Another day, another cloud app gets stung by a bug. Microsoft’s SkyDrive cloud storage service began malfunctioning on Tuesday afternoon, a day after Google’s Gmail got tripped by a network breakdown.
“SkyDrive is having problems accessing and modifying files. You might not be able to view, change, upload, or delete files,” read an alert on the Live Status site, where Microsoft displays the current availability of several consumer online services.
Microsoft didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
SkyDrive plays the critical role of cloud-based storage service in many Microsoft products, including operating systems like Windows 8, devices like Surface tablets, and online and desktop applications like those in Office.
Just Monday, Microsoft announced a new 200GB SkyDrive plan that is now available for purchase or comes bundled at no extra cost with the new Surface 2 tablets.
In May, Microsoft announced that SkyDrive had exceeded the 250 million-user mark.
So far, the week isn’t shaping up to be a good one for cloud apps.
On Monday, Google wrestled for much of the morning and afternoon with a persistent network-related bug that affected almost half of Gmail’s active users, of which there were more than 425 million last year.
For about 10 hours, affected Gmail users suffered delivery delays and difficulty downloading attachments. It was one of the longest, most widespread Gmail disruptions in years.
The issue affected individuals who use the free version of Gmail, as well as businesses, schools and government agencies that pay for it as part of the Google Apps cloud collaboration and email suite.
