Get 25GB of Free Web Storage From Windows Live SkyDrive

A couple weeks back we told you that Microsoft was generously bumping Windows Live SkyDrive's free storage to 25GB from 5GB -- at some unknown time in the future. Well, that time is here: The upgrade is live (or is that Live?).

The newly updated service is available in 6 more regions and 13 more languages (that's right, it's not U.S.-only!), and it allows you to download entire folders as Zip files. There's also an online-slideshow feature if you're storing photos.

Alas, there's still one gotcha: You can't upload files larger than 50MB. That doesn't bother me in the slightest, but I'm sure it'll rankle some users.

Meanwhile, as of this writing, the entire SkyDrive site seems to be down -- probably because of California freeway-level traffic. That's no surprise: Who wouldn't grab at the chance to score 25GB of free online storage? Once things settle down, SkyDrive looks to be an ideal place to store and share files. And because it's operated by Microsoft, it's not likely to up and disappear someday -- unlike other free-storage services I could mention. [via Windows Live SkyDrive Team Blog]