Microsoft doubled the online storage consumers can get for free in Windows Live SkyDrive. It’s hard to get excited about that when Gmail is already giving me 2.9 GB of storage, with more on the way—4GB by the end of the month, and 6GB by early January, according to one estimate.
Keep that free storage coming. We’ll use it.
Update: Since there’s been such a curiously strong reaction to this post (some of which I suspect is concerted), I’ll just clarify a few things. First of all, the original post—barely more than a paragraph long—is not meant as an in-depth review or article. It is an off-hand observation. Nothing more, nothing less. Sometimes blog posts are like that.
The observation is that on the same day that SkyDrive doubled its storage to 1GB, Google also announced that the 2.9 GB of storage available on Gmail is going to continue to climb significantly (two days after the original post, for instance, it’s at 3.1 GB). Yes, I understand that Web-based file storage and Web-based e-mail are two different things. But as a consumer, that 2.9 GB (now 3.1 GB) of storage on Gmail is my point of reference, and it makes me wonder why SkyDrive is being so stingy. If I were a Hotmail (er, Windows Live Mail) user, I might have noted that SkyDrive cannot even keep up with its own sister e-mail service, which offers 5GB of storage.
Obviously, these are not apples-to-apples comparisons. There may be good reasons why an online file storage system cannot offer as much storage as an online e-mail system (other than the fact that it may be an orphan project starved of resources inside a large corporation). So it would be more fair to compare SkyDrive to other online file-storage services, like Xdrive (which offers 5GB of free storage) or MediaMax (which offers a whopping 25GB of free storage). Any way you slice it, SkyDrive still comes up lacking.
Yahoo Mail is unlimited!
But Gmail is still way better than Yahoo Mail! Yahoo mail is too heavy – you can almost feel the clunky UI spinning it’s wheel behind the scenes.
Dude!!! What are you comparing skydrive with, Are you Nuts? windows Live Mail provides 5 GB.
Its very unfortunate that Techcrunch is going in drains..
Your comparison makes no sense. If you want to bash Microsoft and carry Google around on a golden platter at least come up with an apple to apple comparison. Google has enough products that are better than or equal to Microsoft’s that you should not need to write deceiving articles like this to get your opinion across.
You should be comparing Windows Live SkyDrive to Google Drive. At this point Windows Live SkyDrive is ahead of Google Drive because anyone can sign up for SkyDrive while Google Drive is currently only offering a limited number invitations.
Yeah Zeus, 5 GB. With a 10 MB file size limit for emails I think Gmail still wins for me. I use the “storage” for file backups all the time and the 10 MB thing would be a problem for me.
And to Scott, you apparently didn’t read the Wall Street Journal article where they interviewed one of the Yahoo Mail guys. In it he said that unlimited did not mean UNLIMITED, it means that it is unlimited until they determine that you are abusing the unlimited package. You can Google (or Yahoo if you prefer) the article or search for it at the WSJ website. Gmail still wins. At least they tell me how close I am getting to the limit. Yahoo could cut you off without notice.
Its hard to get excited when you have much better consumer storage solutions out there at pretty low rates. I use Amazon s3 and the firefox s3 organizer and thats much better than the MS offering (ok I have to pay but for a gig its nothing and at least I won’t hit a celling).
This product is disappointing, I am a developer that uses MS tools all day long and this just does not live up to what they could deliver. I am waiting for a silverlight interface that can do multi file uploads and a decent webservice also.
SkyDrive should have been compared to something like Box.net which has offered 1 GB free for ages and is much better in my opinion
Many of us are still hungover from Hotmail.
“Ipod sells 200 millionth unit, still can’t keep up with the population of China”
You hate microsoft without reason, and you love google without reason. We get it. Stop insulting yourself with articles that make you appear retarded.
I was going to right a short rant about the current quality of articles on TechCrunch but I think this comment by Zeus:
“Its very unfortunate that Techcrunch is going in drains..”
and this one by Jay:
“You hate microsoft without reason, and you love google without reason. We get it. Stop insulting yourself with articles that make you appear retarded.”
sum up my feelings exactly. TechCrunch, stop trying to be the next Slashdot. If I want to read articles that are biased, deceiving, and spread lies about Microsoft I will just go to their website.
When are google going to open up GMAIL for the UK?
My question is – when is Gmail going to come out of Beta?!
Gmail really had some ample space and you never have problems with mails not getting sent, and its a plus, that you’ll never gonna have the need to delete an email just to save space.
@dualsub2006 pls post link to WSJ article, can’t find, thx.
I think SkyDrive has an advantage because you can make a folder public, so if I need to share a file with someone I can, without giving them access to my email.
How can Windows Live SkyDrive be compared to Gmail?
Gmail is email, SkyDrive is online storage. Sure there is unofficial programs to use Gmail as storage but it is not the same.
@biff isnt Gmail open up in UK already? I am sure you can just go to their websites and sign up for an account. May be wrong…
if you are not going to stop this kind of comparison then i guess people will not take interest in reading the topics anymore…
I also agree… TechCrunch hates Microsoft not sure why, they seem to love Google… they are far too bias. Windows Live SkyDrive is a great service, once it is finished I am sure it will be fantastic. If you want to compare Microsoft’s Windows Live SkyDrive why don’t you compare it to Google’s G-Drive… oh wait…
Gee, lets see here…
Gmail – mail application.
SkyDrive – not a mail application.
Why the hell are you comparing these two things again?
Oh right, because you don’t want to compare Gmail’s 2.9GB to Windows Live Mail’s 10GB …right, that’s the reason.
Did Microsoft steal your girlfriend or something? You clearly can’t write an article that actually makes a fair comparison. This is completely ignoring Yahoo’s unlimited storage…
So dumb I dugg it…
Just the other day someone had commented that they prefer Techcrunch over the ridiculously-biased Gigaom Uh-oh!
What the fuck Erick?! Are you outta your freakin’ mind? The blogosphere and your readers sure expect to come out, comment and clarify. This is ridiculous!!
An email-service’s storage comparison being made with online storage comparison? How about Gmail giving me only 3GB while my Hard drive has 80GB — uh-oh Gmail still can’t catch up with my hard disk size?! Bullocks!!
Go lick and suck Google’s .. you know what I mean and spare us such posts, alrighty?
Will you please correct the article? What are you trying to compare here? And, are you crazy?
Articles like this really lead me to look elsewhere for informed information. Techcrunch needs to stop being Google’s little b*tch!!!
Glad I’m not the only one who doesn’t understand the comparison that is trying to be made ???!!!
Come on boys – this is sloppy journalism – we’re comparing apples and oranges …
Eric, your ignorance is showing again!
There is no such thing as Google, what there actually is is just a bunch of kids running arround doing whatever they want to do and not cleaning up behind themselves!
http://fakestev...er.blogspot.com
Disappointing, sloppy journalism. Get it together.
You guys are spreading this FUD all over the web… Mashable copied your BS, and BetaNews just copied your BS as well. This is pathetic guys, absolutely pathetic.
It seems that SkyDrive doesn’t accept users from every country (at least not from Italy).
Why bother so much, use Yahoo it has unlimited storage.
http://vidsonly.blogspot.com
So tired of the sloppiness and MS hate. Google has one profitable product — wow.
Dumbest-article-ever. Let’s see who can beat Techcrunch’s ‘comparison’…
“Ford Fusion has better gas mileage than Boeing Dreamliner.”
You should compare GMAIL with Mail Live. Mail Live is already offering 5 GB space.
Skydrive is *storage* not e-mail. You can copy files to your Skydrive, and make them private or shared.
Completely different stuff – apples and oranges…
Hmmm … Google and 2.9GB – are You refering here to this number on GMail welcome page?? Or do You have other number – because this number on a front page is simple time function:
http://nhw.pl/w...ounter-of-doom/
You can always use Gmail drive http://www.viks.../code/gmail.htm to use a safe and secure online backup solution..
@Pranjal
just that it is not officially supported. When you have bad luck G. will block your account. As far as I remember using the Gmail drive is even against their TOS… thats at least what some people reported.. anyone can confirm?
Yes.Its gr8 to go with gmail when it is going to extend its functionality “Memory Storage”.
@Erick
WLM = 5 GB
Gmail = less than 3 GB
WL SkyDrive = 1 GB
Google = no product available
Microsoft and Yahoo are getting better… when Microsoft has some real Office application online, I sure will switch and say goodbye to Google because Google offers just the BASICS …
@Pranjal
by the way, do you TRUST this third party company that much that you give away your personal data (user name and password)???? i’ve never seen a source code of this application before…
so, are we saying we shouldnt compare the two?
Wow, 1GB!!! They still don’t offer POP!
@42, Joshua
1 GB is not email space, it’s space for photos, documents, music, etc.
5 GB is email space, so 2 GB more than Gmail.
POP is coming next year, Microsoft says… but who is still POP3ing in 2007?
:-O
No wonder why business 2.0 has to close their doors. Trashy article! You moron….
@ Scott
I’m not doing your research for you. I read the article a month or so ago in the paper version that the nice man leaves in my driveway. It has been talked about here and other places.
If you want to read the article find it for yourself.
It is a valid comparison. Storage space is storage space. The two announcements came out the same day, and Microsoft’s SkyDrive has less storage than Gmail. That seems not very competitive to me.
There are other, better storage options out there as well, btw. AOL’s X-drive offers 5GB. But they didn’t announce anything today. So that’s not news.
Don’t be haters. Have a good weekend.
The group said it all!!!! Enough is enough!! Geeze – Why not just compare it to the new iPods….
Ummm…I’ll start using it when they offer 25.
I had to reply to this and this my first post on Techcrunch. I have restrained from replying in your previous posts. But you are just wasting our time and degrading the standard of Techcrunch. Comparing skydrive with gmail. Does it make any sense??? And you justify it with a crazy reason . “Storage space is storage space”. Dude then why don’t you write an article comparing GMail to Seagate 1TB harddisk?? Still it is storage space vs storage space comparison. Don’t be a fanboy and accept your mistake.
To Arington: Either ask your writers to keep aside their fanboy mentality while writing articles or kick them out before its too late.
wow. you’re very consistent idiotic erick! very good comparison, no? compare skydrive which is a storage space with gmail which is an email address… wow. why dont you compare gmail with windows live hotmailk with 5g. why cant you? stupid oaf! where do you get ideas for your articles here in techcrunch? since you started writing here at techcrunch the quality of the articles have gone way down. i was just a lurker before because i just read the articles and i thought most of them were really good and well written. and now it’s my 2nd time to post here and my first time to post a comment in your article because this is a very crappy one.
now i know why business 2.0 closed. im pretty sure it was YOUR fault. the advertisers saw through your idiotic sensibilities and decided to pull their support. and i dont even know why techcrunch hired you, they were so doing well when you weren’t here.
An iPod or hard disk is not the same thing. We’re talking about storage space in the cloud, for those who need it spelled out. And in that case, it does not cost MSFT any more to offer storage for emails than for files. Storage (in the cloud) is storage (in the cloud).