7.31.2009

Microsoft Live: a confused mess of products?

Yesterday, I bought my wife a new netbook for her birthday. And of course she wanted to have access to the music and photos on our desktop computer. Being the forward thinking IT guy that I am, I had previously loaded Windows Live Sync on the desktop (along with my laptop and my office computer). But when I went to install it on my wife's computer, I forgot the name and installed Microsoft Live Mesh instead. The only problem, they do not share files even though I used the same login name and password for both accounts.

Argggh!

After a bit of research I learned that Microsoft has no less than (at least) 4 different file sharing and syncing programs - Microsoft Live Mesh, Windows Live Sync, Microsoft Office Live, and Windows Live SkyDrive. These programs have some similar capabilities and some unique features to each. And yet, there is non-existent interoperability. This does not bode well for Microsoft users and may hurt Microsoft in the near term as frustrated users find other applications that overcome Microsoft's confusing array of products.

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