Microsoft tees up LiveDrive hosted-storage service

For more than two years, there've been tips circulating that Microsoft was readying an online storage service, code-named LiveDrive.

Finally, the service part of Microsoft's hosted consumer storage offering -- Windows Live Folders -- is about to go to beta, according to the LiveSide.Net.

Microsoft's positioning slogan for Live Folders: "Password-protected online file storage. Always available where you need it."

LiveSide links to the Windows Live Folders beta home page (not sure how long this link will keep working, so visit early and often). According to that page, Microsoft is planning to allow users to store up to 500 MB (initially) worth of personal, shared and public files in the cloud. 

Users will be able to access these files from Internet Explorer or Firefox. Users can sign into the service using their Windows Live IDs.

There also may be a Windows Live Folders client available as part of this offering, but so far, no sight of that, according to the LiveSiders.

The beta sign-up doesn't seem to be working (yet), although the LiveSide folks seem to have found a way in, and have the Live Folders beta sign-up screens to prove it.

So get ready: Here comes Microsoft into the hosted storage space. I wonder what and when Google will launch as a response here.... (beyond the anticipated Google Gdrive, that is).