Microsoft Updates SkyDrive, Faster, Better, With HTML5 Support

By Martin Brinkmann on June 21, 2011 in Microsoft 6

SkyDrive, Microsoft's cloud hosting service, has been around since 2007. The service gives users access to 25 Gigabytes of free online storage, for file hosting, sharing and collaboration. While it has been a great service to store data online from the start, it felt slow at times especially when navigating folders or photo albums in a web browser.

Today Microsoft made the announcement that SkyDrive had been updated to full HTMl5 glory. What does it mean for SkyDrive users? The service is a lot faster and easier to navigate, provided that a HTML5 capable web browser is used to access the service.
Performance and speed has been optimized considerably. Core tasks like opening folders or navigating photo albums have been improved, with Microsoft citing reductions of 6 to 9 seconds for those tasks. SkyDrive is now making use of hardware accelerated graphics, provided that the web browser and video card support the feature. Microsoft furthermore removed "anything that slowed the experience down or got in the way of a fast, clean site".
The layout of SkyDrive has been optimized. It resembles the Windows Explorer layout of Windows 7 now, with menus on the side and top, and the folders and files in the center of the screen. Users should now be able to reach their destinations faster, be it files, folders or albums.

The photo viewer has been improved as well. It now utilizes HTML5 and displays in a clean and rich manner. Infinite scrolling has been added to eliminate page switching to see more photos.

Desktops and Notebooks: Firefox 5 Browser Launches, Boasting Tweaks, Security, Privacy

 

 

By Nicholas Kolakowski  |  Posted 2011-06-23 Email Print

 

 

 

 

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Mozilla's new Firefox 5.0 for PCs and Firefox for Android aim to offer users a best-of-class combination of security, privacy and speed. Coming a mere three months after the release of Firefox 4, this latest browser supposedly includes more than 1,000 improvements and performance enhancements. However, features like "Do Not Track" may do more to draw users increasingly leery of the Web's rampant data mining. For most consumers, downloading and installing Firefox 5 will only take a few minutes, although larger companies still deploying Firefox 4 could become annoyed at having to switch so soon. Despite those hundreds of improvements, Firefox 5 doesn't seem to offer a radically different experience from its predecessor. Certainly, it addresses security concerns left over from Firefox 4, whose life essentially ends with this release. But for the most part, Mozilla's latest offering embraces the same streamlined design (with an emphasis on putting the Web's content front-and-center, via shrunk icons and an eliminated "status" bar along the bottom of the screen) and features as before. Firefox 5 will face competition not only from Microsoft's still-enduring Internet Explorer franchise, but also upstarts such as Google Chrome and Safari, both of which have gained market share over the past year. Meanwhile, Firefox for Android aims to extend features like "Do Not Track" across multiple platforms.??í

- See more at: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/Firefox-5-Browser-Launches-Boasting-Tweaks-Security-Privacy-383151/#sthash.GisWjUvh.dpuf

Desktops and Notebooks: Firefox 5 Browser Launches, Boasting Tweaks, Security, Privacy

 

 

By Nicholas Kolakowski  |  Posted 2011-06-23 Email Print

 

 

 

 

 0  0 Google +0  0

 

 

 

 

Mozilla's new Firefox 5.0 for PCs and Firefox for Android aim to offer users a best-of-class combination of security, privacy and speed. Coming a mere three months after the release of Firefox 4, this latest browser supposedly includes more than 1,000 improvements and performance enhancements. However, features like "Do Not Track" may do more to draw users increasingly leery of the Web's rampant data mining. For most consumers, downloading and installing Firefox 5 will only take a few minutes, although larger companies still deploying Firefox 4 could become annoyed at having to switch so soon. Despite those hundreds of improvements, Firefox 5 doesn't seem to offer a radically different experience from its predecessor. Certainly, it addresses security concerns left over from Firefox 4, whose life essentially ends with this release. But for the most part, Mozilla's latest offering embraces the same streamlined design (with an emphasis on putting the Web's content front-and-center, via shrunk icons and an eliminated "status" bar along the bottom of the screen) and features as before. Firefox 5 will face competition not only from Microsoft's still-enduring Internet Explorer franchise, but also upstarts such as Google Chrome and Safari, both of which have gained market share over the past year. Meanwhile, Firefox for Android aims to extend features like "Do Not Track" across multiple platforms.??í

- See more at: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/Firefox-5-Browser-Launches-Boasting-Tweaks-Security-Privacy-383151/#sthash.GisWjUvh.dpuf

Desktops and Notebooks: Firefox 5 Browser Launches, Boasting Tweaks, Security, Privacy

 

 

By Nicholas Kolakowski  |  Posted 2011-06-23 Email Print

 

 

 

 

 0  0 Google +0  0

 

 

 

 

Mozilla's new Firefox 5.0 for PCs and Firefox for Android aim to offer users a best-of-class combination of security, privacy and speed. Coming a mere three months after the release of Firefox 4, this latest browser supposedly includes more than 1,000 improvements and performance enhancements. However, features like "Do Not Track" may do more to draw users increasingly leery of the Web's rampant data mining. For most consumers, downloading and installing Firefox 5 will only take a few minutes, although larger companies still deploying Firefox 4 could become annoyed at having to switch so soon. Despite those hundreds of improvements, Firefox 5 doesn't seem to offer a radically different experience from its predecessor. Certainly, it addresses security concerns left over from Firefox 4, whose life essentially ends with this release. But for the most part, Mozilla's latest offering embraces the same streamlined design (with an emphasis on putting the Web's content front-and-center, via shrunk icons and an eliminated "status" bar along the bottom of the screen) and features as before. Firefox 5 will face competition not only from Microsoft's still-enduring Internet Explorer franchise, but also upstarts such as Google Chrome and Safari, both of which have gained market share over the past year. Meanwhile, Firefox for Android aims to extend features like "Do Not Track" across multiple platforms.??í

- See more at: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/Firefox-5-Browser-Launches-Boasting-Tweaks-Security-Privacy-383151/#sthash.GisWjUvh.dpu

Desktops and Notebooks: Firefox 5 Browser Launches, Boasting Tweaks, Security, Privacy

 

 

By Nicholas Kolakowski  |  Posted 2011-06-23 Email Print

 

 

 

 

 0  0 Google +0  0

 

 

 

 

Mozilla's new Firefox 5.0 for PCs and Firefox for Android aim to offer users a best-of-class combination of security, privacy and speed. Coming a mere three months after the release of Firefox 4, this latest browser supposedly includes more than 1,000 improvements and performance enhancements. However, features like "Do Not Track" may do more to draw users increasingly leery of the Web's rampant data mining. For most consumers, downloading and installing Firefox 5 will only take a few minutes, although larger companies still deploying Firefox 4 could become annoyed at having to switch so soon. Despite those hundreds of improvements, Firefox 5 doesn't seem to offer a radically different experience from its predecessor. Certainly, it addresses security concerns left over from Firefox 4, whose life essentially ends with this release. But for the most part, Mozilla's latest offering embraces the same streamlined design (with an emphasis on putting the Web's content front-and-center, via shrunk icons and an eliminated "status" bar along the bottom of the screen) and features as before. Firefox 5 will face competition not only from Microsoft's still-enduring Internet Explorer franchise, but also upstarts such as Google Chrome and Safari, both of which have gained market share over the past year. Meanwhile, Firefox for Android aims to extend features like "Do Not Track" across multiple platforms.??í

- See more at: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/Firefox-5-Browser-Launches-Boasting-Tweaks-Security-Privacy-383151/#sthash.GisWjUvh.dpuf

Desktops and Notebooks: Firefox 5 Browser Launches, Boasting Tweaks, Security, Privacy

 

 

By Nicholas Kolakowski  |  Posted 2011-06-23 Email Print

 

 

 

 

 0  0 Google +0  0

 

 

 

 

Mozilla's new Firefox 5.0 for PCs and Firefox for Android aim to offer users a best-of-class combination of security, privacy and speed. Coming a mere three months after the release of Firefox 4, this latest browser supposedly includes more than 1,000 improvements and performance enhancements. However, features like "Do Not Track" may do more to draw users increasingly leery of the Web's rampant data mining. For most consumers, downloading and installing Firefox 5 will only take a few minutes, although larger companies still deploying Firefox 4 could become annoyed at having to switch so soon. Despite those hundreds of improvements, Firefox 5 doesn't seem to offer a radically different experience from its predecessor. Certainly, it addresses security concerns left over from Firefox 4, whose life essentially ends with this release. But for the most part, Mozilla's latest offering embraces the same streamlined design (with an emphasis on putting the Web's content front-and-center, via shrunk icons and an eliminated "status" bar along the bottom of the screen) and features as before. Firefox 5 will face competition not only from Microsoft's still-enduring Internet Explorer franchise, but also upstarts such as Google Chrome and Safari, both of which have gained market share over the past year. Meanwhile, Firefox for Android aims to extend features like "Do Not Track" across multiple platforms.??í

- See more at: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/Firefox-5-Browser-Launches-Boasting-Tweaks-Security-Privacy-383151/#sthash.GisWjUvh.dpuf

Desktops and Notebooks: Firefox 5 Browser Launches, Boasting Tweaks, Security, Privacy

By Nicholas Kolakowski  |  Posted 2011-06-23 Email Print

 0  0 Google +0  0

Mozilla's new Firefox 5.0 for PCs and Firefox for Android aim to offer users a best-of-class combination of security, privacy and speed. Coming a mere three months after the release of Firefox 4, this latest browser supposedly includes more than 1,000 improvements and performance enhancements. However, features like "Do Not Track" may do more to draw users increasingly leery of the Web's rampant data mining. For most consumers, downloading and installing Firefox 5 will only take a few minutes, although larger companies still deploying Firefox 4 could become annoyed at having to switch so soon. Despite those hundreds of improvements, Firefox 5 doesn't seem to offer a radically different experience from its predecessor. Certainly, it addresses security concerns left over from Firefox 4, whose life essentially ends with this release. But for the most part, Mozilla's latest offering embraces the same streamlined design (with an emphasis on putting the Web's content front-and-center, via shrunk icons and an eliminated "status" bar along the bottom of the screen) and features as before. Firefox 5 will face competition not only from Microsoft's still-enduring Internet Explorer franchise, but also upstarts such as Google Chrome and Safari, both of which have gained market share over the past year. Meanwhile, Firefox for Android aims to extend features like "Do Not Track" across multiple platforms.??í

- See more at: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/Firefox-5-Browser-Launches-Boasting-Tweaks-Security-Privacy-383151/#sthash.GisWjUvh.dpuf

Desktops and Notebooks: Firefox 5 Browser Launches, Boasting Tweaks, Security, Privacy

By Nicholas Kolakowski  |  Posted 2011-06-23 Email Print

 0  0 Google +0  0

Mozilla's new Firefox 5.0 for PCs and Firefox for Android aim to offer users a best-of-class combination of security, privacy and speed. Coming a mere three months after the release of Firefox 4, this latest browser supposedly includes more than 1,000 improvements and performance enhancements. However, features like "Do Not Track" may do more to draw users increasingly leery of the Web's rampant data mining. For most consumers, downloading and installing Firefox 5 will only take a few minutes, although larger companies still deploying Firefox 4 could become annoyed at having to switch so soon. Despite those hundreds of improvements, Firefox 5 doesn't seem to offer a radically different experience from its predecessor. Certainly, it addresses security concerns left over from Firefox 4, whose life essentially ends with this release. But for the most part, Mozilla's latest offering embraces the same streamlined design (with an emphasis on putting the Web's content front-and-center, via shrunk icons and an eliminated "status" bar along the bottom of the screen) and features as before. Firefox 5 will face competition not only from Microsoft's still-enduring Internet Explorer franchise, but also upstarts such as Google Chrome and Safari, both of which have gained market share over the past year. Meanwhile, Firefox for Android aims to extend features like "Do Not Track" across multiple platforms.??í

- See more at: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/Firefox-5-Browser-Launches-Boasting-Tweaks-Security-Privacy-383151/#sthash.GisWjUvh.dpuf