Windows Live SkyDrive updated

Microsoft has updated its SkyDrive online storage solution as it prepares to take on Apple’s new iCloud service in the battle for the cloud.

The improvements to SkyDrive, announced on the Windows Blog, seem to be largely aimed at ramping up performance of the site and making it easier to work with. The redesigned service is based around HTML5, which improves the way video and slide shows are handled on SkyDrive.

Other changes to SkyDrive include SkyDrive groups, a new feature that lets you create groups in order to share files and photos with a select group of people. Ads have been removed from SkyDrive to aid user experience (either that or Microsoft is having trouble selling the space!), and Word and Excel files can now be opened on the desktop directly from SkyDrive.

Here’s a video from Omar Shahine, Group Program Manager, SkyDrive, that explains more about these and other interesting new changes to Microsoft’s cloud service.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdhB2u2mOLM[/youtube]