Think about how this works: When you sign up for Hotmail or other Windows Live services, you get a Windows Live ID, or what used to be called a Passport account. At this time, the software giant implemented Messenger integration with the Windows Live Contacts service. This integration dates back to mid-2006, when Microsoft launched the first version of Windows Live Messenger, the successor to Windows Messenger and MSN Messenger (see my review).
And if you are storing your personal information in Microsoft's Live service, your options are much better than previously believed. This was, to my knowledge, not possible before, or I should say not known to be possible. But I was surprised to discover recently, thanks to reader Prakhar Bahuguna, that there is an obscure and largely undocumented feature in Windows Live Messenger, Microsoft's consumer-oriented instant messaging (IM) solution, which allows users who have bought into the Windows Live experience to pretty seamlessly synchronize their contacts across an unprecedented number of end points, including, ultimately, even Apple's iPhone. That seamless future is still, alas, in the future. You should be able to access, manage, and change it from wherever you want, whenever you want. And as is so often the case with data that was traditionally stored on a single PC somewhere, your PIM data wants to be free. Critics have called it MobileMess, which it is, but Apple's clearly onto something.
The result is my multi-part Managing Your Life in the Clouds series, which came about after a disappointing but promising experience with Apple's MobileMe (see my review). Much more recently, I've been experimenting with various email and PIM cloud platforms, all of which offer some level of data synchronization across the Web, local PC applications, and mobile devices. In fact, it never really got easy or seamless, despite various attempts by companies like Apple, Palm, and others to make it so. (I know, I know, look at the geek.) When I began my experiments with Mac OS X in 2001 (you know, several years before today's trendier tech pundits), cross-platform data synchronization became an even bigger issue. There were the dozen or so PDAs I've used, including the first ever Windows CE-based device, a NEC Handheld PC (HPC), various Palm OS-based devices, numerous Windows Mobile variants, a cool credit card sized device called the REX, and a Timex data watch. I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out personal information management (PIM) synchronization over the years.
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