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Comment by barista | Hacker News Reader

Agree the cloud integration looks quite useful. I'd love to just open and save files directly to SkyDrive and have that list of recent files available to me in any office client I use. This is an awesome functionality. Worth 2.5 years or not... don't know but I'm sure there is more cool stuff to office 2013 than just that. Love the OneNote app on metro.

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Why is opening and saving files to SkyDrive superior to opening and saving files to DropBox or Google Drive? Is the big benefit that the recently opened files list moves with you from machine to machine? I feel like I am missing something.

It is because you can access your "Office" from any copy of Office 2013. As long as a computer has 2013 installed, you can access your files. No downloading and setting up the dropbox app, or logging into dropbox.com and grabbing the files from there.

Just log in, edit, save, log out.

It's not necessarily superior, but it can have a big impact on streamlining your workflow. Pulling a file from SkyDrive directly from within the application (or "opening" it directly from the SkyDrive website), and being able to save directly to the cloud version with Cltr+S or the Save button is extremely useful. It doesn't require having a third-party software like Dropbox downloaded (useful if you're not on your own computer), and it doesn't require downloading and editing a local copy before re-uploading it back online.

You can also use the Office Web Apps to edit your documents online, whereas in Dropbox/Google Drive, you'd have to have Office installed.

In your office, SkyDrive is SharePoint.

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