Microsoft has faced some major trademark issues over the past few years. It can’t seem to catch a break when it comes to choosing a catchy name.
Microsoft tried to call the Windows 8 interface “Metro UI” but was forced to back off that name after a threatened lawsuit from Metro PCS. Now, that interface is officially called the Modern UI but most users are too confused or don’t care enough to call it by either name.
A similar issue has occurred with Microsoft’s cloud service. Since 2007, Microsoft has advertised its cloud services as SkyDrive. You’ve seen SkyDrive appear in television advertisements and online.
Unfortunately, there’s a big UK media company named British Sky Broadcasting, better known as “Sky” or BSkyB.
Last year, BSkyB filed a trademark dispute against Microsoft for its use of SkyDrive. A settlement was reached in July, during which time Microsoft agreed to a name change.
It took until January 2014 for Microsoft to announce the official rebranding project. In a January 27, 2014 blog post, Microsoft announced that:
“Changing the name of a product as loved as SkyDrive wasn’t easy. We believe the new OneDrive name conveys the value we can deliver for you and best represents our vision for the future.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4NsPPUDjyU
As you can see, that video is heavily playing up the ‘One’ name. It ends by saying “One place for everything in your life.”
That’s nice, Microsoft. As of now, SkyDrive will be known as OneDrive, and SkyDrive Pro will be known as OneDrive Business.
How to prepare for the name change
If you’re an existing SkyDrive user, you don’t need to do anything or switch any accounts around. Everything is exactly the same.
OneDrive is a good name for One Microsoft
One of the major themes of Microsoft lately is “one” everything. Instead of separating its user bases into different platforms and experiences, Microsoft wants to “unify experiences across all platforms”.
We’ve already got the Xbox One. The next version of Windows might even be called Windows One. And now, we have OneDrive. It makes a lot of sense.
What do you think of the name change? More bad luck for Microsoft or a blessing in disguise?
