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Live Mesh: An 'Open Platform' for Developers
4/28/2008
But why are we seeing Live Mesh now?
"Microsoft has lagged behind and has struggled to put real meat on the S+S bones," Macehiter said. "They've been talking about this for two years; we're seeing it now, in part, because Microsoft is facing competitive threats from multiple directions."
Because it's such an early beta, Macehiter predicted that Live Mesh will have limited impact on developers in the short term.
"If Microsoft does its job properly," he said, "it will abstract away a lot of the complexity of dealing with the mesh. It shouldn't be apparent to developers whether they are using a local drive or some drive in the cloud. I think the biggest challenge for developers is going to be working out when the mesh makes sense, and the usability implications."
Microsoft is making this beta version of its Live Mesh platform/service available now as a "limited technology preview." Mital invited attendees and anyone interested to kick the tires of the new application. The general Web site for Live Mesh is located here. Microsoft is also providing an early look for developers on the Tech Preview site. At press time, the site included a basic intro, a video demo and a waiting list to sign up.
John K. Waters is a freelance journalist and author based in Palo Alto, CA.
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