Earlier this week Microsoft announced that Office 365 customers would have their current 1TB of OneDrive storage increased to an unlimited amount. This was big news and I think it is a show of force by Microsoft that they are serious about being the cloud storage leader in the market. This morning it appears that this massive increase in OneDrive storage is starting to happen for some users.
It has been a busy 24 hours for the OneDrive team at Microsoft. After announcing unlimited OneDrive storage for Office 365 users yesterday, they also updated the OneDrive app for Windows Phone. The update, version 4.4 for those keeping score, brings several new user experience improvements along with support for OneDrive for Business. Now, like on other platforms, you can sign into both your personal and business OneDrive accounts from the app at the same time.
Earlier today I posted an article bringing to light how serious Microsoft is about cloud computing based on their financials from last quarter. As if they actually read my post, Microsoft’s OneDrive division has just upped the game for cloud storage in a big way. If you are an Office 365 subscriber, starting today OneDrive is beginning to roll out unlimited storage for as low as $6.99 per month.
Is there really any doubt left on how good of deal this is for you?
To get this outstanding deal when it comes you need to do the following:
If you are already an Office 365 user then there is nothing more you need to do. Microsoft will be rolling out this unlimited storage to users over the course of the next few months. If you want to jump the queue and get it first, follow this link to get moved up in line.
For those of you on Office 365 for Business, the unlimited storage plan will be coming as part of a roadmap update in 2015. According to the OneDrive blog:
For OneDrive for Business customers, unlimited storage will be listed on the Office 365 roadmap in the coming days and we will begin updating the First Release customers in 2015, aligned with our promise to provide ample notification for significant service changes. In the meantime, get started using your 1 TB of storage today by backing up all those work files kicking around on your PC – with the knowledge that even more storage is on its way!
I cannot think of any reason not to give this a go. You have the latest and greatest suite of Office apps along with unlimited storage for your documents and pictures. What’s not to love?
As I have said many times here on the site and on Twitter, I’m a big fan of OneDrive. It’s a solid, multi-platform cloud storage solution that works brilliantly well Windows Phone, iOS, Mac, Android and of course Windows PC. It’s also one of the best deals out there if you are an Office 365 user. For $9.99 per month you get office plus 1TB of storage. That’ll just about cover anyone I suspect.
One of the great things about OneDrive for Windows 8 is that you can have your PC save your files automatically to the cloud instead of to your local PC. This not only saves you hard disk space locally (although you can keep a copy local if you wish) but it also is an effective and easy backup to all your files. By default however this isn’t turned on so this How To will point you how to get there on your PC.
Earlier this week you undoubtedly heard of the iCloud security breach that happened to some well know celebrities. While Twitter and other places lit up with nudie pics of the like of Jennifer Lawerence, there were a lot of people at Apple frantically trying to find the source of the problem. Was it a real breach? Was there an inherent flaw in iCloud where anyone and everyone could be compromised?
The short answer is no. This came down to, at the most basic level, a brute force attack against usernames and passwords. It was the latest in what seems to be a weekly announcement of someone having data security compromised by hackers. The problem of course is that we all have digital data – digital footprints and fingerprints – all over the Internet. From our Facebook account(s) to Twitter to our Banks. Even our identification to remotely access our corporate networks. Nobody is immune but you can protect yourself as best as possible.
Identification security is something we should all be vigilant about whether it is on our smartphones, our PCs or Macs. Security breaches happen at the weakest point so the goal is to make it difficult to discourage but also not so difficult that you yourself are unable to access your data. Here then are a few tips that you should consider when it comes to your personal data security.
The most basic thing you can do in personal data security is use complex passwords. That is, use passwords with a mixture of:
Passwords should also not be associate with any personally identifying information such as:
Complex passwords serve as a strong deterrent for those who would potentially try to gain access to your data. While any password can be compromised with enough time, complex ones point hackers to easier targets.