Sync and Mesh

I have been using Microsoft Live Mesh for a long while and really liked it. The major downside was the fact the when it sync’ed information to the cloud it didn’t do it to Microsoft Skydrive. The plan seems to be to phase out Live Mesh in favour of Windows Live Sync that will save to the Skydrive but there are still issues.

The main issue for me is the ability to add files to the Skydrive storage area via the web like you could in Mesh. I’ll show you what I mean:

Here is screen shot from a folder that I’m syncing using Windows Live Sync on Skydrive. There ain’t anywhere I can see that I can add files to this folder via the web interface.

whereas in Mesh as you can see below I can upload a file using the web interface and have it replicated to all the devices connected to my Mesh.

What makes this even more of a pain is the Windows Live Sync beta (i.e. the next version of Livve Sync) isn’t supported on Windows XP or Windows Mobile! So the only way I can sync files between all machines at the moment and add via the web is via Live Mesh. The current non-beta version of Windows Live Sync does however support Windows XP. However as you will see on the Mesh web site:

It’s now going to be called Windows Live Mesh 2011 and this seems to be based more on Live Sync than Mesh unfortunately.

I certainly hope when they do make up their minds, release one product and that it will:

– be available on Windows XP.
– provide storage in Skydrive.
– provide the ability to save files via the web interface.
– provide more than 2GB of storage (5GB is coming soon but can we get the ability to store up to the limit of Skydrive which is 25GB please?).
– ability to upload files of greater than 50MB.
– ability to have Live Sync folders as an integrated part of Skydrive rather than something separate. At the moment I can’t copy from the Skydrive sync’ed folders to my normal Skydrive folders, so it kinda isn’t any different from stand alone storage like what Mesh current is now is it?

That’s enough for starters, because I want my cake and to be able to eat it as well. That’s the web way.

Wave bye bye

Google has recently announced that it is ceasing development of Wave and closing down the application by year’s end. I was a fan of Wave, even though I readily acknowledge that as an app it was a little hard to grasp but overall I thought it provided some real innovation. I do however readily acknowledge that many people, even in the tech industry didn’t ‘get it’ either.

I found it most interesting that many tech people ‘bagged’ Wave without every having used it. Even those that did really didn’t use it for anything major. In a couple of circumstances that I used it extensively I found that it did indeed have major benefits but as the collaboration conversation grew much of the information became hopelessly jumbled. At that stage the easiest thing to do was start another Wave and move some of the information there. However, that really isn’t much different from email is it now?

In some ways the failure of Wave indicates to me that technology has become such an ingrained part of society that there is now a huge reluctance to move to anything new or innovative. Sadly, there used to be a time when people would jump on new technology and really try and make it work. Now it seems to have become a case of ‘well, unless it’s really, really, really better then I’m not going to change’. Even amongst people in technology, there is a real reluctance to pioneer something new. As I said, a strong indication to me that the technology market, in all aspects, has become mature.

One of the main reasons that I became interested in Wave was the fact that it was touted as a competitor for SharePoint. In some ways SharePoint shares some of the challenges of Wave in that most people don’t have a good idea of how to use SharePoint effectively. Perhaps the fact that SharePoint supports a more structure approach to storing information and that it links better to Microsoft Office applications make it more relevant. Perhaps the fact is that SharePoint is a more mature technology that has been adopted in the enterprise for many years stand testament to the fact that it does provide solutions for businesses who want to manage their information. However I have learnt that unless you get ‘real’ people using and understanding SharePoint then it will suffer the same fate that Wave has.

Although it is sad to see Wave disappear I have no doubt that much of the technology developed there will find it way into other Google products, the most likely candidate being Gmail. I find it just as sad that the technology industry in some ways has become so staid and conservative that fails to embrace new ways of looking at old problems. In the end it shows us that ultimately technology is driven by market forces which, like it or not, you have to deal with if you are to prosper.

An interesting side note is that one of reasons for Wave’s demise is the fact that Google is working a competitor to Facebook called Google Me. Can the market really sustain two products that do ‘Facebook’? Can Google really compete with a service that already has 500 million subscribers and still growing. Interesting. Moe in an upcoming post.

Microsoft InTune

If you weren’t aware then there is yet another cloud solution coming that I believe will make a major impact on the SMB space. It is called Microsoft InTune and will offer PC Management and security from the cloud.

It basically allows the installation of client software that connects the PC to the cloud allowing you to perform a number of tasks. Firstly you can monitor and examine the PC, you can also control the updates on the machine, you can also implement security and anti-malware and finally you can also use it for remote support. More information about the product can be found here:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-au/magazine/ff742836.aspx

and the actual product site is here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsintune/default.aspx

The product is also in beta so I though I’d hurry along and sign up to have a look but unfortunately, it seems to be limited beta of which Australia currently isn’t part.

Damm! I’m sure that it will make it’s way ‘down under’ soon and I’m keen to give it a whirl as I feel there is real call for such a product especially deploy via something like Microsoft BPOS (which is the plan).

There are already plenty of other tools out there that do the same or more but I think there is certainly a call for something simple and standard, a bit like Microsoft Security Essentials. It won’t be everything to everyone but I certainly think it will appear to a large segment of the market.

I think this certainly adds value to a potential BPOS offering and will allow IT Professionals to offer a greater range of services at a lower cost. Combine this with the planned implementation of Exchange 2010, SharePoint 2010, Office Web Apps and improved Office Communications Server I think you’d really have to be mad to not at least be checking out what these offer and how they can be integrated into your business.

This is simply more evidence (for better or worse) that Microsoft is moving to the cloud in a big way. I also think they are approaching it in a smart way with things like the new SBS Aurora which is a hybrid solution. However, this means resellers are going to have to learn to become ‘cloud and proud’ as I say.