Dropbox might be in for some heavy competition. There are rumours that Google will be launching Google Drive this week and Microsoft has just announced new apps for its Skydrive service that will put it into competition with Dropbox.
Changes to Microsoft’s Skydrive have seen the synced storage space being lifted to 7GB, with paid options for more space. This is actually a drop in overall storage space, non-synced storage (previously 25GB) has been turfed for the 2GB upgrade in synced space. Skydrive’s software client is also incorporating some of Microsoft’s Mesh service features, like the ability to sync files and enable remote file system access. The new client is reportedly almost a direct copy of Dropbox.
Dropbox, just prior to Microsoft’s announcement, announced new additions to the service that may have been introduced to counter the potential Google Drive threat. Link sharing and a web viewer are the new features rolling out from the online storage service.
Dropbox links allow people to easily view documents, photos, and videos in a beautiful full-browser display without any setup. Business presentations, home movies, and even entire folders can be opened and viewed instantly without having to sign in, download anything, or open files separately.
From the Dropbox desktop, web, and mobile applications, the “Get link” button generates a unique link to a file or folder. The link can then be quickly sent to another person. For Dropbox users, opening a link will provide the option to instantly save the file to their Dropbox.
Source: Gigaom and Ars Technica