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Windows Live Wave 4: The Grand Scheme
This post relies heavily on some of my previous predictions and thoughts on what could be coming in Wave 4 so you might want to have a look at them before reading this:
Windows Live Wave 4: Video | SP1 (Additional predictions and reasons)
Windows Live Wave 4: Windows Phones (Doesn’t look like I was right about much of this)
Windows Live Wave 4: Sooner Than We Think? (Or not)
Windows Live Wave 4: The Tide Is Coming In
Windows Live Wave 4: Within The Week?
I don’t want to linger on Google Chrome OS but I do love the idea of being able to sign in a netbook and have all the things I want and need there without needing to do much and I think that in the future this will be how we use computer. At the same time though I enjoy being able to use my netbook without requiring the be on the internet.
Amongst the many complaints I have read about Chrome OS there was one that stood out for and that is how users will navigate round the system, URLs are not exactly the nicest or easiest way to navigate. I know the OS will do away with a lot of the normal desktop experience but I think should be some kind of online desktop. By looking at what Microsoft have been up to for past 18 months or so I am starting to think they could well be designing a Cloud Desktop which would be perfect for a system like Chrome OS and a variety of devices.
What is known
First the Office Web Apps were meant to beta about a year ago but there were delays upon delays until September when a tech preview of two apps was released. I am no developer but that seems a rather large delay for something that was almost ready a year ago.
There have been no really updates to Live Mesh for months now, there have only been fixes for the client when they have been really necessary. Another aspect of Live Mesh is that it will support applications running in the Live Desktop to bring true collaboration and sharing for various services which acts just like a limited PC desktop experience. Unfortunately the Live Framework, which Live Mesh is built upon, has been unavailable since September (right about the time Office Web Apps TP was released) where it says the framework will be released with Windows Live Wave 4 (WLW4).
Windows Azure will go 100% Live in February 2010, right about the time when WLW4 is rumoured to be released and therefore we can expect the Live Framework, built on Azure, to be released; it makes sense that Azure and WLW4 will be released at the same time.
What is expected
It expected that Live Mesh will become part of Windows Live set of services and will create new Windows Live services Documents and Devices. I also think there will be a better Web Instant Messenger service than the current one in Hotmail
Connecting it all up
With the lack of new updates for Live Mesh it does seem like the service is being incorporated into something else and Windows Live is defiantly the best for the service to be. Add in the fact that Office 2010 will use Windows Live to keep files in the cloud it makes even more sense to have Microsoft syncing technologies as part of the same service. With Live Mesh there would be new services such as Documents and Devices, as seen in screenshots, but I also think there would be another service, Windows Live Desktop.
This desktop would allow easy access to folders that are synced across all your PCs but also be a place to launch web applications, which could very well include the Office Web Apps. There needs to be an easier way to access to the Web Apps than only by editing documents already uploaded into SkyDrive and Live Mesh was designed to allow easy sharing and synching of files and of components within Mesh Applications, in much the same way Office 2010 Web Apps save to the cloud and allow collaboration of documents.
In theory several of the Windows Live services, such as a Web IM App, could be made into Web Apps or at least users could access them through links on the Windows Live Desktop making a much easier way to access the service users are likely to want.
The merging of Live Mesh and Windows Live SkyDrive with Web Apps.
So why the delay
I reckon the reason for the delay of any kind of news from the Windows Live team is because they have been waiting for all the components to come together. The Office Web Apps Beta delay could be down to finalising how the Live Framework would act and be scripted which, in turn, could have be down to the Azure team. There it has taken quite some time to get everything ready for the launch of Windows Live as it has been relying on when Azure and Office 2010 release, the desktop wouldn’t be all that good without Office Web Apps.
With things increasingly going to the cloud Microsoft wont want to miss out on anything so if they can create a platform for applications in the cloud and an easy, simple way for users to access the applications then they could be on to a winner. Obviously the more the platform acts like a Windows PC the better it will be for consumers as they wont need to learn a whole new system but it might just limit real innovation, not that this theory isn’t showing innovative ideas. It would also be possible for this “Cloud Desktop” to be accessed on a variety of devices bring the cloud experience all of Microsoft’s device and its competitors ensuring a dominant position within the cloud.
As with most of my prediction articles this could all be circumstantial and we might just have a new set of Windows Live services that don’t fundamentally change the use services in the cloud but here’s to hoping.
