14 DAY TRIAL // With the advent of the first Beta of Windows Live Wave 4, Microsoft will no longer offer customers two overlapping synchronization services. In the past, users that needed to synchronize multiple computers and devices could opt for either Windows Live Sync or Live Mesh. This will no longer be the case after Microsoft unveils Windows Live Wave 4 Beta later this month, as Mesh was melted away in Sync. According to David Treadwell, vice president, Windows Live, Windows Live Synch Wave 4 is designed to offer users the best of the two worlds, minus the confusion of having two separate services offering approximately the same functionality.
Windows Live Sync Wave 4 will continue to allow customers to access their computers from anywhere, much like the remote desktop feature in Live Mesh. “We’ve standardized on one solution for remote desktop access in the new Sync. We’ve kept it simple and easy to set up, but made it faster and more responsive by adding data centers and optimizing our protocols. We’ve also improved support for multiple monitors, and added zoom,” Treadwell explained.
The promise from Microsoft is that users will need just a few clicks to sync various Windows folders including Documents, Photos, Music, and Videos across multiple machines. The Redmond company notes that the secret is in the underlying peer-to-peer synchronization technology that is not limited by cloud storage restrictions. “For example, the new Sync beta intelligently chooses the right connection (internet or your local network) to sync files between different computers. We also increased key sync limits, with support for more sync folders, many more files in each folder, and the ability to synchronize files as large as 40GB now,” Treadwell added.
At the same time, Windows Live Sync Wave 4 will come with Cloud synchronization capabilities. This means that users will be able to sync their files not only across various PCs, but also in the Cloud. Treadwell revealed that, “We focused on making cloud synchronization more reliable. We made sure we were providing enough cloud storage to sync a really important folder to the cloud. Although more is always better, we found that 2GB of cloud storage was enough for most of the common cases, while keeping our costs at a level that we could afford to run the service for free.”