Microsoft announced today that it will be rebranding its SkyDrive cloud-based storage service as OneDrive. And in retrospect, that's not just the obvious name—given such recent branding exercises as One Microsoft and Xbox One—it's also the perfect name.
In fact, let's take this one (ahem) a step further: Perfect name for a great service, yes, but also a nice rollout. Microsoft has set up a OneDrive Preview web site, a YouTube introductory video, and a new (OK, updated) OneDrive Blog. They're really doing a nice job of setting up what could have been a typically flawed Microsoft transition.
"Why OneDrive?" SkyDrive's, er, OneDrive's Ryan Gavin writes in the introductory post to the OneDrive Blog. "We know that increasingly you will have many devices in your life, but you really want only one place for your most important stuff. One place for all of your photos and videos. One place for all of your documents. One place that is seamlessly connected across all the devices you use. You want OneDrive for everything in your life."
The SkyDrive Pro feature in Office 365 and SharePoint will be renamed to OneDrive for Business, Microsoft says.
Microsoft announced in August 2013 that it would rename SkyDrive because of a legal dispute with British Sky Broadcasting, which claims to own the name "Sky." Who knew that such a senseless and frivolous lawsuit could result in such a perfect ending for the "losing" side? OneDrive isn't just a great name, it's an even better name than SkyDrive.
Suck it, Sky.
