Windows Live Mesh History: Birth in April 2008 (1)

Perhaps you already know that Windows Live Sync has been renamed to Windows Live Mesh, but what about the early stories of Microsoft's synchronization products? I will outline in this article, starting with the acquisition of FolderShare:
Acquisition of FolderShare

On November 1, 2005, Microsoft announced the Windows Live brand, and just two days later, Microsoft kept a low profile. Acquired the file synchronization service company ByteTaxi and won the FolderShare synchronization product. FolderShare supports file synchronization and remote access between PCs and PCs.

For the next three years, Microsoft has not improved the FolderShare product, and the main job is to migrate the original LAMP architecture to the Windows Server architecture. It was not until 2008 that Windows Live FolderShare, a synchronization product of the Windows Live brand, was released.

The Birth of Live Mesh

In April of the same year, Microsoft announced an internal incubation project, Live Mesh, a conceptual project led by Ray Ozzie, Microsoft's chief software architect. Based on FeedSync technology, it was once considered a Microsoft cloud operating system:

In addition to powerful file synchronization (synchronization between PC and 5GB cloud storage), Live Mesh also has a complete set. The API platform – Live Framework, allows developers to develop applications for the Live Mesh platform. This means that users can use the same application and its data on different devices, even in Cloud Live Desktop in the browser.

In October 2008, with the announcement of Microsoft's cloud strategy, the Live Framework was included in the Azure Service platform. Supported devices are no longer just Windows PCs, including Mac OS X, Windows Mobile 6 series, and even Windows Home Server, Xbox, Zune, Ford SYNC, printers (cloud printing), digital cameras, and digital photo frames. And other equipment. It seems that I have seen the infinite possibilities of Live Mesh in the future.

FolderShare Renamed Sync

Microsoft has always adhered to the strategy of coexistence of Windows Live FolderShare and Live Mesh, and these two products are indeed duplicated in file synchronization. Look at the users have a lot of doubts about these two services. At the end of 2008, when Microsoft launched Windows Live Wave 3, it also announced that FolderShare was officially renamed to Sync, but the situation did not seem to improve.

Live Mesh merges into Windows Live department

Live Mesh has never really gotten out of Beta (as early as the technology preview), in January 2009, after Windows Live Wave 3 was released One month, Microsoft decided to merge the entire Live Mesh team into the Windows Live department. Since then, the rumors of deep integration between Windows Live and Live Mesh have been largely identifiable. On the Microsoft side, Live Mesh was chosen as the technology for its future Windows Live Sync product, and the Live Framework project was closed in September 2009.