it installs right away like it's supposed to. Of course the app itself stinks compared to the Android & Kindle versions, with the sign-in text & dialog 2 font sizes smaller than native [on an 8 INCH TABLET], but it worked & I Am Done.
IF, as on Every Android App requiring a sign-in, a sign-in screen popped up, would have been OK. If there was some sort of notification or explanation, that would have been OK. If clicking settings without a restart etc. worked, that would have been better. But this experience had me feeling like it was something out of Monty Python, without the fun. ARGHHH
Posted 8 years ago # -
ChrisS
AdministratorI think it's that kind of frustration that killed Vista. You bought your new PC and happily unpacked it only to discover that your primary software, printer and scanner weren't compatible. The bloom quickly fell from the rose.
Of course, you also start thinking "don't these people use their own software?" and then you realize that GodMode is also available for Windows 10 so they likely have their own shortcuts around the roadblock they call an OS.
I do have a tiny bit of sympathy for Microsoft as it's difficult to get people to focus on the "nuts and bolts" when they want to be working on the "next big thing". But, without the basics the "next big thing" dies on the assembly line.
The "Wndows as a service" concept looks like a worse idea every single day so the launch will probably be accelerated.
Posted 8 years ago # -
mikiem2
ModeratorMy problems & frustrations with Microsoft's app store I think highlight just how good Amazon's & Google's stores are -- & I assume Apple's, though I have never been there. The really sad part to me is that realistically neither Amazon's nor Google's stores are all that special -- it's only in comparison to my experience with Microsoft's store that they shine.
I think it's sadder still that Microsoft is focusing so strongly on their store that they've essentially botched 2 Windows versions [8 & 8.1] because of it, & spent more resources on that aspect of 10 than in just getting the OS to work properly. And it's a joke -- it's dead -- and if some of the better developers out of the relative few that put apps in that store are leaving, its fate is pretty near sealed. Worse yet is the growing perception that it's all been a dog & pony show -- if Microsoft intends to have a place in the mobile market it'll be with Android [& with their apps & services, iOS], & they know this...
I read a feature article out of Microsoft yesterday -- it was about an innovative team that had released a launcher for Android out of Microsoft's Garage. Other articles & blogs focus on how they're bringing better & expanded feature sets to their apps for Google & Apple users. Giving developers the tools to port their Android apps to the Windows store, like everything else they've tried to fill their store hasn't worked. They've developed the capability to run Android apps in Windows. Microsoft has demonstrated if nothing else that they know & understand most everything about Android.
And then the other day their CEO states yet again how all these devices running win10 will prove to be irresistible to app developers, which he surely knows is a lie, or he wouldn't have all this work going on re: Android. Office apps on Android expands your marketshare, but a launcher does not.
Was [is] Microsoft's CEO talking to Wall St., or like you said Chris, does he just not care about the consumer market? He is after all an IT guy. And IT is where services work & have worked as a biz model -- you may be right.
I do have a tiny bit of sympathy for Microsoft as it's difficult to get people to focus on the "nuts and bolts" when they want to be working on the "next big thing".
I'm sorry to say I don't... there are people at Microsoft who understand the Android experience better perhaps than some of the folks developing for Android at Google.
Windows 10 basically works, & it works better on my cheap tablet than any prior version of Windows could, so you've got the foundation for an OS that works on mobile devices. They haven't nailed it yet, but they're on the way to making the OS work on non-x86 CPUs & hardware. The stuff that you do & have to do in Windows either works the same or is easier than in prior versions, & from what I've read, there are similar improvements for the Xbox One. Move beyond Windows to the Store & everything seems designed by... well it actually doesn't seem to be designed at all.
It's as if you had the core crews writing the underlying code to make things work, but the people who design the GUI & user experience stuff were totally absent. My experience yesterday with their store [my 1st] did in fact work -- I got done what I started out to do -- so the folks writing the code that allowed it to happen did their job. It's just that the crew who could make the experience similar to or better than Android was never created.
If I hadn't used Android so often [or not at all] I would have thought it clunky enough to never return. Having used Android I was & am appalled. For once I understand a possible reason that Amazon has great apps for Android, &/or why Adobe has great stuff for iOS, but their lesser amount of apps for the Windows store stinks, as if thrown together with no thought of ever being good let alone great. Perhaps they couldn't see a reason to bother?
And that brings me to the story of my two tablets, one Android & one Windows. I'll likely buy a larger 3rd, & it'll run Android. An Android tablet is useful -- with countless apps in countless ways -- for anything you might use a tablet for. My Windows tablet is a highly portable mini PC -- I can connect it to a monitor via HDMI, use it with most any Windows capable USB device, and while I won't be rendering video on it any time soon, it's got enough power & is responsive enough that it works fine for most day to day tasks -- my wife sat on the couch the other day & played Star Defender from GOTD. As a tablet OTOH it's good for web browsing, & *if* there was good software [the Kindle app is at best OK], it'd make a good reader.
And without apps or a good app store, that's all any Windows tablet or cell phone can ever be. Microsoft can most likely never dominate the mobile market -- they're simply too late to the party -- but unless things change they won't even have a percentage worth measuring. When you say that's a new focus for the company, it's [so far] a massive fail.
Posted 8 years ago #
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