News

Microsoft Changing SkyDrive Name to 'OneDrive'

As part of the terms of its settlement with the British Sky Broadcasting Group over a trademark infringement dispute, Microsoft said on Monday it is finally renaming its SkyDrive cloud storage service.

The new name, OneDrive, will take effect "soon," Microsoft announced in a blog post, though it did not specify a date. The company urged customers to sign up for alerts.

The new OneDrive name will also apply to Microsoft's SkyDrive Pro service, which Microsoft will call "OneDrive for Business." SkyDrive Pro is the file storage service for Office 365, SharePoint 2013 and SharePoint Online.

"Changing the name of a product as loved as SkyDrive wasn't easy," wrote Ryan Gavin, Microsoft's general manager for consumer apps and services, in the blog. "We believe the new OneDrive name conveys the value we can deliver for you and best represents our vision for the future."

Microsoft agreed to rename SkyDrive last fall, after losing a trademark infringement case with British Sky Broadcasting Group. At the time, Microsoft said it would rename SkyDrive after "a reasonable amount of time," though it continued to promote SkyDrive and SkyDrive Pro for months after the settlement.

About the Author

Jeffrey Schwartz is editor of Redmond magazine and also covers cloud computing for Virtualization Review's Cloud Report. In addition, he writes the Channeling the Cloud column for Redmond Channel Partner. Follow him on Twitter @JeffreySchwartz.

Featured

  • IBM Giving Orgs a Governance Lifeline in Agentic AI Era

    Nearly overnight, organizations are facing brand-new challenges caused by self-directed AI systems (a.k.a. agentic AI). Big Blue is extending them some help.

  • Microsoft Launches Integrated E-mail Security Ecosystem for Defender for Office 365

    Microsoft is expanding its e-mail security capabilities with the launch of a new Integrated Cloud Email Security (ICES) ecosystem for Microsoft Defender for Office 365.

  • Microsoft Joins Workday's AI Agent Partner Network

    Microsoft has become a key partner in Workday's newly launched AI Agent Partner Network, aligning with other industry leaders to integrate AI agents into enterprise workforce systems.

  • LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky To Lead Microsoft's Productivity Initiatives

    In a strategic leadership realignment, Microsoft has appointed LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky to oversee its consumer and small business productivity software division, encompassing Microsoft 365, Teams and AI-driven tools like Copilot.