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Old 03-05-2010, 01:25 PM   #1
ktinkel
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Default Useful Sky Drive in Windows

Columnist David Pogue has been poking around in Microsoft Windows Live and found some useful features in the suite of Windows web-based services, including Windows Live Skydrive — a free, 25GB virtual web drive, which you can access from any computer running any OS.

Pogue explains how to use it (and offers some tips on how not to use it) in his blog.


— From “Pogue’s Posts” (NY Times, March 4, 2010)

   
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Old 03-05-2010, 01:37 PM   #2
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kt: a free, 25GB virtual web drive, which you can access from any computer running any OS.
Apparently as long as you use IE...oh gag...'-}}

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Old 03-05-2010, 01:42 PM   #3
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Apparently as long as you use IE...oh gag...'-}}
I thought only the owner of the sky drive had to be running the new version of Windows — but then anyone can be allowed to access the data:
You can retrieve the files yourself, from any Internet-connected computer. Just log into Windows Live, click SkyDrive, open the folder, click the file, and then click Download.

Or you can send friends and colleagues to retrieve the files themselves.
I am, of course, taking on faith the notion that people with other OSes can actually log into the Live Drive thingy, but Pogue does seem to say so.

   
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Old 03-05-2010, 04:06 PM   #4
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Somewhere in the comments there are remarks that it doesn't work in Firefox or Chrome with ref's to IE but perhaps that's just to be able to upload data--there is a comment from a mac person that the upload function is not available--and not for downloading...

One other thing is that Pogue does not mention which version of Windows he's running and/or if there is any requirement for a particular verison of Windows needed to run it--as in, do you need to be using Win7? Also...it's interesting that one is given 25gb of storage but there is a limit of 50mb/upload which is sort of weird but somehow very Microsoft-like...'-}}

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Old 03-05-2010, 07:01 PM   #5
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One other thing is that Pogue does not mention which version of Windows he's running …
I noticed that, but figured that Windows Live was part of the newest version of Windows. They never talk about old versions do they? (Except in the “trouble” articles.)

But I don’t actually know.

   
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Old 03-05-2010, 08:11 PM   #6
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kt: I noticed that, but figured that Windows Live was part of the newest version of Windows.
It's web based so theoretically it should work on most Windows versions but with MS, one never knows...'-}}


>>They never talk about old versions do they?

Pogue works for the Times--I'm sure you know that but I wasn't sure so I just doublechecked...'-}}--so who knows what version he's using...

Terrie

PS...how's your hot water situation? Have all the changes been made?
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Old 03-06-2010, 11:28 PM   #7
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Okay, folks. From the horse's mouth--someone (me) who actually has used Skydrive and has a Windows Live account.

I'm a Linux user. Except for infrequent occasions when I boot to Windows, I don't use IE--there is no Linux version. Skydrive works fine with Linux and you *don't* need Internet Explorer, not for getting into Skydrive, not for uploading to Skydrive. Sorry to disappoint the Microsoft bashers among us, but that's the way it is.

I don't use much of my 25 gigs because uploading is painfully slow with my DSL connection. It's too slow to be really usable. This is true no matter what site I'm uploading to. It took me THREE DAYS recently to get about 10 photos uploaded to my Picasa Web Albums account.

What you need Windows for are those applets you can download that let you select bunches of stuff to upload. Those are Windows-only programs--no surprise there. And you don't need them, they'd just make things a lot more convenient. Without the applets you are limited to uploading five files at a time. However, if you're uploading with asynchronous DSL, it would take you a month to get anywhere near 25 gigs uploaded--maybe closer to a year.<g>

I don't know why people don't LOOK UP these things like what OSes Windows Live works on, or what versions of Windows, or if you need a certain browser. Instead, we get groundless speculation and uncritical acceptance of idiot comments that these kinds of articles always attract from Microsoft haters.

Interesting that Pogue didn't mention the problem with uploading over ADSL. I suppose he figures we all have super-speedy broadband that would make sending files to Skydrive as fast as copying on your own hard drive.

Anyway, the online Windows Live stuff (mail, calendar, Skydrive, etc.) works with any OS (Win 9x/Me/2000 are too antique to count<g>). Remember, I'm using Linux and Opera. If it works with those it should work with anything.
--Judy M.

   
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Old 03-07-2010, 01:23 PM   #8
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judy: Sorry to disappoint the Microsoft bashers among us, but that's the way it is.
I could only go by what was in Pogue's article and the comments that appeared that people had tried using Firefox and had problems (and the mac person didn't specify which browser was being used)--I'm not particularly interested in the service so I didn't do any further research. It's useful to know that IE is not required but you have to admit that in the past Microsoft has required the use of IE--I've run into that myself a number of times--so I don't consider it bashing to go on my past experience.


>> I don't use much of my 25 gigs because uploading is painfully slow with my DSL connection.

Is that because you are ADSL or is it the MS servers? I find some sites are just slow and given my experience with better (faster) up/download speeds at other sites, I've always thought that the slow sites were due to slower servers rather than a problem on my end.


>>I suppose he figures we all have super-speedy broadband that would make sending files to Skydrive as fast as copying on your own hard drive.

I'm sure that's the case because it's a very common (but annoyingly poor) assumption...

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Old 03-11-2010, 08:31 PM   #9
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You had to use IE (or still have to use IE) when a site requires ActiveX. Firefox doesn't do ActiveX but they have that feature that actually uses IE's engine when you hit an ActiveX site, so it "fools" some Firefox users into thinking all is well and you no longer need IE. But you do (and Firefox does) for things like Windows Updates and Web pages that require IE only things (and shame on them for that!).

Firefox for Linux does not have that "use IE engine" capability, so we are truly left out when a Web site requires it. If I hit one of those, I always complain to the Webmaster. I rarely encounter sites like that now. Of course, we don't do Windows Updates in Linux.<g>

I don't think the problem is entirely the slowness of Microsoft's servers. The slowest uploads I've encountered happened when I uploaded seven or so JPGs to my Google Picasa Web Albums account. In fact, every site to which I've tried to upload anything more than a few kilobytes has been very slow. I think the upload side of my *asynchronous* DSL is just quite slow.

There's no way I could do online backups with the slowness of my uploads. Fortunately, I have five external hard drives plus DVD burners on my two desktop computers, so I'm not concerned about the impracticality of online backups for me.
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Old 03-12-2010, 08:23 PM   #10
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judy: think the upload side of my *asynchronous* DSL is just quite slow.
Ahhh...I wondered if that were the case. When I was first looking at getting a broadband account, if I had gone with DSL, it would have been ADSL and it took weeks to get the install so I went with Comcast--they did the install 2 days after I ordered.

Flash forward 4-5 years and DSL was available on 2-3 tiers--slow-ish (384k? 176k?? can't remember), better (3mb) and faster (can't remember how fast). Verizon was offering some good deals and a rebate so I decided to go with the least expensive (slow) option after doing a test at my next door neighbor's on her system (she had that Verizon plan) and it seemed fast enough.

However, when I actually started using it, I did some testing and the downloads were incredibly slow (barely above dial-up) from a site I'd downloaded from before (can't remember what it was now) and I'd not found it slow to download before.

I still had my Comcast broadband service (I kept it in case I decided to cancel Verizon) and so I hooked my modem back up and downloaded from the same site and the download was as fast as I'd remembered it. I hooked up the Verizon dsl modem again and tried downloading again and again it was soooo sloooowwww--this 3-4 minutes after I'd done the Comcast test so it wasn't that the time of day was all that different.

I posted a query about the problem at dslreports.com on the Verizon Direct forum--actual Verizon techs--and they basically said, that was the way it worked--even though I wasn't getting anywhere near the promised download speed for that tier of service. So, I upgraded my Verizon DSL plan to the next level--it was still less expensive than Comcast--and on the whole I was quite pleased with the service although I recently (December) went with FiOS broadband...



>>There's no way I could do online backups with the slowness of my uploads. Fortunately, I have five external hard drives plus DVD burners on my two desktop computers, so I'm not concerned about the impracticality of online backups for me.

I'm not sure I trust online backups and so I'd probably still use external drives and DVDs so I've not ever gotten around to investigating an online service...

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