Yesterday Microsoft released an update to their cloud storage solution SkyDrive which provides a desktop client for synching files you have stored online at https://skydrive.live.com/ to your local PC.
This update is a significant leap forward and makes accessing those files you sync in the cloud easy to access on your PC and vice versa. It has also added additional features such as Fetch which allows you to access an entire machines directory structure from a trusted PC or by using a unique code to log into that PC each time.
This SkyDrive App has been labeled a Preview by the team which developed it – in other words a beta.
Thought: I wonder why no one uses the term beta anymore?
Anyway, I take preview to mean that it is not feature complete so I would like to make a couple of recommendations for a future update of this app to really make it even more functional.
Right click context menu functionality for:
- Sharing files/folders with individuals via their email address.
- Making files/folders public or remarking them private if you no longer want it public.
- Obtaining a link to a public file/folder to share myself via social media or in a blog post.
- Embed option to get the code to place an image or document that is shared into a blog post or other document.
- Adding a property tab to the file/folder properties on the local machine that provides you the information that you can see on the web for each file/folder.
Maybe just make an entire property sheet that is available on each file/folder that is synched with SkyDrive and make all of these options selectable on that tab. One location for all the functionality.
In reality all of these suggestions simply mean I would like to see the functionality we have on the web interface of SkyDrive on the local machine. You can do most of the above things in the SkyDrive Windows Phone App so hopefully this functionality will see its way into the desktop app as well.
With these additions the SkyDrive Desktop App will truly be a completely functional cloud based storage system that easily allows us to share files with others without having to leave the desktop environment.
Can you think of any other additions that can be made to the SkyDrive App for the desktop? Let us know about them in the comments below.
