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TECHNOLOGY A23
Wednesday 4 November
Microsoft gets stingy with free online storage
ANICK JESDANUN Apps can automatically In this April 28, 2015 file photo, a man walks past a Microsoft sign set up for the Microsoft BUILD
AP Technology Writer sync what you store on a conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco.
NEW YORK (AP) — Micro- device.
soft is getting stingy with Under CEO Satya Nadella, Associated Press
online storage. Microsoft has emphasized
The company just cut the mobile and online services age starts at 5 gigabytes, Amazon offers unlimited free. Amazon eliminated
free space it offers through such as OneDrive over tra- which includes what’s photo storage and 5 giga- its 5-gigabyte free plan in
its OneDrive service by ditional sales of Windows needed for iPhone back- bytes for video and other March.
two-thirds, making it the and Office software for ups. Those needing more files for $12 a year, or $1 a YAHOO: Although Yahoo
second major company personal computers. can pay $1 a month for 50 month. For unlimited stor- doesn’t have a general
to retreat from a consumer The company has offered gigabytes, $3 for 200 giga- age of all files, it’s $60 a file-storage service, it offers
cloud-storage boom that services for free as a way bytes or $10 for 1 terabyte. year, or $5 a month. Mem- a generous 1 terabyte for
tempted users with price to hook people into us- iCloud storage works best bers of Amazon’s $99-a- e-mail and an additional
cuts and ever-larger free ing other services, such as with Apple devices. year Prime loyalty program 1 terabyte for photos and
offers. Microsoft’s ad-supported AMAZON CLOUD DRIVE: get the lower option for video through Flickr.q
Starting next year, Micro- Bing search engine and
soft will cut its free option the Office 365 subscription. Stars no more: Twitter ditches stars, adds hearts for likes
to 5 gigabytes, down from Microsoft didn’t explain
15 gigabytes now. Micro- why it was cutting back its NEW YORK (AP) — You’ll This screen shot made Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2015 shows tweets on
soft says the new allotment storage offer, or why it ad- no longer see stars on Twit- the AP Business News Twitter feed, featuring heart icons that,
is enough for about 6,600 vertised an “unlimited” op- ter: The messaging service when clicked, means that a reader “likes” a tweet.
Office documents or 1,600 tion if actually using large has removed the star icon
photos. amounts of storage posed found under every tweet Associated Press
Earlier this year, Amazon a problem. and replaced it with a
eliminated a free 5 gi- The company declined to heart. fusing to new users and the the heart means you “like”
gabyte storage plan, al- comment beyond a blog Twitter Inc. said Tuesday heart is more universally a tweet.
though it still offers that post it published Monday it made the change be- known around the globe. The San Francisco compa-
amount to those who pay night. cause the star can be con- Before the change, clicking ny has been trying to make
for its Prime loyalty pro- Microsoft says it will give the star meant a tweet was its service easier to use to
gram. people time — up to a year a “favorite.” Now clicking lure new users.q
Microsoft is also effectively in some cases — to remove
doubling prices for some files that exceed its new
storage plans. It will charge limits.
$2 a month for 50 giga- Here’s a look at some of
bytes of storage, including the alternatives:
the free allotment, rather DROPBOX: People get only
than the 100 gigabytes 2 gigabytes for free, but
it currently offers at that can earn bonuses by get-
price. The company is elim- ting friends to sign up or by
inating a $4-a-month, 200 uploading photos auto-
gigabyte plan. matically from phones. Af-
Subscribers to Microsoft’s ter that, it’s $10 a month for
Office 365, which offers a terabyte of space. Busi-
word processing, spread- ness plans with unlimited
sheet and other apps start- storage cost $15 a month
ing at $7 a month, will now per person, with a mini-
be limited to 1 terabyte, mum of five people.
or 1,000 gigabytes, of stor- GOOGLE DRIVE: It’s 15 gi-
age. The company is killing gabytes of free storage
off an “unlimited” option to start, but that includes
that it said a “small num- Gmail messages on the ac-
ber of users” had abused count. Photos of up to 16
by backing up numerous megapixels, which covers
personal computers and most phones, won’t count
storing entire movie collec- toward the limit. For more
tions. storage, prices range from
As with similar services from $2 a month for 100 giga-
Google, Dropbox and oth- bytes to $300 for 30 tera-
ers, OneDrive can store bytes.
just about any type of files. APPLE’S ICLOUD: Free stor-
