Microsoft just announced that Outlook.com, its well-received update to Hotmail, now has 10 million users. The redesigned Outlook.com user interface is now also starting to appear in other Microsoft products and today, SkyDrive.com, Microsoft’s online storage service, is getting a major design overhaul. The new design features the same Metro/Windows 8 look as Outlook.com, with large fonts, tiles and other new design elements.
Microsoft says that it has updated “nearly 100% of the SkyDrive UI,” but in addition to the new look, the service now offers a number of new features, including instant search (which can also find content inside of Office documents) and a contextual toolbar that should make finding common actions and commands easier. The new UI also features better sorting options and support for multi-select and drag-and-drop.
Users who prefer the more traditional file manager look of the old SkyDrive can also switch the default mode back to the old details view. This update is rolling out over the next 24 hours.
The SkyDrive for Windows and OS X apps also received a major update today. Photo uploads, for example, should now be significantly faster and the app now uses far less CPU power to look for changes in your files before starting a new sync. This update will roll out gradually over the course of the week.
After releasing both iPhone and Windows Phone apps for SkyDrive over the last few months, Microsoft also today announced that it is working on an Android app which should be available in the next few weeks. The app will look very similar to Microsoft’s other SkyDrive mobile apps and will allow users to browse, save and upload files. In addition, says Microsoft, “you’ll also be able to open SkyDrive files from other apps, as well as upload, save, and share to SkyDrive from other apps.”
SkyDrive For Developers
For developers, the SkyDrive team today announced that it has removed any restrictions to the file types third-party apps can upload to SkyDrive. In addition, the SkyDrive API now includes a file picker for opening and saving files and developers can now upload images in their full resolution.
