(17 August 2007 5:25 pm)

MUMBAI: Microsoft Corp. has simultaneously released Windows Live SkyDrive - an online storage service, a variety of upgrades to Windows Live Hotmail, and a beta of home.live.com - a new centralized website for consumers to access Windows Live services all in one place.

Windows Live SkyDrive (http://skydrive.live.com/) provides customers anywhere to anytime access to their files and information on the web, as well as options for conveniently sharing with others. Windows Live SkyDrive has three areas for peoples' information: personal, shared, and public. The information they put in the personal and shared areas are secured with their user name and password for access, and the user names and passwords of those they choose to share with. The public area is open to everyone on the web.

The initial beta offers 500 MB of free storage and a customer would be able to store approximately 100 songs, 1,000 office docs, or 3,000 digital photos at 1200x1200 resolution. However, with customer feedback and research the service would be further enhanced to give customers a more convenient access to their files and information. At this time the beta is available in the US, UK and India only, informs an official release.

Following the need to provide a centralized home for Windows Live customers as well as to access all their services, the beta of home.live.com has been released. This centralized website further integrates the overall Windows Live experience for customers by enabling consumers to access Windows Live services all in one place providing easy navigation between services. A beta of the full suite of communications, sharing and online safety services is expected in the coming weeks.

The upgrade released today after the first launch of Windows Live Hotmail in May 2007, is the increased storage limit to 5 GB for free accounts and 10 GB of storage for subscription-based customers of Windows Live Hotmail Plus among other upgrades, adds the release.

Microsoft India country manger, online services Jaspreet Bindra said, "This is the first time Microsoft has offered sharing and storage in this manner and we're excited to roll it out to our customers. We are hoping that this platform would prove to be an exciting way of offering customers a range of services to meet their storage and file-sharing needs with maximum security."