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He puts forward the idea that Steve Jobs is executing a 'scorched earth' policy in order to kill Windows.
Interesting, but I don't think Steve Jobs has been that obsessed with Windows for a long time. I do agree with his final point though: this is not the end of Microsoft, rather the beginning of a rebirth. Yes, Apple will probably take much of the consumer space over the next ten years, but the question is which company is providing the backend services that will enable them to do it?
Bas
It finds lightbulbs.
which company is providing the backend services that will enable them to do it?
Since iCloud is apparently running on Windows Azure...
Interesting. And yeah, is he really that obsessed about killing Windows? I think his major cash cows have no competition from Windows whatsoever, so why would he care?
dahat
inanity makes my head hurt
Utter nonsense. iCloud has nothing to do with killing Windows, but is simply a recognition of where things are headed.
For the longest time we all had the need for sizable storage & horsepower on our desks... eventually we became comfortable having it in a form factor we could fold and carry with us (laptops), while at the same time others got used to being able to do sizable amounts of their data generation & consumption from even more limited & portable devices (phones & tablets).
iCloud is simply a way to make the migration to even more portable devices easier.
It is interesting though that Robert ignores Microsoft's foray into the cloud syncing market... Live Mesh (now Windows Live Mesh 2011)... and if we ever put some marketing behind it (and either tied it better to SkyDrive, or had it support WP7), it would have a better potential user base than iCloud ever could.
32 minutes ago, dahat wrote
It is interesting though that Robert ignores Microsoft's foray into the cloud syncing market... Live Mesh (now Windows Live Mesh 2011)... and if we ever put some marketing behind it (and either tied it better to SkyDrive, or had it support WP7), it would have a better potential user base than iCloud ever could.
I don't think this is going to happen because what we're seeing here is history repeating itself.
Years ago, OS/2 users could not understand why IBM appeared to be almost willfully destroying any chance of the OS gaining any traction in the consumer market. The answer was pretty simple: other, more lucrative departments inside the company were making an absolute killing buidling services on top of Windows NT. Why would they jeopardise that just to support OS/2?
Roll forward a decade and a bit, and we're seeing the same thing again: Apple's iCloud is Microsoft's goldmine. Aside from the money it will bring into the coffers for years to come, it will also provide some stealth marketing (is there such a thing?) to lure in other companies who are looking at the same kind of setup.
Microsoft is not going to put all that at risk by promoting its own cloud service to consumers.
aL_
Kinect ftw
isnt everything apple does for the purpose of kiling windows? 
ScanIAm
This is an...
6 hours ago, dahat wrote
...and either tied it better to SkyDrive...
Sorry for the extreme quote surgery, but I'm pretty sure that mesh allows syncing folders (a la foldershare) to skydrive by simply choosing to include skydrive in the group of computers that sync. What is missing?
6 hours ago, ScanIAm wrote
*snip*
Sorry for the extreme quote surgery, but I'm pretty sure that mesh allows syncing folders (a la foldershare) to skydrive by simply choosing to include skydrive in the group of computers that sync. What is missing?
Yep you are correct. I was actually looking at that just last night.
I'm sure though that MS will forever be "copying" this functionality from iCloud (as far as the media and almost everybody else is concened) simply because nobody seems to know about this.
dahat
inanity makes my head hurt
6 hours ago, ScanIAm wrote
What is missing?
A consistent experience.
Yes... Mesh allows you to sync your folders to SkyDrive... however try to access those same files/folders from your WP7 device through Office, or the Photos hub.
Now... try the reverse. If you've a WP7 device, chances are photos you take are synced to SkyDrive... now on your desktop with Windows Live Mesh 2011 installed... try to find that same photo directory and then sync it to your local PC.
21 minutes ago, BitFlipper wrote
*snip*
Yep you are correct. I was actually looking at that just last night.
I'm sure though that MS will forever be "copying" this functionality from iCloud (as far as the media and almost everybody else is concened) simply because nobody seems to know about this.
And that is the biggest problem with MS. They come up with some really amazing stuff and then they sit on it (Courier, original Mesh) or hide it under a menu or as an optional part of the Live Essentials install (which is very rare to find installed on my friends' and family's Win7 PCs). Apple comes up with something semi-amazing and push it as the "magical" and "revolutionary" and everyone goes out and uses it.
CKurt
while( ( !succeed=try() ) ) { }
@dahat: Well that's just because they screwed Live Mesh when they changed it to Windows Live Mesh 2011.
I know the feeling of missing consistency. I'm sure the next update of Windows Live Skydrive (you can allready see the new header on http://calendar.live.com) will fix a lot of those issues. One single place to access all stuff (no mather if it are documents or photos) online.
# Saving a file to skydrive from Office 2010 is easy. Opening one requires you to go to the skydrive website because you can not access Skydrive in any way in the Office client apps.
# Hopefully Mango will improve the WP7 Skydrive experience.
Consistency is missing, but I'm hoping it will arrive soon. At least the web part of Skydrive. The funny thing is iCloud does not contain any web part at all. Everything is via applications (mobile or OSX) and that's also not a good thing I think. Not to mention nobody has said if sharing via iCloud is even possible.
ScanIAm
This is an...
28 minutes ago, dahat wrote
*snip*
A consistent experience.
Yes... Mesh allows you to sync your folders to SkyDrive... however try to access those same files/folders from your WP7 device through Office, or the Photos hub.
Now... try the reverse. If you've a WP7 device, chances are photos you take are synced to SkyDrive... now on your desktop with Windows Live Mesh 2011 installed... try to find that same photo directory and then sync it to your local PC.
I don't have a WP7 so maybe I'm missing something. I seem to recall that the mesh beta included a visual list of machines that were part of your...uh...mesh. I'd swear one of the options for a machine type was 'phone'.
That said, the point of foldershare was to share a folder between multiple devices by p2p'ing a local copy of the files. Is there a mesh component on WP7? If not, then I would expect that it would be an arduous process to get to the files since they aren't on the phone itself.
dahat
inanity makes my head hurt
21 minutes ago, ScanIAm wrote
I don't have a WP7 so maybe I'm missing something.
Join us!
I seem to recall that the mesh beta included a visual list of machines that were part of your...uh...mesh. I'd swear one of the options for a machine type was 'phone'.
You are thinking of the old beta version that launched back in 2008... when Mesh was absorbed into Windows Live Essentials a few things changed... like mobile support.
Is there a mesh component on WP7?
Nope.
If not, then I would expect that it would be an arduous process to get to the files since they aren't on the phone itself.
You could always launch the website and manually get them... but that does kinda blow the purpose of easy device to device syncing... doubly so if you make changes to the file... which then get saved to SkyDrive and then cannot be easily synced back down to one of the PCs.
Sven Groot
Don't worry... I'm a doctor.
6 hours ago, ScanIAm wrote
*snip*
I don't have a WP7 so maybe I'm missing something. I seem to recall that the mesh beta included a visual list of machines that were part of your...uh...mesh. I'd swear one of the options for a machine type was 'phone'.
That was the original Mesh. The current Mesh is a rebranded version of Live Sync (and before that, FolderShare) with only some of the functionality of the original Mesh added in.
In other words, it's a mes(s|h).
The current Mesh is a rebranded version of Live Sync
Not exactly, check the contents of the installation directory (C:\Program Files\Windows Live\Mesh) 
ScanIAm
This is an...
From my experience with it currently, the file sync part works just like it did as foldershare. It seems goofy that they ditched including phones as one of the devices in the mesh. It sounds like a great way to make sure your 'stuff' is backed up on the phone and it would avoid the daily "there was a problem syncing with MyPhone" dialogs I still get on my HTC Touch Pro2 with WinMob 6.5. The sycn portion is p2p, though, as I understand it, so perhaps they were avoiding massive data charges?
Edit: And I do plan to join you in Dec when my contract runs out.
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