Microsoft Sky Drive now worth checking out

If you have not tried out Windows Sky Drive yet it is worth a look see. What is very cool about this is that it behaves just like Microsoft Office Word, if you are using word, or like any of the other Microsoft products that you are used to working with. This entry was written using Microsoft Sky Drive using Firefox 5.0, and there were no hitches or glitches with the use of it. It is nice seeing a product that is not Internet Explorer centric, and while this does not herald a new outlook on life for Microsoft, there are things that work better in IE than they do in Firefox, this is still an interesting foray into the entire online document, spreadsheet, and PowerPoint creation system that is a competitor to Google’s Document System. This might also make an interesting way to leverage the storage space between Google Docs and Microsoft SkyDrive without having to spend money for extra storage.

You get the full range of options that you would expect out of any Microsoft product when building or creating a document, with the additional bonus of being able to open this up directly in Microsoft Office if you need the horsepower of the full Word product, which few people will need. If you really do not want to fork over the couple of hundred of dollars for an office version, then this system makes sense, especially with the simple download that is similar between Google Docs and Microsoft SkyDrive.

The best part about this, and one thing that we should give kudos to Microsoft for is that they are very honest in their privacy policy, If you don’t get this statement about your privacy using the system, then that is really on you. There is just something elegant about running across a plain English privacy policy that is totally refreshing. Microsoft’s SkyDrive privacy policy states:

In order to operate and provide the service, we collect certain information about you. As part of the service, we may also automatically upload information about your computer, your use of the service, and service performance. We use and protect that information as described in the Microsoft Online Privacy Statement (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=74170). In particular, we may access or disclose information about you, including the content of your communications, in order to: (a) comply with the law or respond to lawful requests or legal process; (b) protect the rights or property of Microsoft or our customers, including the enforcement of our agreements or policies governing your use of the service; or (c) act on a good faith belief that such access or disclosure is necessary to protect the personal safety of Microsoft employees, customers, or the public.

Honestly, this is a worthy contender in the online document space and worth checking out. Good for just about anyone who needs simple word processing anywhere they go without having to fork over dollars for the regular Microsoft Word. I can see where this is going to be a contender in the online document space, and is comparable to Google Docs in just about every operation out there. If you wanted a choice, then this is a worthy choice to check out. You can access this product through the MSN or Live system, and yes you have to read all the statements, not that you will, but the EULA in its own right is an interesting read along with the standard Microsoft Privacy Policy.