Remember the Ubuntu One file service we talked about in our cloud storage price comparison? If you’ve signed up for all of them, you’re going to have to strike one out from your list because Canonical has recently announced that they will be shutting down their Ubuntu One file storage, as well as everything affiliated with the cloud storage including the company’s music streaming service.
The announcement was made yesterday on Canonical’s blog saying that the decision was made so that they could better focus their efforts on other products such as Ubuntu operating system for phones, tablets, desktops and more. Moreover, with competitors offering up to 25GB and 50GB of free storage, they feel that in order for Ubuntu One to stay competitive, it would require more investment than they are willing to make.
Right now, users will no longer be possible to purchase storage or music from Ubuntu One store. The current services will be unavailable starting 1 June 2014 and if you have files stored on Ubuntu One, you have until 31 July 2014 to download everything before they get deleted.
As for those of you who have purchased annual subscription, your unused fees will be refunded; the amount will be calculated from yesterday’s announcement even though the service will remain active until 1 June.
It’s definitely a pity to see a cloud storage service go just like that. Ubuntu One may not be the most affordable cloud storage service around, and they do not provide a lot of free space (only 5GB), but every little bit counts right? Anyone of you using Ubuntu One?
