Microsoft turns off unlimited OneDrive for Office 365, blames greedy users

Microsoft is capping its unlimited OneDrive cloud storage service to one terabyte, saying a "small number" of users abused the plan.

Maybe Microsoft's management decided OneDrive wasn't generating the kind of subscription revenues they had hoped, so they are trying to push more users to subscribe to Office 365 (and get 1 TB as part of their subs instead of just 5 GB of free storage in the process).

Microsoft announced it's ending unlimited OneDrive storage for its Office 365 consumer subscribers. In some extreme cases this "exceeded 75 TB per user or 14,000 times the average". Wow. Both its web-based and local productivity suites feature heavy integration with the cloud storage system, and those who opt for the company's Office 365 subscription service get an added bonus of unlimited OneDrive storage for their documents and other data.

100 GB and 200 GB paid plans are going away as an for new users and will be replaced with a 50 GB plan for $1.99 per month in early 2016. If you're using more than 5 GB of free OneDrive storage, you will likewise be notified and will likewise be given at least 12 months to sort things out.

If you are an Office 365 consumer subscriber and find that Office 365 no longer meets your needs, a pro-rated refund will be given. Existing 100 GB and 200 GB users will be able to keep their storage plans for the time being. Quite frankly, any cost savings that Microsoft realizes from this move could be negated by the negative press. In addition to this, Microsoft will also be cutting back on storage limits on their other plans.

While most cloud storage companies are expanding their storage options, Microsoft has shrunk OneDrive's. These changes are needed to ensure that we can continue to deliver a collaborative, connected, and intelligent service. Of course, that's the risk when you give users unlimited space. All Office 365 Home, Personal, and University subscribers will instead be limited to 1TB of OneDrive storage, above which they will have to pay additional fees. As the goal for OneDrive is to benefit the majority of users, the storage and pricing structure will be changing starting in early 2016.

In fact, unlimited storage and 15 GB cap to new users played a major role in luring users to the platform.

 

Krippner told in September that Microsoft would be publishing a revised OneDrive roadmap before the end of November.