Every time Microsoft pitches me on some Windows Live product, I groan. What the heck is Windows Live? I mean, what is it this week?
It just seems like Microsoft keeps changing what Windows Live means, and re-branding existing things as Windows Live and basically confusing the heck out of everyone.
But I think I’ve finally figured it out–and I’m glad I did. There are a couple of whopping great features in there, available to everyone (even non-Windows people), that are totally underpublicized.
First of all, there are actually two “Windows Live” categories. In the first category, software programs: downloadable apps that should have come with Windows, but don’t, because Microsoft is afraid of more antitrust lawsuits. They’re a one-click download away, they’re collectively called Windows Live Essentials, and they include Windows Live Mail (formerly Windows Mail, formerly Outlook Express); Windows Live Photo Gallery; Windows Live Messenger (formerly MSN Messenger); Windows Live Movie Maker; Windows Live Family Safety; Windows Live Toolbar; and Windows Live Writer (a tool for composing blog posts).
The second group is a suite of Windows Live *services*–basically Web sites–that includes Windows Live Calendar; Windows Live Events (invitation service); Windows Live Groups (discussions–great for organizing team, club, or family events); Windows Live Hotmail (yes, regular old Hotmail); Windows Live People (address book); Windows Live Photos (online Web gallery); Windows Live Spaces (blog site); and Windows Live Skydrive.
Some of these services are really good, and some of it is bare-bones, a feeble effort to catch up with rival products from Google, Apple and others.
But there are some gems in there. I’m particularly fond of the SkyDrive.
It’s a free, 25-gigabyte virtual hard drive on the Internet, accessible from any computer. It’s a perfect intermediate parking place for files you want to shuttle from one computer to another. You can also use it for offsite backup of your most important files, or as a handy intermediary for sharing big folders with other people far away.
The key point is that you can pull the SkyDrive onto any computer’s screen–Mac, Windows, whatever–at your office, at your home, at your friend’s house, so you don’t need to carry around a physical disk to transport files.
Yes, of course, this is the same idea as Apple’s iDisk or dozens of other online storage services–but there are two big differences. First, this one is free. Second, it’s many times larger than the other free services, which usually offer something like 2 gigabytes. (But see below for my note on Adrive.com.)
A quick tutorial. First, you need to sign up for a free Windows Live account (//home.live.com). Once you’re there, choose More SkyDrive. (You can also go directly to the SkyDrive by logging into //skydrive.live.com.)
Microsoft starts you off with folders like Public (everyone in the world can see the contents), Documents; Favorites (only you can see them), and “Shared favorites” (only people in your address book can see them).
You can create your own folders, too. Click “Create folder.” You’re asked to name the new folder, but also to specify who has access to it: Everyone, My Network, Just Me, or Select People.
When you click Next, you’re shown the “Add files” screen, where five Choose File buttons await. That’s a slow, horrible way to upload files to the SkyDrive–so accept the invitation to install Microsoft’s Upload Tool, which lets you drag files en masse from the desktop into the SkyDrive.
Of course, what you really want is to have your SkyDrive show up on your Windows desktop, just like a real hard drive, so you can simply drag files in and out of its folders.
Fortunately, that’s exactly what the free SDExplorer program does. You can download it from //www.cloudstorageexplorer.com.
Once you’ve got some files and folders on your SkyDrive, the fun begins.
You can retrieve the files yourself, from any Internet-connected computer. Just log into Windows Live, click SkyDrive, open the folder, click the file, and then click Download.
Or you can send friends and colleagues to retrieve the files themselves. To use this feature, open the SkyDrive folder that contains what you want to give your pals–it has to be a folder you’ve actually made public, or at least available to your lucky recipient.
Open the folder, then click “Send a link.” Click the To button to choose recipients, or categories of them, from your address book. Add a message, if you like. Be sure to turn on “Don’t require recipients to sign in with Windows Live ID,” unless you want to fill their lives with red tape. Click Send.
Once your colleagues receive your e-mail, they have but to click the link in the message to visit your folder and download the huge file immediately. They can do it even if they don’t have Windows Live accounts and even if they’re on a Mac or whatever.
Now, my Twitter followers alerted me that there is, in fact, a free service that offers more storage: adrive.com, with 50 gigabytes. I haven’t tried it, but it really is free, it really does offer 50 gigs of storage and it doesn’t have the 50-megabyte file limit that the SkyDrive has. It even lets you send links by e-mail to individual downloadable files you’ve parked there. Of course, it’s also not integrated into Windows, and it’s from a company you’ve never heard of.
Anyway, having gotten into the SkyDrive, I’m sure I’ll get the usual wave of hate mail (“Duh, this has been around for years…where have you been?”) But I don’t care. I didn’t know the SkyDrive had been made so capacious and so free to all.
It’s worth the humiliation just to spread the word.