I’ve posted on the topic of file sharing before. It’s one of my pet peeves, and it causes a lot of problems for others as well. On the other hand, getting videos and music from friends and loved ones can be a real pleasure if done properly.

Here’s a fine article on the topic by Sherman E. DeForest at Lockergnome.com, one of the longest-running and most respected sites for geeky insight on the Net.

My personal opinion, which Sherman seems to share in pertinent part, is that Skydrive is your best bet for long term storage and sharing. It works unilaterally; you put your stuff out there where people can get it, and send a link to make it happen.

Dropbox is great for short term sharing (because its capacity is more limited, and you’ll want to free up the space) and bilateral – synchronized – sharing. With Dropbox, both parties sharing the files need to install a bit of software that creates a shared folder for them. Or you can put the file in Dropbox’s Public folder and share a direct and private link.That works great, but only one way.

If you want to share large files with others, you need to find a way to do it that works for you, besides sending the files in emails. As the Lockergnome piece explains, it frequently doesn’t work, and it’s really just bad manners.

Why is it bad? Imagine you answer your doorbell and find a friend standing there, saying he’s brought a little gift for you. You’re happy to see him, right? Now imagine the gift is the size of a football field, and he’s trying to cram it into your house. The unannounced visit just got uncomfortable. It might have been better if he’d left it outside.