Microsoft has pledged to improve the OneDrive experience for people that are currently checking out the Windows 10 Technical Preview, particularly the sync features that so far don't have some of the same features that are available for other platforms.
In a blog post, Chris Jones, Microsoft's Corporate Vice President for its OneDrive and SharePoint divisions, wrote that the team has been working to create a single sync engine, stating:
"We decided to start with the consumer sync engine foundation from Windows 7 and Windows 8 and add the right capabilities from the other two engines. This way, we could add features once and have them benefit all customers, while also ensuring that we didn't run into any more reliability challenges due to placeholders in Windows 8.1. We understand that having one sync engine provide a superset for all three will take time, but this is the best option to meet our core goals."
Jones said that the team is working to improve OneDrive for all of its platforms, including all currently supported versions of Windows, Windows Phone, Mac, iOS and Android. He wrote:
"We've released our unified OneDrive app for Windows Phone and Android and will follow up with iOS later this month. We've made dramatic improvements in sync reliability and performance for Windows 7, we'll release a preview of the Mac client for OneDrive for Business later this month, and we are working to sync shared folders by the summer. For customers running Windows 8.1, we have already made changes to the way OneDrive works to automatically sync smaller OneDrive accounts."
As far as the Windows 10 Technical Preview, Jones is aware that there is currently not a separate sync engine for OneDrive that can handle placeholder files. He wrote:
"There are important capabilities that we need to bring to Windows 10 – some will make it into the first release – including shared folders and support for the consumer and business service. However, others will come in updates that follow later in the calendar year – most notably the core capabilities of placeholders that are both reliable and comprehensible. We know that when you decide to use OneDrive you are trusting us with your files, and we work every day to earn that trust."
He added that the OneDrive team has "a clear roadmap to bring the best experience we can to you between now and the end of the year" for Windows 10 users and encouraged them to send their feedback and suggestions via the Windows Feedback app.
Source: Microsoft
