Microsoft updates SkyDrive apps for Windows and Mac

Microsoft is starting to push updates to the recently introduced preview versions of its local SkyDrive cloud-storage apps for Windows and Macs.

In a blog post on May 30, company officials said the coming updates will "appear automatically" in the next week or so on PCs and Macs of those who've downloaded the apps.

Among the fixes and updates:

• SkyDrive for Windows desktop will power a new "fetch photos" feature in the coming Windows 8 Release Preview -- due out in the first week of June. "Right from the Photos app in Windows 8, you can fetch photos stored on your other PCs that have SkyDrive installed – no matter where you are or how many terabytes of photos you have stored on the PC you are accessing," explained post author and Principal Group Program Manager for SkyDrive Apps Mike Torres. He said Microsoft will have more to say about this feature "shortly."
• SkyDrive for OS X Lion no longer shows an app icon in the dock when running.
• The SkyDrive folder now updates more quickly and reliably when changes are made on other devices, including SkyDrive.com, Torres said.
• The limit on the number of total files in the SkyDrive folder created by the apps has been raised from 150,000 to 10  million.
• Numerous smaller bug fixes to improve overall reliability.

The build number for the latest SkyDrive apps is 16.4.4111.0525, but those running older builds (if the last four numbers are lower than 0525) don't need to do anything -- other than make sure SkyDrive is running -- to get these updates delivered to their machines, Torres said.

Microsoft made available for download on April 23 a preview version of SkyDrive for Windows, a local version of its SkyDrive client. This is the first step Microsoft is taking toward integrating SkyDrive with Live Mesh, the company’s synchronization service that’s similar to DropBox. The preview is available for Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8. Microsoft made the preview version of SkyDrive for Mac OS X Lion available on April 23, as well.

The SkyDrive clients for all supported platforms are available on Microsoft's SkyDrive apps site.