Microsoft’s SkyDrive to become OneDrive

What’s in a name? Would cloud storage by another name smell as sweet? Microsoft is about to find out, as it prepares to rebrand its SkyDrive cloud-based storage service as OneDrive.

The change was spurred by a court case Microsoft lost in the UK to Sky Broadcasting Group, with a court ruling that Microsoft’s SkyDrive infringed on a trademark held by the broadcaster. Rather than continue the court battle, Microsoft decided to rebrand its cloud storage offering.

Ryan Gavin, general manager for consumer apps and services with Microsoft, announced the new brand – OneDrive – in a blog post on Monday, not making mention of the trademark dispute as he worked to put a positive spin on the change.

“Why OneDrive? We know that increasingly you will have many devices in your life, but you really want only one place for your most important stuff,” wrote Gavin. “One place for all of your photos and videos. One place for all of your documents. One place that is seamlessly connected across all the devices you use. You want OneDrive for everything in your life.”

Gavin said nothing will change for current users of SkyDrive or SkyDrive Pro – just the name – and the service will continue to operate as before under OneDrive and OneDrive for Business.

SkyDrive is integrated into Microsoft’s Windows PC and mobile offerings and well as the Xbox gaming console, and into software offerings such as Office 365.