Paul Wright,
>"Is this different from SkyDrive?"
SkyDrive was the name used by Microsoft before they changed it to OneDrive.

Skyfiles used to be called GDocsDrive. They are not the same thing, nor have the exact same function(s).

creatrix, I think you are right, it's just like Google B&S "Steam file mode"

creatrix, the official description is as follows:
Skyfiles is a third-party Google Drive client, which allows you to manage Google Drive files with your desktop apps instead of working through a browser.
With Skyfiles, you can edit/view Google Drive files with your local software.

Unlike Google's Backup and Sync, which cost lots of your local storage, Skyfiles is disk-free.

What that means, is that frees your local disk completely of files you stored in the cloud with Google. If you want to edit them, you do not have to download them to your local disk. The giveaway acts as an in-between your local applications, like Word and Excel, and the cloud storage. Say, you want to edit a text document, using Word. In that case, the giveaway will fetch a copy from the Google cloud and feed in into Word. Once you are ready, you save the file and close Word. The giveaway will see to it that your edited file is uploaded to the Google cloud. For you as a user, it looks as if your hard disk is stored in the Google cloud.
When I worked as a consultant in the early nineties (thirty years ago), this architecture seemed ideal to me. No worries about a defective local drive, no worries about backups, etc. The problem then was: the cloud still had to be invented and made operational. The combination of Google Drive and the giveaway partially fulfills my thirty year old dream.
Now, I am waiting for a tool that does the same for DropBox and pCloud. Then I will be satisfied.

krypteller, If you do not have proprietary docs and client data to store in the cloud, you are OK, otherwise you are propagating and advertising to uncle Sam what you really are doing. NSA can not wait to see what you are up to.

How about the hackers and the rogue employee with master password looking at what you are doing and if there is something they can get to use against you.

How about the cloud backups that are done on daily bases, where are they stored and by whom and who has access to them.

What happen to the data when you unsubscribe to the service, does it remain property of the "cloud"?

Those are the things that push me back from such services, where you depend on someone else's servers to get to your data files. What if the Internet is down in your area, are you gonna seat all day and waiting and waiting. What if you are unable to access their server for many other reasons?

Do not tell me you have local backup in your computer and duplicate of the files in a local PC, that would defeat the purpose of the cloud storage.

Good day, I'm a user like you are. But I use today's app, and it does download very heavy video audio with no problems or with 'drag & drop' action. And it has got more quick and useful function than google-drive. Every work is faster than in google account.
Have a nice day.

FWIW...

"... otherwise you are propagating and advertising to uncle Sam what you really are doing. NSA can not wait to see what you are up to."

*IF* the NSA or whatever gov entity is going to hack into your files, the major cloud service providers are more secure than local storage -- if they could get into your cloud accounts, then they most certainly could get into your local systems more easily.

"How about the hackers and the rogue employee with master password looking at what you are doing and if there is something they can get to use against you."

Far as hackers / cybercriminals go, the major cloud services have much better staffed security teams than you could ever pay for. When/if there's a problem it's most always a software vendor, e.g., VMWare, or the customer screwed up their configuration. Regarding rogue employees, that's your responsibility -- any measures you'd take locally do the same with the cloud.

"What happen to the data when you unsubscribe to the service, does it remain property of the "cloud"?"

Cloud service providers exist to make money. Tying up storage capacity with data they're no longer paid to store is throwing money away, so it's not gonna happen.

"What if the Internet is down in your area, are you gonna seat all day and waiting and waiting. What if you are unable to access their server for many other reasons?

Do not tell me you have local backup in your computer and duplicate of the files in a local PC, that would defeat the purpose of the cloud storage."

If your stuff is important, then yes, it needs to be stored in more than one place, whether that includes local storage or multiple cloud accounts. Your local storage is Less reliable than the cloud. Most biz ISPs offer guaranteed 99% or better uptime, & there's always cellular.

mike, you.can use the Swiss pCloud, choose the European server and you will not have to worry about the NSA. You can encrypt your data for free with 7z. Or pay extra and let pCloud do the encryption for you.

mike, when I worked as a consultant for the Dutch government, hospitals and the like, I was not allowed to store data in non-European servers, nor use Gmail , Hotmail etc.
But Dutch commercial companies have other rules. Sometimes I had to use their company infrastructure.

mike, of course I have local backups. DropBox might go bust overnight. I do not expect Dropbox and Google to go bust on the same day my house burns down. Most important archives docs are encrypted attachments to mails, send to a Gmail account, not used for anything else.

mike, Hi Mike, are you giving your answer or is the first account just your same name? I'm totally confused which mike is real?

The problem is not that there are lots of rogue employees at each company or that the govt is going to hack into every person's data at every online company because that takes time and a lot of CPU, though they are getting much faster at brute forcing them. They don't have to hack in because they already have full access.

The problem is under the Patriot Act the govt has threatened to prosecute under the excuse of protecting people from "bad guys" every large telecom and Internet data company unless they provide all data to the govt through back doors. Every byte of data you send through your ISP or cell phone, including every private message, email, URL request, or social media post gets a copy sent to the govt whose AI algorithms sift through and store the data. Google does the same and all this data ends up in govt searchable databases.

AFAIK, very few companies have not complied. The ones that refused, such as True Crypt, chose to shut down than add the back doors. At this point I would assume every company and every recent encryption and zip software has back doors in it. The Patriot Act had unintended consequences. This is my current understanding of things.