From: "Geo." 

May 14, 2007

Microsoft online storage disappears overnight Filed under: None

Assuming you blinked this weekend, you probably missed an inadvertantly
short sneak peak of what could be the next big services showdown between
Microsoft and Google: online storage.

Microsoft's Live Drive cum Windows Live Folders -- which will offer
subscribers 500MB of free online storage -- was caught in the
screen-capture sights of LiveSide.net on Saturday before shutting down
hours later. The much-anticipated service will someday lock horns with the
rumored Google GDrive, which may in fact push the bounds of plausibility by
allowing users to store an unlimited amount of files on the Web.

Not yet in beta, Microsoft's Windows Live Folders will allow users to
upload files to the Web via Internet Explorer or Firefox and organize them
into personal, shared, and public folders. The service -- in part fueled by
Microsoft's 2005 acquisition of ByteTaxi FolderShare -- will tap Microsoft
Live ID to enable users to restrict access to files, share documents with
designated users, or open access to their files to the public at large as
they see fit.

According to LiveSide.net's test-drive of the fledging product, users can
assign read or contribute status to other users, thereby facilitating
collaboration on documents among small teams or groups of friends.
Undoubtedly, identity-based access to files via the Web will prove ripe for
developing additional social-networking functionality into the product --
especially if Microsoft continues along the Web-centric path it has been
outlining since the MIX conference by offering APIs to developers.

Why Microsoft unveiled and veiled the service so quickly is unknown.
Perhaps, though, the premature launch of the pre-beta Windows Live Folders
may simply have been a stunted attempt to establish an early lead on
Google. But when it comes to delivering services in Google's wheelhouse,
how many years' lead will be enough? If last week's Windows Live Hotmail
Beta, which may finally have rendered Microsoft's free online e-mail
service relevant again, is any indication, a decade ought to do it.

That said, iterations of what some are labeling "virtual hard
drives" are already available in the form of startups such as
Omnidrive, Box.net, and Streamload. Perhaps a series of key acquisitions
could tip the scale in what will undoubtedly be a heavy-use market.

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-5