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Windows users get iCloud Drive support while Mac users await Yosemite

While developers are warning iOS 8 and Mac users to avoid upgrading to Apple’s new iCloud Drive feature before the release of OS X Yosemite, Windows users now have access with an updated iCloud for Windows utility released by Apple. With the update, Windows users can now view and edit content stored in iCloud Drive through File Explorer (via Ars Technica).

As for Mac users, Apple explains in its support document: “If you upgrade to iCloud Drive before OS X Yosemite is available, documents on your Mac won’t be kept up to date with documents on your devices with iOS 8, or on iCloud.com.” Apple allows users to upgrade to iCloud Drive on devices running iOS 8. 

Windows users can download the latest iCloud for Windows here to access the new iCloud Drive features, while Mac users will have to wait for the OS X Yosemite release this fall.

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Comments

  1. PMZanetti - 10 years ago

    Hahaha! That’s funny.

    But seriously, anyone who really cares, has had Yosemite for a while. Dev or not.

    • bfunk1978 - 10 years ago

      Not in my case. I’m looking forward to iCloud Drive, but my Mac is a production machine and I can’t afford to have downtime because of a beta OS. Not that 10.10.0 will be bug-free, but I won’t jump on Yosemite on release day, either.

      • PMZanetti - 10 years ago

        My Mac(s) is likewise a production machine. A critical one at that. Still has Yosemite.

      • bfunk1978 - 10 years ago

        Well, good for you, I guess, but Avid doesn’t support Pro Tools on anything beyond Mavericks. I can’t take a day or two to put things back how they were in Mavericks if suddenly PT dies when I upgrade. I’ll wait for Avid to support it.

      • Bart Baldwin - 10 years ago

        I’ve got a “production machine” (assuming that means a work computer that handles a heavy workload on a daily basis) and since I’m self employed and depend on my MacBook to make my living on I’d argue that it’s critical as well… and I’ve got the beta installed without any issues that effect it’s stability or usability.

      • bfunk1978 - 10 years ago

        I’ll let you risk a day of downtime or whatever it’d take you to get back up and running, and I’ll stick with Mavericks for a while longer. I’m not self-employed so I can’t really afford it.

  2. capeomarw - 10 years ago

    If I dare to guess, this sounds like a good strategy to allow Windows users to find the glitches and bugs that could be shared across OS systems, so when Yosemite comes out, many of those bugs have already been found by Windows users and not affect Mac users; Apple’s primary concern.

  3. prentom87 - 10 years ago

    Does iCloud Drive support older versions of OS X than Yosemite in the future?
    Like Snow Leopard?

    • bfunk1978 - 10 years ago

      I would think that if Apple was going to support even Mavericks, an app or software update would already be out – you’d think support would have been built into 10.9.5 if that was the case, so Mac users would have had it first.

    • Snow Leopard is not a supported operating system anymore. The last 3 Mac OS X versions have been free and without a change in system requirements. this makes it easy for Apple to say, update to latest version.

    • PMZanetti - 10 years ago

      Of course not.

  4. Steve Hoek (@stevehoek) - 10 years ago

    Download link not working?

  5. aeronperyton - 10 years ago

    The hell? OS X icons for Pages and Keynote, un-trimmed iOS icon for Numbers, Yosemite icons for Preview & TextEdit… Is that Apple’s doing??

  6. chrisl84 - 10 years ago

    Consider Windows 7 and 8 are out and Yosemite is not yet, it isnt very surprising.

  7. iCloud Drive won’t be a “killer app” until there is truly an “App”… If there was an app on my phone (Droid, iPhone, Windows) that let you access all of your files then you could treat iCloud Drive like the “Documents” folder. This would get me to pay for 1tb of iCloud Drive. Having access to ‘Everything” no matter where I am is the must have feature I was looking for.

    iCloud Drive? Close… but just not there yet.

    • You can access all your files from iCloud.com….so it’s ubiquitous with a browser.

      • I tried hitting iCloud from my iPhone browser and it only gave me the option to set up iCloud on the phone. Couldn’t actually log into iCloud.com
        I thought I might be able to add a link on my home screen but it just wouldn’t work.

    • Bart Baldwin - 10 years ago

      If you open any of the iWork apps (Pages, Numbers, etc) you have access to the files on iCloud. That being said I agree with your assessment that until iCloud is basically a copy of DropBox it’s not going to be a “killer app”. Useable and convenient? Yes, but not “Killer”.

Author

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jordan Kahn

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series.