Today, I uninstalled Microsoft OneDrive

Today, I uninstalled Microsoft OneDrive.

In an era where companies are giving away tons of free storage, and some websites in China are even handing out 1 TB storage accounts (which I unfortunately couldn’t capitalize on, but I saw a lot of people taking advantage of it when it was shared on reddit) – it seems a little strange that a company as big as Microsoft would be taking away storage from its members.

Back on April 7, Microsoft emailed me to let me know that my storage quota would be reduced from 30 GB to 5 GB, and if I don’t clear out files before July 13, I will be over my allotted limit, and I won’t be able to use my account until I delete files.

The only reason I actually even used Microsoft OneDrive was because it had the reputable Microsoft name attached to it. Sure, Microsoft is sharing a near-monopoly with Apple in operating systems when it comes to regular consumers (the average person doesn’t really use Linux), and they’ve done a lot of questionable and controversial things, most recently with the rollout of Windows 10 and its forced updates. But, I figured that, because it’s such a big name, it’s not going to fail anytime soon, and I can trust my files with them.

Clearly, I was wrong – they’re obviously not failing, but they’re failing to meet the needs of their consumers.

The worst part is yet to come. When I did some research, I found out that, apparently this space reduction was actually planned months ago, and there was harsh community backlash against Microsoft (as expected). In response to this, Microsoft offered an opportunity for current OneDrive users with a 30 GB quota to opt in to keep their larger quota, and the new 5 GB quota would only affect new users.

They never sent me an email for either one of these – neither the original notice for the quota reduction, or the opportunity to keep my current quota. All they did was email me to let me know I was going to lose my space. The latest email I received prior to this was an advertisement letting me know on September 1, 2015 that I can now add shared folders to my OneDrive (which I’m pretty sure I already knew, and was already possible before then).

It’s not like there’s a shortage of file storage services, so it seems like I will be switching to Mega for most of my file storage, and am going to be a bit more liberal with my Google Drive storage use (seeing as I still use less than half my Google storage anyway, because of how much I’m on top of keeping things clean and organized).

On top of that, apparently, Google Local Guides is running a promotion right now where, if you manage to reach Level 4 in their program, you get 1 TB of storage for free on Google Drive. It’s going to take quite a while to reach that, because I’m pretty sure you need to leave reviews or submit photos to 200 different places, but that’s something that I generally do anyway, and a two-year subscription to 1 TB of storage on Google Drive is almost $240 in value.

 

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