SkyDrive and iCloud: Why choose?

Microsoft pitches its SkyDrive as superior to Apple's iCloud, but the reality is that most of us will use multiple cloud services.

Microsoft is pitting its SkyDrive cloud storage against Apple's iCloud. However, cloud services aren't a zero-sum game.

The software giant has launched a SkyDrive vs. iCloud comparison — and makes a bevy of good points. As far as marketing SkyDrive goes, Microsoft's effort is good in its awareness.

But the idea that any one cloud storage service will dominate is pure folly. The reality is that most of us will use multiple cloud services. Small businesses will, too. This cloud-service multiplication will become more prevalent as uploading content — say, an iTunes library — becomes even easier.

My cloud landscape looks like this:

• Google Drive
• Amazon's Cloud Drive
• Apple's iCloud
• Dropbox
• Box
• Microsoft's SkyDrive.

Add it up, and I see no point in specialising in one. Amazon is used most heavily because I'm in the e-commerce giant's ecosystem, more often than not. As an Android user, I'm increasingly using Amazon's services over Google's. That said, I also frequent Google's services.

And, yes, there's Apple's iCloud, too, which is handy for my family's gadget universe — iPod Touch and iPhones.

SkyDrive will be a core option, once I buy a Windows 8 laptop in the second half of the year. Microsoft's cloud service is also pitching the ability to work across multiple ecosystems. In the long run, Microsoft may have a winning message.

But in the end, my cloud storage universe will likely be the norm. It is currently a bring-your-own-device environment in the cloud storage world. As such, your cloud usage will also be diversified.

Via CNET