Microsoft is shaking things up with SkyDrive. The new features and capabilities move it out of the Microsoft-centric shadows and pit it more directly against Dropbox, and possibly the imminently rumored Google Drive. However, Microsoft also announced a change to SkyDrive that many won’t appreciate.

The big news is that Microsoft has done away with the convoluted Live Mesh system, and adopted a more streamlined syncing system very similar to Dropbox. Microsoft has an app for Windows and for Mac OS X that integrates SkyDrive with the local OS. Files can be stored in the SkyDrive folder, and they will be automatically uploaded to the cloud, and synced to other computers or devices.