Hoping to find another arena to compete with Google in, Microsoft posted for download on November 4 technology that will allow developers to take their Web services and databases offline, called Microsoft Sync Framework.

This new framework provides P2P synchronization of any file type, including contacts, music, videos, images and settings, and provides built-in support for synchronizing relational databases, NTFS/FAT file systems an RSS feeds, according to Microsoft’s download page.

“The advantage of a synchronization-based solution is that users are no longer required to have a constant network connection to access their information. Since their data is stored locally they are given constant access to their data while offloading processing requirements from the central database. Furthermore, the user is no longer limited by the network speed and can now access the data at the speed of the device. “

Based on descriptions posted by Microsoft, the new framework will enable developer collaboration and offline capabilities for any application. It will roam and share information from “any data store, over any protocol, and over any network configuration,” according to the company. Microsoft has built and is making available to interested testers a reusable provider for synchronizing the contents of file system directories on PCs and removable media, such as USB thumb drives, according to the Web site.

With Google Gears so easy to use and already in wide circulation, we’ll see what type of incentives Microsoft offers to entice developers to use their platform over others. Currently Microsoft’s Sync Framework is in test mode, and may be downloaded here.

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Entry was posted on Thursday, November 8th, 2007 at 5:02 pm under Google, Microsoft.

Read more entries by Ema Kwiatkowski.
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