OneDrive
Paid consumers are now restrained to 1TB of cloud storage, and much much less for free users.
When Microsoft launched its OneDrive cloud storage service in October last year, it promised free unlimited storage to Office 365 subscribers, in a bid to draw customers away from the also free (and arguably more convenient) Google Drive. But in a recent blog post, Microsft says it's killing the unlimited storage in favour of a more restrained approach; and it's all thanks to one troll, (or maybe a few).
Thestates that one or more users took advantage of Microsoft's generosity (or naivete, however you see it) and uploaded files in the range of a ridiculous 75TB! The files in question were backups of numerous PCs as well as a collection of DVR recordings. According to the company, that's about 14,000 times the average user's cloud storage usage. As such, they said, "Instead of focusing on extreme backup scenarios, we want to remain focused on delivering high-value productivity and collaboration experiences that benefit the majority of OneDrive users."
So, to remedy the impracticality of their cloud storage offerings, Microsoft has killed the unlimited storage, and is offering Office 365 Home, Personal, or University subscribers 1TB of space. The 100GB and 200GB paid plan options for new users are also going away by early 2016, and will be replaced with a 50 GB plan for US $1.99 per month. In addition, the 15GB free OneDrive storage will be replaced by a 5GB limit for both existing and new users, and the 15GB camera roll bonus storage is going away for good. All of these changes will fall into place by early 2016.
But don't worry, if you're over the limit your files won't disappear overnight. If you're an Office 365 subscriber with more than 1TB of data uploaded to the cloud, you'll be notified of the limit and be able to keep the extra storage space for 12 months. Additionally, if the new storage restraints aren't something you're willing to take lying down, Microsoft has assured a pro-rated refund. The same time frame holds for free users; you'll be able to keep your storage in excess of 5GB for 12 months (once the changes hit in 2016) and you you can also redeem a free one-year Office 365 Personal subscription, which includes 1 TB of OneDrive storage. If you happen to have the cancelled 100GB or 200GB paid storage plan, nothing changes for you.