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Developers Question Microsoft’s Mesh Openness
2008-04-26
Microsoft’s new service, that will sync all of a user’s devices and
applications providing a seamless framework.
Microsoft has said the service will use open standards and be rolled out to
Windows machines, Macs and mobiles.
But developers at the conference said they needed more detail about openness.
"I have just seen the cookie cutter slide show, " says start up entrepreneur Ola
Agayi "and it has promise but I haven't had the chance to play around with it.
It's certainly an interesting concept."
Developer JC Herz, of BatchTags, said she was worried about openness and
Microsoft's role in controlling so much of people's information. "It's what they
have always been trying to do which is own the pie. I think the main thing with
Live Mesh is to benchmark all the talk about "open".
"The great thing about openness is that is something that is very easy to verify
which is different from 10 or 20 years ago."
She added: "The proof is in the pudding but at the moment it's all demo ware and
advertising."
The fact that Live Mesh is not available on Mac at launch was not missed by many
in the audience who commented on the fact that the slide show included an Apple
icon.
"The promise is it will work on any platform and on a Mac and until it does I am
in a wait and see mode," said Ms Agayi.
For Aydin Senkut, founder of Felicis, Ventures, the issue of compatibility was
also concerning.
"As long as they innovate and it is an open platform that is compatible with
other devices and other companies like Apple then I think it's great. I think
they realise this and that they have to add value to people or they won't be
able to keep up the strength of their brand."
Sam Pullara from Yahoo was not impressed by what he saw in the 15-minute
demonstration, and he said that did not have anything to do with Microsoft's bid
to buy the company he works for.
"I am a Mac man and frankly I have completely given up on Windows. To me it
looks a lot like dotMac for the Apple and I think it will be a lot harder to
execute well because Windows machines are just so different from one another."
Microsoft's Live Mesh general manager Amit Mital told BBC News that the firm was
committed to openness and said there was a need for developers to get on board.
"We hope people will look at the platform and the capabilities and think about
new imaginative ways of building applications that will benefit our customers."
At an earlier demonstration of the product to an audience of developers, he
said: "Today we live in the world of the web and the web is at the centre of
everything we do.
" It is how we connect with the people we care about, access the data that
matters to us and also accesses many of the applications we use on a daily
basis. And the way we connect with the web is via a number of devices."
Mr Mital went on to point out the common sense need for Live Mesh at least for
himself, if no one else.
" I have two laptops at work. I have a computer at home. I have a smart phone. I
have many, many devices. Unfortunately when I add a new device to this
collection, at least initially, my life becomes harder not easier."
Aydin Senkut agreed that the product was "much needed".
"It is crazy that all of us have multiple computers at work and other devices at
home like our phone, our photos and videos, our files and access is not all
pervasive. We should be able in this age to access all of that from any device
anywhere."
Mr Mital told BBC News that he saw Live Mesh as "the tip of the iceberg".
"One of the things we wanted to do was build a product that is relevant to a
very broad audience and to the web community in general and so it's not just the
Mac, it's also going to work on mobile devices and a lot of other devices in the
future."
Live Mesh is being privately tested by a core group of about several thousand
with a public test expected later in the year. Over the next couple of days
those attending Web 2.0 will be able to give Live Mesh a run for its money.
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