Dropbox teams up with Microsoft

Microsoft and Dropbox announced today a partnership that will provide a seamless integration of the two products.  It does appear, at least on the surface, to be a move by both to rival the functionality offered by Google Drive.

The partnership will make it possible for Office users to save files to their Dropbox accounts without

leaving the application, This will work across platforms. It will allow Dropbox users to edit Office files from within Dropbox.  This is huge convenience for Office users that prefer Dropbox to other cloud storage services.

The big question that lingers is whether Microsoft will begin offering its Office 365 services for free.  Currently, Office 365 requires users to pay a subscription. If the motive for the partnership is to square off with Google, it would seem that dropping the subscription requirement is the next ;logical move. We'll have to wait and see.

This should also be big news for teachers within school districts that have adopted Office 365. One concern that I hear from teachers from my District is about who controls access to their MS OneDrive storage. This would seem to ease those concerns.

This latest move provides further evidence that under new CEO Satya Nadella, Microsoft is finally beginning to adapt to the demands of mobile computing. These are exciting times.