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Windows Live Core OS
March 28th, 2007
Over the last few days, the good guys at LiveSide briefly and quietly broke the news about the upcoming Windows Live Core OS (operating system). I wanted answers, so after a bit of research and digging around, I’ve got something.
Microsoft Research has a lot to play in Live OS and the people involved have extensive backgrounds in online web services, networking and server storage. I propose that Live OS will be the front-end management system for Windows Live Drive, the online storage service being introduced later this year by Microsoft.
Many questions arise from Live OS and not rather my fantastic idea, such as how, why, when and where. Using our knowledge from people we know and from our sources, as well as from Live Search, we have come up with what we believe to be the answers. Please note: this is not necessarily factual nor does represent the ideas from Microsoft and these answers are from our own research which we believe is honest, fair and as accurate as possible.
When will Live Drive appear?
Windows Live Drive should be rolling out between Q2 and Q3 we estimate.
When will Live OS appear?
We estimate this year, perhaps with the release of Live Drive but we cant confirm.
What will Live OS look like?
It can either be in a web AJAX interface where it is coded in HTML and other server side scripting. It could be in form of a Flash application which runs in most web browsers and is simpler to use and more compatible; or could be an actual operating system in form of a virtual machine. If it is a virtual machine, it would be in form of Windows Server 2003 which can have many users logon simultaneously and can have cast storage solutions whilst saving licenses. Any server/networking techy will most likely understand the reasoning behind this
Will Live Drive/Live OS be free?
Both of us here were at a Windows Live conference last year which stated that all the Live services would be free, but proved themselves wrong with the release of OneCare. We believe that both products will be free but Live Premium accounts (previously MSN Premium) will have extra features and will have extra storage - but this is not confirmed by a long shot.
How much space will be offered?
From internal sources, beta testers of Live Drive get between 5GB and 20GB of storage but this will most likely change in the course of the program.
Will there be a beta testing process for the public?
We expect so - the beta program is midway between Beta 1 and Beta 2 with an expected technical refresh within the month. Live OS is probably behind in the development stages of the entire service.
Will there be advertisements?
If it is a free service, expect advertisements as these are what keeps most of the Live services running.How long has Live Drive been in development?
Windows Live Drive is essentially the first Windows Live service. It has been in planning and development stages since late 2004 before even MSN Messenger was switched over to Live. It has taken this long to build huge datacenters packed with servers, and they have only recently been developing the software solution - it’s taken that long.
Where is this datacenter, and where will my files and folders be?
Somewhere north-east of Redmond near Seattle in the United States.
How will I access my files?
Using your Windows Live ID of course
