It''s great that tech companies offer free cloud storage, but unfortunately some people take advantage of these free services and ultimately force companies like Microsoft to rein in their pledges. Microsoft once offered unlimited cloud storage for their Office 365 users, but had to implement new policies and restrictions for all their cloud storage commitments, due to some clients exceeding a phenomenal 75 TB (terabytes) of storage.

Starting on August 10, 2016, Microsoft will be reducing their free OneDrive cloud storage for their current users down to 5 gigabytes. They are eliminating their bonus 15 GB camera roll storage as well. New OneDrive users have already been restricted to the 5 GB limit and Office 365 users have already had their storage capacity reduced to 1 TB. Current OneDrive users who exceed the new 5 GB restrictions will still have access to all their files until August, 2017. For current users who need more storage capacity than the 5 GB limitation, Microsoft will be offering a free Office 365 Personal subscription plan, which does include 1 TB of OneDrive storage for 12 months.

Although these reductions are one of the technology trends from Microsoft, it still keeps them competitive with Apple''s iCloud, which also only offers 5 GB of free cloud storage for their clients. For those who require more storage capacity than the free subscriptions offered by Microsoft, they will also offer competitively priced paid plans for increased storage access. For those that want to learn more about the changes Microsoft has implemented for cloud storage access and what other options are available, visit their OneDrive FAQ page.

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