Bad news for Office 365 Home, Personal or University subscribers: Microsoft is no longer offering unlimited OneDrive cloud storage for those customers. The company has made changes to its free OneDrive storage plan for standalone users as well.
OneDrive is Microsoft’s version of Google Drive and Dropbox, giving users cloud storage space. In a bid to reel in more users, Microsoft had previously offered unlimited OneDrive cloud storage to Office 365 consumer customers and more recently, you’ll find the service baked right into the Windows 10 operating system.
For Office 365 consumer customers, Microsoft noted that it saw a small number of users push the storage service to its limits, backing up numerous PCs and uploading entire movie collections and TV show recordings (which they had every right to do). It seems Microsoft has had enough and is now retiring the unlimited storage option.
Office 365 Home, Personal or University subscribers will now get 1TB of OneDrive storage instead. If you think this is a crap arrangement and no longer wish to be an Office 365 user, a pro-rated refund will be given to you by Microsoft. You can find out more here.
The changes don’t stop there. All other OneDrive users will have their free storage quota reduced from 15GB to 5GB. The 15GB camera roll storage bonus has been given the boot as well and these changes will come into effect in early 2016.
Microsoft is offering a consolation prize. If you’ve already blasted through 5GB of your free OneDrive storage, you can still access all your files for the 12 months after the changes roll in and you can also redeem a free one-year Office 365 Personal subscription, which will give you 1TB of storage.
[VIa Microsoft OneDrive Blog]
Comments
13 responses to “Microsoft Drops Unlimited OneDrive Storage Plan, Trims Down Free Storage Plan For All Users”
Bait and switch on the camera bonus Microsoft, bait and switch.
*deletes onedrive from android and all photos there and moves 100% back to Google.*
It’s not “bait and switch” at all. You might not like it, but don’t call what it’s not.
Just for my education, would you mind explaining why it’s not ?
To my eye, the entire strategy appears to have been a calculated bait and switch.
Because they provided what they said they would provide, then at a later point stopped doing so. “Bait and Switch” is advertising something that will never be provided, and upselling to a different item instead.
Thanks for the clarification.
I’d still assert that it still has the duplicity of a bait and switch, but better appreciate the distinction now.
Terms evolve.
The “last century” meaning was when there were only brick and mortar stores advertising a product they never intend to supply. When it comes to this century and digital goods, advertising a bonus to make people spend time to upload all photos and switch, then removing one month later is very much a classic case of “Bait and Switch”
You want to upload more than 5GB of photos after January? Well, we now have this great new higher quota subscription plan you can sign up for.
Bait and switch.
And if the Brick and Mortar stores of the 20th century could have done the same – lend a TV for 1 week then force sale under different terms – then the definition would include that.
Except, of course, they’re not “forcing a sale” in any way, shape or form.
They provided what they said the would. Now they’re taking it away. It’s nothing like bait and switch at all, supposed evolution or not.
Even more reason to stick with Google then.
Unlimited photo backup, unlimited drive size for business and education, super cheap size increases.
From their blog:
“100 GB and 200 GB paid plans are going away as an option for new users and will be replaced with a 50 GB plan for $1.99 per month in early 2016.”
“If after 1 year you fail to take action, your content may be deleted.”
Basically, you’re being told “take your shit and f___ off”.
So, not only are they not able to maintain a commercial promise, they are halving their current subscription which showsthey can’t/won’t even compete with Google.
Currently, MS provide the same deal as Google, which is 100GB for $2
Why not raise a little white flag, whilst you’re at it, MS ? Seriously, just give up.
“In some instances, this exceeded 75 TB per user or 14,000 times the average. Instead of focusing on extreme backup scenarios, we want to remain focused on delivering high-value productivity and collaboration experiences that benefit the majority of OneDrive users.”
So, why not just drop the limit to 10TB instead of nerfing it to 1TB ? As your T&C’s actually state that commercial videos are not to be uploaded, you already have reason to terminate those accounts in breach – so it’s not for the reasons stated.
But let’s pretend it’s because a few are taking advantage of your open ended offer.
However, their last paragraph makes me laugh..
“OneDrive has always been designed to be more than basic file storage and backup”
And yet, you can’t even grasp the basics of that.
No one is going to trust you with their data now, after being told to pack up and go. People have always been wary of trusting data to the cloud, and you’ve managed to highlight those fears by announcing you’re deleting anything over your new arbitrary size limit.
It shows lack of strategy, direction and customer trust- maybe you’d like to buy IceTV, as you both seem to share the same ideals.
The only appealing part of the Office 365 subscription was the storage, and you’ve nerfed that – unsurprisingly, you’ve not dropped the price though.
No matter, you’re the one getting dropped.
Hi there ManDroid
We totally saw your comment, directed clearly at us, on this Gizmodo article. We have people roaming the internet looking for messages just like this because your feedback is so important to us that we forego all normal channels in the hopes people will write us notes on sites all over the internet.
As for your actual post, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, oh well.
Awesome, that’s a super fast response !
I’m going to post my technical problems here next time, instead of waiting 25 minutes on an IVR.
However, I should point out that I commented on a Lifehacker article, not Gizmodo, but thanks for telling us where you’ve followed the article from.
My feedback is brief and succinct, I’ve dumped you already.
The ‘open letter’ above, was just me bitching about it. Apparently, I’m not the only one who is irked by your foolishness.
I know, I know, I should just move on and put it down to experience, but I actually had high hopes for us, Combined functionality, unlimited storage for a lifetime of memories, commitment and duty – all the right words, such a bright future.
Now I hear you’re really just after short, casual relationships with little commitment – sorry, but there are others that do that so much better than you. MEGA even has the decency to be anonymous andd leave before morning.
You can keep the engagement ring, it sounds like you need the money.
928 comments on the one drive blog!! ppl will be moving to gdrive big time
Seriously? I’ve stuck with OneDrive since pretty much the day it opened and have accumulated 140gb in free space (that I make use of, because y’know, you gave it to me!). Am I going to drop down to 5gb too? What’s the point of me even using it anymore?
I’m in exactly the same position! I think we’re going to lose a fair chunk of that, perhaps all but the 5GB… if that happens, screw this… moving over to Google Drive… may have to do that anyway