Microsoft has upgrade its online storage SkyDrive service to 5GB per user. This made me happy because it would be perfect for keeping an online backup of my work. However, when I actually tried to use it, I found you have to upload files one at a time, by browsing for them individually. And each file is limited to 50MB, so I can’t upload a zip file of everything.

What’s the point of offering 5GB if you’re going to cripple the service in this way? It seems like the 5GB is just a marketing stunt. Lame.

Yesterday I went to a law and economics conference about intellectual property. It was co-sponsored by Microsoft, and one thing that surprised me was that two of the seven papers presented were about open source. I also found the attitude of the Microsoft people at the conference to be refreshing. They were open-minded and willing to discuss, without pushing their point of view too hard. Somehow I’d expected Microsoft to be less human. I was pleasantly surprised.

Check out this Google horror story, about a guy who was using Google services for his email, blog, calendar, etc. He fell victim to a phishing attack, and Google deleted his account — all his data gone. At first Google said they weren’t willing to restore it; eventually they did thanks to publicity and connections.

This is exactly the kind of thing that makes me cautious about using online services for anything important. There are currently fourteen web-based spreadsheet services available, and I’m not using any of them. It’s not because they’re no good, but because I worry about whether I’ll be able to access my data a few years down the track. One advantage of having a long-lived de facto monopoly like Microsoft is that, 13 years later, I can still easily open a file I created in Excel 95.

I think I’m not the only person who cares about being able to access his data in 10 or 20 years’ time. Hopefully the online applications providers will realise this and support open document standards, as well as letting me download my data and keep my own copy.