Microsoft giving away 15GB of OneDrive storage, 1TB for Office 365 users

More free storage? Lower prices? It's all good news from Microsoft today: The company just announced that it will begin offering 15GB of free storage to OneDrive users, up from 7GB. For those of you keeping track, this latest move brings OneDrive in line with its biggest rival, Google Drive, which also also offers 15GB of free space (other competitors such as iCloud and Dropbox don't offer nearly as much complimentary storage). Meanwhile, Microsoft said that within the next month, Office 365 users will get 1TB of free space, up from 20GB. This, too, is a welcome change: That generous 1TB cap was previously reserved for Office 365's business users only.

Finally, Microsoft dropped the price of its monthly plans to $1.99 for 100GB (down from $7.49) and $3.99 for 200GB (down from $11.49). In fact, the prices are so low that the company chose to eliminate its 50GB monthly plan; the fee would have been so nominal (25 cents or so) that it may as well have been free. The good news is that whether you use OneDrive or Office 365, existing users will automatically see their storage limits go up. In other words, it's not like you have to be a new customer to take advantage of this. Enjoy, and turn on OneDrive's automatic photo-uploading if you haven't already -- we're pretty sure you'll have enough space now for all your stuff.

Microsoft agrees to rename SkyDrive after losing trademark case to BSkyB: Report

Microsoft has reportedly agreed to
change the name of its cloud storage
service SkyDrive, after a UK court
recently ruled that the name infringed
on a trademark owned by British Sky
Broadcasting Group (BSkyB).
Microsoft and BSkyB reached a
settlement on Wednesday following
which Microsoft has agreed that it will
not appeal against the court ruling
and that BSkyB will allow Microsoft to
continue using the brand "for a
reasonable period of time to allow for
an orderly transition to a new brand,"
as noted by The Verge.
The settlement agreement also
features financial and other terms but
the companies did not disclose any
details due to confidentiality clauses.
A Microsoft spokesperson also
confirmed the name change in a
statement to the website saying,"We're
glad to have resolution of this naming
dispute, and will continue to deliver the
great service our hundreds of millions
of customers expect, providing the best
way to always have your files with
you."
In June, a UK court had ruled the
SkyDrive product name infringes on
BSkyB's Sky trademark, under which it
operates satellite TV services and even
runs satellite television channels like
Sky Sports and Sky News. The ruling
was effective across the European
Union. Sky also offers an Internet
storage service similar to Microsoft's
SkyDrive.
It's worth pointing out that Microsoft
had to change the name of the design
philosophy employed in the user
interface of Windows Phone and
Windows 8 after a similar dispute, last
year. It initially used to call the
interface, Metro UI, but then changed
it to Modern UI, after a trademark
dispute with Europe based Metro AG
, in August 2012.