The year 2014 comes to an end. And on the last day I want to publish my wish list for Microsoft here. Because the users are not satisfied with the professional version of OneDrive . Too many problems clearly show that OneDrive for Business is currently only limited suitability for enterprise use. And Microsoft has not been able to roll out for the calendar year 2014, seasoned on the roadmap objectives, apps and functionalities. For me, the best message in 2014 was  most important: A higher-level manager for both products: Finally, both teams can learn from each other. It has been found, however, that can not be realized many functionalities, that were targeted in 2014.

my wish list for 2015

Stability when synchronizing

We all know the error messages that are not unique. The user himself can not do anything with these error messages and often know nothing about SharePoint limitations eg 20000 and 5000). Or the "&" character in the file name, …

Sync speed

I’m happy with unlimited storage in the cloud. But I’m not happy with the synchronization speed. Is that the old sync protocol? I need hours or days…

Support for files larger than 2 GB

You can do that with the personal OneDrive, but you cannot do that with OneDrive for Business: Files greater 2 GB may not stored nor synchronized. That’s a problem with SharePoint, or better: it’s a problem with the underlying SQL Server. And if all tenant are rolled out with Advanced File encryption (Fort Knox), then all data is stored in SQL-Azure. This complexity can not change that simple. OneDrive stores the data also in Azure, but in Azure Files.

native Client for MAC User

was indeed announced for 2014. Runs currently in internal beta testing at Microsoft. There are many customers, waiting for that.

Data Loss Prevention

Has long been present in Exchange, already announced in October for OneDrive for Business, but not yet rolled out everywhere. Configuration of warnings on all office documents that show the user warnings that he is about to be synchronized for the company critical documents in OneDrive for Business, more specifically, to share these documents with other people.

Better MDM options

The MDM capabilities (monitoring, which and where mobile devices were used) should be expand. Many enterprise customers use third-party products such as Airwatch, Good or Mobilelron, but they cannot use them because of a lack of suitable API interfaces.

Share a folder

So far, only individual files can be shared. But for projects with multiple files this is cumbersome. Sharing a folder would be a useful and time-saving feature.

Synchronization only on domain joined devices

Previously, each user can initiate a local synchronization with his credentials on any device. Also on devices that are not joined the domain. This wish is essential for many administrators and company’s IT

Reporting ad Auditing

Administrators would be happy if they know who, when, where and how to access OneDrive for Business and the data of team sites. If we can not restrict syncing, they want to have a  configurable audit and reporting function for admins.

OneDrive for Business as an additional drive

Users of Windows 8.1 and OneDrive know the drill. The integration into Windows Explorer. And Microsoft would find a much more rapid acceptance of OneDrive for Business when OneDrive for Business would be integrated as an additional drive. Via Group Policy or a configurator. As in many companies file servers are still involved.

Partial synchronization

First Microsoft announced 1 TB, then unlimited storage for OneDrive for Business are available. Sounds good, but , currently fails because of the amount of files, as described above with the SharePoint limitations. But even if these would no longer exist, there is another problem. How many mobile devices do you know, which have accurate store for saving 1 TB or more data on it? And currently you need the same storage twice for caching the data. The little brother OneDrive has the ability to partial sync the cloud data. That’s “Smart Files”. But with unlimited storage in the cloud, this technic also is not ideal. First approaches we find in the last build (9879) of Windows 10. There, a new concept was introduced, which actually goes back five steps at first. (Synchronization with Windows 7). And has also caused the displeasure of the tester. But that is only the first step in the development of nextGen Sync. But until the completion of Windows 10 Microsoft has still a few days time.

Display shared files in Windows Explorer

Many OneDrive user wish this function (yes, DropBox has it). And this function is also not available on the professional version (OneDrive for Business).

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These are just a few requests to Microsoft. Its my personal wish list. The wish list has no priority order. I know there is still much to be desired. If you have an urgent wish for OneDrive or OneDrive for Business, you may add it as a comment to this blog post. I would be delighted. Oh, and by the end of 2015 I will be together again what Microsoft has realized it.