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Microsoft Cuts OneDrive Storage Limits, Citing Abuse (onedrive.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Microsoft previously offered Office 365 subscribers unlimited space on their OneDrive cloud storage platform. Now, the company has announced that it's reducing the limit to 1 TB, citing abuse from a small number of users, some of whom dropped 75 TB worth of data in Microsoft's cloud. In addition, Microsoft is cutting the size of their limited storage plans. They used to offer 100 GB for $2/month and 200 GB for 4$/month. Those plans are being replaced with 50 GB for $2/month (existing subscribers will get to keep their plans, for now). Microsoft is also decreasing the amount of space users get for free from 15 GB to 5 GB, and discontinuing the 15 GB camera roll bonus. These changes will roll out in "early 2016," and users will have up to a year to get down under the new caps.
Ah, never mind... RTFA, they don't call it abuse. Stupid summary, then.
They are citing abuse over 1TB but are cutting those having 15GB. Go figure...
Remember when Skydrive had 25GB free?
Half the space of Gdrive for the 1.99 plan ... that will go well.
Users will have up to a year to get under the new caps? Like how, once January 2016 comes you will only be able to delete stuff. Sure, they won't nuke your whopping 15GB of data but still you won't be able store/share/change anything once you are over the top...
If the number of people "abusing" the system (with only 75TB of data) then why couldn't Microsoft have just absorbed those users? That's only 75x the current limit, are the number of users of the system in the mere thousands?
They probably could have, but the FAQ linked from TFA indicates that they're making these changes because they're not in the backup business, they want people to use OneDrive for collaboration and such.
From the FAQ (emphasis mine)
Why are we making changes?
Since starting to roll out unlimited cloud storage to Office 365 consumer subscribers, a small number of users backed up numerous PCs and stored entire movie collections and DVR recordings. In some instances, this exceeded 75 TB per user or 14,000 times the average. Instead of focusing on extreme backup scenarios, we want to remain focused on delivering high-value productivity and collaboration experiences that benefit the majority of OneDrive users.
So, the service was being used in ways that they didn't anticipate and that they don't want to support, so they're changing it, and giving you a year to make other arrangements. There are a lot of reasons to hate Microsoft, but that seems perfectly reasonable to me.
First, it was 75TB, not 75GB. Very big difference. Second, they aren't saying 75TB is >= unlimited. They're saying they've decided unlimited isn't feasible and are discontinuing it as an option. Completely different.
It is false advertising to say it's unlimited and then institute limits on the existing contracts (accounts).
You can't one sided make changes to agreed to terms and services.
No, it's clearly in the terms and conditions "we can change anything we want anytime."....
It is false advertising to say it's unlimited and then institute limits on the existing contracts (accounts).
Yes, but that's NOT what Microsoft is doing. They are letting people know, well in advance, that their terms are changing, and customers are given a year to either accept these new terms or find another service.
You can't one sided make changes to agreed to terms and services.
Of course you can, if the original agreed upon terms say that you can:
"7. Updates to the Services or Software, and Changes to These Terms.
a. We may change these Terms at any time, and we’ll tell you when we do. Using the Services after the changes become effective means you agree to the new terms. If you don’t agree to the new terms, you must stop using the Services, close your Microsoft account and/or Skype account and, if you are a parent or guardian, help your minor child close his or her Microsoft account or Skype account."
And...
"c. Additionally, there may be times when we need to remove or change features or functionality of the Service or stop providing a Service or access to Third-Party Apps and Services altogether. Except to the extent required by applicable law, we have no obligation to provide a re-download or replacement of any material, Digital Goods (defined in section 14(b)(v)), or applications previously purchased. We may release the Services or their features in a beta version, which may not work correctly or in the same way the final version may work."
source: https://www.microsoft.com/en-u...
actually, they're not. TFA does not use the word abuse; that was injected by the submitter or editor. MS described the use of 75TB as an "extreme backup scenario"