Why are you leaving Windows Mobile over OneDrive storage reductions?

[Windows Central Question]

I've seen many people here and on Reddit who say that they're leaving Windows Mobile and cancelling their Lumia 950/XL preorder over it. This doesn't seem very logical. Backing up photos can be done through several applications -- Flickr, Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, etc. -- on Windows Mobile, iOS and Android. I'm upset with Microsoft for changing their policy too, however I don't think it warrants giving up on Windows Mobile.

 

[Ten Four]

The thing that is so upsetting is that it was the classic bait-and-switch technique that leaves you feeling like you've just been swindled. The classic mantra of good service companies is to under promise and over deliver. Instead, we all feel duped into believing that when we purchased a device like a phone that offered 30gb of free storage we would actually get 30gb of free storage. It is that simple. I stopped purchasing new cars decades ago because of schenanigans like this that were pulled on me by new car dealerships. Why should we believe now that Windows 10 or Outlook.com will remain free? When are they going to reduce the storage of Outlook.com to 1gb, with a subscription fee required to get more? As a business decision this is just dumb, dumb, dumb. There are cheaper alternatives and many free alternatives that offer more. Why pay anything for something that is inferior? That is just stupid.

 

[920Walker]

My parents fed me growing up. My taste for more and finer cuisine didn't come free.

 

[anon(2523636)]

The contents may be encrypted but the system has to know who has access to the file and how big it is....basic file system stuff.

 

[jlzimmerman]

It begs the question, how did ms know certain people where using so much storage?? I thought one drive was secure. Does this mean they are snooping through everyone's stored items???

No. System and server admins for years have been able to run tools which scan for directory properties in the aggregate which show zero personal or private details. They only care about things like size and frequency of usage.

 

[Kevin Hill2]

For me it is about loyalty and trust. They out right lied to everyone who uses OneDrive. It is not that I don't like OneDrive or Windows products, I do, but they now have lost my trust and my loyalty, and I will start looking for a replacement for OneDrive and unless something changes I'm sure I will be looking into a new OS for my next phone and Tablet. I really get the feeling they don't care about Mobile any more.

 

[jdballard]

It begs the question, how did ms know certain people where using so much storage?? I thought one drive was secure. Does this mean they are snooping through everyone's stored items???

I would hardly call it snooping. As an analogy, I can look at Explorer on my co-workers PC and tell how much storage they're using without actually knowing what's being stored. I could even break out files by file extension and determine how many photo, video and music files they have without knowing anything about the contents of those files.

They need to have something in place for those people who have always had limits (i.e., not Office 365 subscribers) to make sure they don't go over. I'm sure it's all automated anyway - not like there's a room full of people sitting around scanning people's files.

 

[ven07]

Either people live in a place where cloud storage isn't viable at all, in which case these changes are completely irrelevant (didn't use OneDrive before, and won't use it now), or they own a smartphone or other computing device proving they can certainly afford $2 / month. Any mobile phone contract in the world will cost more than that.

But won't everybody be using onedrive now that we have w10? even those who previously didn't and also live in countries where cloud storage wasn't relevant? and wouldn't it make a lot more sense to have a bit more than 5gb of free space available so that those people would want to buy a wp, just because it's easier to have onedrive on both the phone and pc and the automatic sync?

Obviously there are a ton of solutions for this problem like use sth else or just backup what you can on your pc, but should we take away people's right to complain just because they didn't pay or couldn't pay for the service but came to wp because they knew beforehand that they would have access to 15gb so that hit a certain sweet spot for many of them?

And weren't we moving away from phone contracts and just buying them outright? and, obviously, there are still countries in which phone contracts aren't even a thing :/

 

[jdballard]

So it's obviously a bad move for Microsoft to offer "unlimited" storage with Office 365 and then take it away - especially how it was handled. They've create PR problems, a loss of trust, etc. I get that and it could have and should have been done a lot better.

But...the numbers they gave are interesting. They specifically said 75TB, over 14,000 times the average. That means the average is about 5.35GB per user if my math is right. So now, they're basically giving away (i.e., free) a little less than what is used by the average user (5GB). And their 1TB of storage with an Office 365 subscription is actually cheaper than what Google Drive (and DropBox and Apple) charges for 1TB ($120), plus you get Office. Not really a bad deal. You can get unlimited on Amazon for less, but for my $, I'd rather go with MS. Others may disagree. Ultimately, though, from a business point of view, what MS did actually makes sense.

Of course, from a trust & consumer relations point of view, it's a bad, bad move.

Out of curiosity, who has more than 1TB of files? I personally am at 800GB but I have all the source videos from my church's services going back to September of last year which I've kept simply because I could. I realistically need about the last three months. So it'll be a long, long time before I hit 1TB.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

As I have said before, I don't much mind them reducing the free storage or changing the price of storage. Its a free market. If they honestly think they will increase their overall company profits by doing this, go for it. I think they are wrong about that because of the backlash, but I'm not in charge.

But blaming it on 75TB abusers is a grade A lie and I won't tolerate that. They could only have thought their customers are such fools they would believe that had anything to do with the decision. Might as well have blamed it on a YouTube video.

Or if they really did do it in response to 75TB abusers, they are even bigger idiots. It would be like a landlord bulldozing their own apartment building because a tenant played music too loud.

 

[AndyCalling]

IMHO this makes no sense.

Either people live in a place where cloud storage isn't viable at all, in which case these changes are completely irrelevant (didn't use OneDrive before, and won't use it now), or they own a smartphone or other computing device proving they can certainly afford $2 / month. Any mobile phone contract in the world will cost more than that.

The issue is not the inability to pay, but not wanting to. That's where most of the outrage is coming from. MS has only themselves to blame for that though, as they have conditioned a lot of people to believe cloud storage (an insanely expensive service to setup and run professionally for millions of people) should be free.

Of course many people here also have other gripes than an online storage service with a decent amount of space actually costing something (what a shocker), and those I largely agree with.

Agreed. I have not seen this as a big issue for me as Onedrive has been so neutered as to be nothing more than a sync mechanism anyway. I can do that over my lan without Onedrive. For the old Onedrive 5gig would be way too small. For the new Onesync, it's more than I care to use. NAS is the way. My personal cloud is under my control, so is infinitely better than something that is beholden to the whims of Nadela. I pay way less per year for my storage, and have none of the restrictions. Problem solved.

 

[Citizen X]

It begs the question, how did ms know certain people where using so much storage?? I thought one drive was secure. Does this mean they are snooping through everyone's stored items???

Yeah. That was the first question on my mind. They said people were uploading multiterabyte move collections. I was like how do you know they are movies?

 

[AndyCalling]

Hardly matters. Anyone who hands over their data to someone else on a promise that they won't peek is not worried about security. If they were they would use axcrypt or boxcrypt. Trust a multinational and await disappointment, as it is certainly on it's way.

If you want things the way you want them, take control. Either through well considered protest (keep that drive full, and open a few more accounts) or by DIY cloud storage.

 

[Zigmono]

One word: trust. Former Zune HD user. Lumia 928 user. Was seriously considering 950xl, but holding back since I'm on VZW, plus, lack of apps for some important stuff I would like to do. Not sure where WP is heading in the future. It's obvious the whole program is lagging up to this point. The Onedrive fiasco tells me Microsoft truly doesn't give a frick about Windows loyalists. Headed to iPhone although I much prefer the Windows interface. But, I'm just not going to battle it any longer. The proverbial straw has broken the camel's back.

--zigs

 

[Citizen X]

It's more of a trust issue of you ask me. I only used 400 megs of my 30 gigs, but they change it on the fly like that and try to upsell their product with it. They offer one year free office 365, but then after that year it's going to be move or keep paying. And there bet is people will have a lot more on the cloud because of the free subscription so they will pay.

That pretty much sums it up and it is pretty transparent. I don't use hardly any of my Onedrive space because I know anything that is not written down as free for life will eventually go away. What are you going to do? Have 500 GB worth of data on Onedrive and then they say sorry slashing capacity to 10 GB? What if they say sorry shutting down the service? That's the problem with all this cloud stuff. You are dependent on someone somewhere on the planet and an internet connection. Much easier to archive things on a hard drive and then stick it in a closet. Pull it out once a year and spin it up.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Max out your OneDrive until the cuts happen. I suspect there are so many people who use a fraction of the space they are allowed now that it would bring them to their knees if everyone did that. Lets set a date and do it in mass!

 

[AllanQuatermain]

Not leaving Windows Phone because of One Drive storage allowance being reduced, have been with Windows Phone since the beginning, the only thing that would be annoying would be loosing the 10GB loyalty bonus for early adopters of Sky Drive,
open several accounts and then have multiples of 5GB.

 

[mech1164]

It's been mentioned here that what people are saying that this is a trust issue. Add to that that it looks like a deliberate bait and switch on M$ (yes I am using $ for them they deserve it even more now) part. People are reacting the only way they can with their wallets. As much as I want WP to succeed. The lack of apps and Google's blocking of it's api and apps is a hardship for many.

I currently have a 640 on Tmo since my Moto X1 was going down fast. The 640 for what it is is a fantastic phone. even with a lowly 400 series cpu the OS is quite speedy and very responsive. That's a testament to WP performance. Nevermind that it has one of the best cameras i've had on smartphone. For all that is good, I can't use this as a daily driver since i'm THAT tied into Google. Astoria is great and it will help but I need Google voice and Hangouts to make this work. When Google didn't come out last month in NYC with Sundar my hopes were dashed. I haven't given up on it but I can't recommend this to people because of this.

Now add to that this greedy move by M$ and you have to question WHY am I trying to support this company. I don't have a very good reason now. I think there are many more in this boat to. That's why this is absolutely the wrong time for them to spring this.

 

[Ten Four]

My personal cloud is under my control, so is infinitely better than something that is beholden to the whims of Nadela. I pay way less per year for my storage, and have none of the restrictions. Problem solved.

Sounds great for you, but how many people have the skills, patience, and care to really make personal storage safe, secure, and durable? A couple of days ago my wife dropped her less than year-old tablet and destroyed it. My daughter destroys laptops on average of about once every two years. My family goes through phones like they are disposable. That's why a lot of people can't depend on a piece of hardware lasting long. Not to mention things like massive power surges, floods, fires, theft, cyber crime, etc. The average person's cyber security for their local storage is hopeless compared to the Googles, Microsofts, and Amazons of the world. This is normal in the world--stuff happens. So you build a special watertight chamber in the basement for your NAS, and then the house burns down. Or you have a mirrored NAS at some friend's house and it is stolen along with all your data. Most likely, your super-reliable NAS just dies on you by coincidence on the same day the mirrored one was stolen. Despite all its problems, cloud storage makes the most sense for the vast majority of people, and for some people it is the only option--road warriors, people who live on boats or in RVs, people who live off the grid and need backup when around WiFi, military families that never know when they will be told to move tomorrow, retirees who go south every six months, etc., etc.

 

[DSR11]

Its called an audit, and yes its part of the terms of service agreement that you agree to. They are allowed to audit to make sure they aren't running out of space on certain servers to for optimal planning. This isn't a open and shut product you purchase, its a ongoing service agreement with them, that they have to maintain. It's a simple as that.

If you don't want to agree you don't have to but its a standard thing, that is pretty much a given logic across the market of cloud storage.

 

[DSR11]

Pre-orders of what? As I've said, OneDrive has never been given or sold with or for a device. OneDrive space is ALWAYS linked to a Microsoft Account which you can have without owning or using any Microsoft hardware, software or other service. One Drive is "free" or bundled with software like Office 365, or purchased with money or Bing or some other "rewards".

It might make some sense to boycott Office 365 or not otherwise buy OneDrive space but it makes ZERO sense to single out phones which NEVER came with a single byte of OneDrive space.

Boycotting Windows Phones is as silly as MS trying to blame unlimited OneDrive abusers for cutting other user's available storage.

Actually, You're wrong. Previously It was specifically advertised that way, that if you got a Windows phone 8.1, that it came with 15gb of free onedrive storage for photos backup. This was a exclusive thing that microsoft did to upsell their phones, and the Windows phone 8.1 mobile OS as a brand.