Microsoft’s Cloud Service SkyDrive is Now OneDrive

The anticipated transition of Microsoft’s cloud service branding has begun. As of this morning, February 19th, SkyDrive is now OneDrive. Current SkyDrive customers need not take any action, as they will be automatically migrated to the new look and branding. While the company has promised future improvements to the service, OneDrive retains essentially the same feature set as SkyDrive.

Microsoft first announced the new OneDrive name in late January. The company was forced to abandon the SkyDrive brand, which it introduced in 2007, following a trademark dispute with British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSkyB). As some have pointed out, however, the legal issue actually gave Microsoft the impetus to adopt a name that better suits the company’s new “One” theme, with the “One Microsoft” reorganization and the launch of the Xbox One.

Even though the core features of OneDrive are currently identical to those of SkyDrive, Microsoft is making a few minor changes to the service alongside today’s rollout. Automatic upload of photos to OneDrive is being added to the service’s Android application and a new monthly payment plan option has been introduced which allows customers to purchase larger storage for short periods of time, without committing to a yearly plan. This last change could be particularly valuable to businesses which temporarily need more storage for a new project, or families who want to share a large number of photos for a short time after a reunion, for example.

Those new to OneDrive can join with the same benefits as its predecessor: all users can sign up for up to 7GB of free storage, with the option to purchase 50, 100, or 200GB more. Similar to Dropbox, Microsoft also offers a referral bonus, giving users who entice others to join up to 5GB of additional free storage.

Note that as of the time of this article’s publication, SkyDrive.com redirects to a OneDrive login. Those looking for more information on OneDrive can find it at OneDrive.com. For existing users, the new branding should be rolling out to the service’s various apps shortly.