FolderShare Acquired

One of my recent favorite utilities just got acquired. Microsoft just bought FolderShare. This deal happened nearly immediately after the heals of Microsoft’s accouncement of http://www.Live.com and the company’s future strategy.

I found this very surprising because Microsoft already bought Groove. Groove seems more aligned with “corporate” and “development” cultures needing P2P. In contrast, FolderShare is simple “personal” P2P client. FolderShare has developed a very simple, stable and fast utitity to keep folders in sync.

I have always believed that Microsoft has been the great “integrator” with the history of good software and hardware. If you think about Microsoft’s catalog of products, they were all acquired, integrated and upgraded. Some good examples are Excel, SQL Server and Internet Explorer. However, I do have some mixed feelings about this. I guess I fear that it will turn into some more complicated or bloated than it really needs to be. A timely example of this is Microsoft Max. It’s Microsoft’s recent attempt at an online/P2P photo album. It requires both a Passport and a 54 MB download. Overall, it’s not very Grandma friendly. In contrast, I share my photo’s of my kids with Grandma and Grandpa via FolderShare and the built in Photo Screen saver. FolderShare‘s download in 646kb in start contrast and will run on any version of Windows greater than Win98. Take a look at the system requirements of Microsoft Max. My favorite note is “Beverage and snack. The installation may take a while.”