SkyDrive usage has doubled in the last 6 months, now you can select what to sync
About 6 months ago, we released the first sync apps for SkyDrive making it easy to view and manage your personal SkyDrive from the File Explorer in Windows and Finder in OS X. We're excited to announce that since then …
Context & Ripple Effects
This is the payoff of a deliberate arc: Microsoft framed SkyDrive in November 2011 as personal cloud storage designed for billions of people, then spent 2012 wiring it outward — opening APIs to third-party apps in April, shipping mobile clients for iPhone and Windows Phone in December 2011, and adding photo sharing plus a higher file limit in the May 2012 desktop update. The first File Explorer and Finder sync apps landed about six months ago, and Microsoft now reports usage has doubled since they shipped.
The new selective-sync option is a direct response to the biggest complaint about always-on folder syncing: users with small SSDs or metered connections had to mirror everything or nothing. The breadth of pickup — CNET, PC Magazine, GigaOM, The Next Web and others all carried the announcement on the day — signals how closely the consumer-storage market is watching each feature gap close.
First-order effects
- Users on space-constrained machines can now keep large SkyDrive folders cloud-only while syncing working sets locally, removing the main reason to leave the desktop client off.
- The Windows and Mac clients move from simple mirrors to managed sync, closing the most-cited feature gap against rival folder-sync services.
Second-order effects
- Competitors in consumer cloud storage face pressure to match selective sync quickly, since it is table-stakes for anyone courting laptop buyers with 128GB drives.
- Deeper shell integration — files surfaced natively in File Explorer and Finder rather than a browser tab — becomes Microsoft's differentiation lever, pushing rivals toward their own OS-level hooks.
Third-order effects
- If the doubling holds after each capability drop, personal cloud storage consolidates around whichever vendor embeds deepest into the operating system, not whoever offers the most free gigabytes — a structural shift from SkyDrive-as-website to storage-as-OS-infrastructure.
The trend: Consumer cloud storage is evolving from a web destination into an operating-system layer, with sync-client capabilities like selective sync setting the competitive pace.