The SkyDrive is the limit

By Erwin Blonk, 12:00PM

Many things are afoot in Microsoft Live Services. Central to this is expanding SkyDrive. It has been upgraded to 25GB and has added functionality. From the comments the most requested and still missing feature is the ability to map SkyDrive as a driveletter. The extension of the size is also to facilitate other services in Windows Live.

Live Gallery has been updated as well. Photos can be added through the right-click menu in any existing or new album, which can be created immediately. Sharing photos has become easier as it is no longer required to have a LiveID to view albums. Another option is ordering prints directly from the Gallery. Microsoft claims to have made 20 new or improved features in Gallery.

The Live Homepage has several changes. As a part of that, Live Profiles is gearing up to be a place to connect social networking activities, seemingly to be positioned against FriendFeed. Web activities is an internal link to a page for showcasing social network profiles, blogs etc.

Other functions are storing weblinks on the Windows Live toolbar, making them available from other computers, as they are stored on SkyDrive. Friend’s Updates makes it possible to see what has changed in profiles that friends share.

Not all functions immediately available in all countries, for example downloading a folder as a zipfile for now is restricted to US, Denmark and Ireland. The timeline for the coming weeks has several releases, including beta releases plus availability of services in more countries and in more languages.

Microsoft is both catching up and trying surpass the competition. It is hard to get an idea of the final product, or even if Microsoft envisions a final or evolving product with the present flood of updates and add-ons. Watch this space for updates.