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AOL brings Xdrive to Mac; Adobe launches AIR

Monday, February 25, 2008 - 03:55 PM EST

AOL today announced the release of Xdrive Desktop Lite, an all-new version of the Xdrive software on Adobe AIR, which was also launched today. The Xdrive Desktop Lite product features an enhanced user interface as well as desktop integration and offers consumers the opportunity to use the Xdrive software on Apple Macs for the first time.

Designed to make it easier to upload and store digital files in one place, Xdrive Desktop Lite reduces the amount of time it takes to upload files by fully integrating the consumer’s desktop into the application. Users uploading digital files stored on a local hard drive will be able to see the contents of that drive appear within the Xdrive application, and can easily drag the files from the local drive to the Xdrive service in one simple step. AOL promises that the new software offers a cleaner, more intuitive user interface, and is both Mac- and WIndows-compatible, offering users the opportunity to easily store up to 5GB of files from any computer on the Xdrive service for free.

“AOL has long been a leader in the online storage space, and we continue to enhance Xdrive to ensure that we are providing the best solution for consumers to store, manage and share all of their digital files online for free,” said Kevin Conroy, Executive Vice President, AOL, in the press release.

“With Xdrive Desktop Lite, we’re eliminating the barriers to storing digital media and files online by creating simpler, easier-to-use desktop software that allows consumers to upload and store all of their assets in one place,” said David Liu, Senior Vice President, Social Media, Messaging and Homepages, AOL, in the press release. “By deploying this application on Adobe AIR, we have drastically reduced the amount of time it takes to upload a file, and implemented simple drag-and-drop technology to ensure that people can easily transfer their files to Xdrive no matter where they reside originally – on the desktop, a hard drive or even a camera’s memory card.”

“Adobe AIR bridges the real-time, dynamic capabilities of the Web with the computing power and data capabilities of the desktop,” said Michele Turner, Vice President of Product Marketing and Product Management, Platform business unit at Adobe, in the press release. “By enabling Xdrive, a leading online storage solution, to run on the desktop with Adobe AIR, AOL is helping to make it easier, faster and more convenient for Xdrive users to safely store and share all their digital content.”

The Xdrive Desktop Lite application has been built using publicly available APIs featured on http://dev.aol.com, which offers developers and partners the opportunity to create a series of applications fully compatible with the Xdrive storage system. For example, BlueString, the first online destination allowing people to combine photos, videos and music to create multimedia shows was built using these APIs and released into beta in September by AOL. As a result, files uploaded into Xdrive Desktop Lite will also be available to users via the BlueString application. In addition, the next version of BlueString, also leveraging Adobe AIR software will be released later this year.

Xdrive is a free service available to all Web users. It manages an online storage platform that provides consumers with 5GB of free storage without limiting file size or bandwidth consumption. Upgrades to 50GB accounts are available for $9.95 per month. Currently, anyone with a free AOL or AIM screen name can register for Xdrive for free. Later this year, consumers will be able to use Xdrive with any screen name or email address.

Xdrive is a Verisign Secure Site, and provides password protection for all sessions and stored assets. Xdrive's high volume network and horizontally scalable processor complex provide the performance and reliability that consumers demand.

More info about Xdrive here.

More info about Adobe AIR here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Jennifer" for the heads up.]