by In a recent turn of events, Microsoft has decided to backtrack on its plan to impose storage limits for photos in users’ OneDrive accounts. The company had announced in August that photos in the OneDrive Gallery and saved photo albums would count separately towards the cloud-based storage limit of five gigabytes. This update was set to take effect on October 16, leading to backlash from users who were caught off guard by the sudden policy change.
Microsoft had initially communicated the upcoming update on August 31, stating that it would result in a change in how OneDrive photos and photo album data were counted towards the overall cloud storage quota. However, after receiving feedback from users, the company has decided to adjust its approach and will no longer be rolling out this update.
The decision to reverse the storage limits comes as a response to the strong opposition from customers. Microsoft has not yet provided a comment on the matter.
This move follows Microsoft’s tightening of its storage offerings in recent months. Earlier this year, the company implemented a policy change for the free version of Outlook, where attachments on the email service started counting towards the five-gigabyte OneDrive limit. Consequently, users who reached the limit were unable to send or receive emails on Outlook until they reduced their files and attachments.
Microsoft is not alone in facing customer backlash and reversing decisions. Unity, a video game engine, recently introduced a new pricing model called Runtime Fee, which charged developers a flat rate whenever a user installed one of their games, regardless of whether it was sold or not. This decision was met with significant outcry from the game developer community, leading Unity to partially retract the new guidelines. Additionally, news emerged that Unity executives had sold some company stock ahead of the announcement, potentially anticipating the backlash. Unity eventually issued an apology and revised the Runtime Fee after receiving feedback from developers.
Overall, Microsoft’s decision to abandon the OneDrive photo storage limits demonstrates the significance of customer feedback and highlights the company’s willingness to adapt and address user concerns
*Note:
1. Source: Coherent Market Insights, Public sources, Desk research
2. We have leveraged AI tools to mine information and compile it
