So we have FolderShare, we have Office Live Workspace, we have SkyDrive and we have MSN Sharing Folders.  We have Windows Home Server offering RDP and classic remote desktop if you have a routable IP address. We have CardSpace and LiveID. We have Vista’s Sync Center. We have Vista Photo Gallery and MSN Photo Gallery. All of this and now we have Mesh, adding more duplication to the mix.

Whatever happened to the ethos of Office where everything worked together? Now we have siloed programs and development teams who spend god knows how much duplicating functionality that other teams have produced; sometimes promising a mythical API that never seems to deliver what the initial vision had. Apple gets this right; everything centralised, talking to each other, a consistent UI and a consistent experience.

Then there’s Mesh. Weird popup explorer bars which don’t fit with Aero, abandoning transparency in favour of Mesh blue; adding another remote desktop method to the mix and more shared folders just like Groove. In fact without this mythical API isn’t this just groove on steroids?

What happened to integration? What happened to the consistent UI design that Microsoft tells us we should use? What exactly is going on in Redmond these days? Teams fighting with each other like West Side Story? Fingers clicking and dance moves on the cobbled walkways between buildings? Where is an overall vision?