Microsoft takes on Dropbox with bonus storage scheme

Microsoft has rebranded its SkyDrive service to OneDrive and introduced a new bonus storage scheme similar to the one offered by Dropbox. You get 7GB for free but by using the camera backup feature you can earn an extra 3GB and by referring friends you can gain up to 5GB (in 500MB increments).

If you need lots of cloud storage capacity you'll have to keep an eye on the OneDrive Twitter account. Later today Microsoft will run a contest that will give the first 100,000 people who sign onto their OneDrive account an extra 100GB of capacity for one year!

As part of that goal, we’re doing more than just changing the name with today’s release: We’re rolling out several new capabilities, including automatic camera backup for Android and the ability to share and view videos just as easily as photos. We’ve also added new ways for you to earn more storage—on top of the 7 GB we already give you for free. Customers who refer friends can now receive up to 5 GB (in 500 MB increments) for each friend who accepts an invitation to OneDrive, and we’ll even give you 3 GB just for using the camera backup feature, since we want to help make sure you never lose another photo. There’s even a new monthly payment plan, if you’d like a little more flexibility in how you use your storage.

We’ve built OneDrive into the latest versions of Windows, Windows Phone, Office, and Xbox. You can even make OneDrive your default storage option, so you never have to worry about whether you are saving files to the cloud: They are just there. If you happen to carry an iPhone or Android phone, or use an iPad, Android tablet, Windows device, or a Mac—OneDrive is available there, too.

Source: OneDrive