Beaming file transfer feature to make its way into Windows 8, Windows Phone and Xbox?

By Tom Warren, on 7th Dec 11 1:21 pm with 56 Comments

Microsoft may be preparing to resurrect its Zune “squirting” feature across Windows, Windows Phone and Xbox.

The squirting feature was originally used in the first generation Zune 30 devices, released in 2006. The feature allowed Zune devices to transfer tracks to each other over Wi-Fi. LiveSide reports that the feature might be making a comeback with Windows 8 and future generations of Windows Phone.

Microsoft previously outlined its vision for a single ecosystem earlier this year. The vision, one ecosystem for phones and PCs was outlined by Andy Lees, the company’s president of the Windows Phone Division. Lees spoke at a keynote address during Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference in July. Microsoft’s beaming concept looks to be a part of that single ecosystem vision. LiveSide also discovered a concept video for the technology, across Windows Phone to TVs and tablets (see below).

Microsoft has clearly tried to implement this technology before but could be on the verge of making it a reality across the three screens and a cloud ecosystem. What do you think? Will this be useful?

  • Anonymous

    play-to/airplay?  its been needed for a while..  i think MS relied too much on the thinly and limited functionality of DLNA to do it for too long..

    • Anonymous

      Microsoft was under a very restrictive DoJ agreement where they couldn’t integrate their various services. This was the result of the anti-trust law suit by Apple, Netscape and several others in 1999. The agreement was reached in 2001 to last for 10 years until May 11 2011. We are only now starting to see what MS can do when they don’t have these kinds of restrictions and can integrate their various technologies.

    • Anonymous

      indeed. I doubt that they would have even been able to make an appstore for windows, integrate skydrive, and allow devices to share their cloud’s functionality if those restrictions haden’t expired. The best is surely to come.

    • Diddy_p

      thats very interesting, didnt realise this, or should i say remember this was the case!

    • William Johnson

      Really??? I did not know that was part of the anti-trust suit…. I have never been that big of a fan of MS… but if they can market, and tie there services together like this, than I think MS could change for the better.. plus they need to get rid of Balmer and I think everything would come together more nicely 

    • http://www.mainstreetchatham.com/ JimmyFal

      This is a point that needs to be made over and over. It can often squelch “incompetency” arguments against MS. Although, I can point out lots of incompetencies about MS, things do need to be kept in perspective. Great point.

    • Guest

      You can blame some of MS’s problems over the last decade on that. But there are many more that you can’t. The DOJ had nothing to do with MS letting WinMo suck and then underestimating iPhone. Or losing focus on tablets and underestimating iPad. Or deciding that instead of allowing WP7 on tablets or modifying W7, they’d just wait three years again before responding to Apple. The DOJ didn’t cause MS to largely ignore hotmail and IE for years. Or allow Google and VMware to become dominant leaders in their respective areas before beginning to compete against them.  When you get down to it, you can blame some of Windows lack of innovation on the DOJ, and fears about what bundling new features might lead to. Beyond that, most of the responsibility comes down to poor leadership and weak execution. Ballmer should have been fired half a decade ago.

    • Anonymous

      Agreed my friend. We are like birds of a feather.

    • Guest

      @ArrowSmith:disqus 

      I’ll try not to let than undermine my confidence that what I said was accurate.

    • Anonymous

      So tell me again why we hate Microsoft for not being the market leader in everything and then become afraid that they will become a monopoly? How about you come up with a list of their achievements over the past decade? I really wish this narrow mindedness wasn’t as rampant throughout all fan bases.  

      So let’s see: Windows 7, Server 2008, Exchange, Xbox, Kinect, Direct X, .Net, Visual Studio, Expression, Windows Phone, Office, Office 365, MSDN, TechNet, SharePoint, Azure, DreamSpark, Lync, TellMe, Peripherals etc.Why are Apple fans so afraid? /sarcasm

    • Guest

      @UnspokenThought:disqus 

      No hate, just stating facts. Some achievements too, but mostly new versions of previous successes. If you analyze their profit today vs 2000, there has been almost no change in makeup. It’s still coming primarily from Windows, Office, Windows Server, Exchange, and SQL. There are new version numbers, some are being delivered via the cloud, but it’s just iterations on a theme. By contrast, in less than two years iPad has generated $25 billion in new revenue and $10 billion in incremental profit for Apple. That’s more that every net new thing MS has done since 2000. And that’s Apple third such success while spending a tenth of what MS does annually on R&D.

      Perhaps you think that’s an acceptable record. I think it’s atrocious. Not only has it resulted in MS’s growth, value, and reputation declining precipitously, but I would argue that its overall competitive positioning has been severely damaged, possibly irreparably.

    • Anonymous

      Guest

      I see the skewed perception, but I believe it to be premature to say MS is out of the game. Holding on to it’s main sources of revenue is still a feat. Branching out into new markets while still keeping your top products in the lead is nothing to scoff at. 

      The smartphone market stagnated, letting Apple push into it with it’s iPod momentum utilizing its tech, i.e. iPhone, and further into pseudo tablets with the iPad. These were markets that didn’t have much going on at the time and Apple marketed well in, getting brand recognition. They still have a long way to go to have an eco-system such as MS currently has. Macs are still less than 10% in the personal computer world, and Apple has no foothold in the enterprise arena.

      Xbox was the new kid in town against well established platforms where many others have failed. Now look at it. Google attempted to offer an Office product for free that still hasn’t grabbed a hold, but they are doing well with their search engine. My point is that there are many variables to consider rather than compare cherry picked products along with the R&D vs profit for each. That’s what stock holders and analysts attempt to do. It just doesn’t tell the entire story.

      Can Microsoft change it’s strategy and do better. Of course. Basing your theory that MS will fail because of Apple’s current success? I think not.

  • http://profiles.google.com/joshrowe.ice Joshua Rowe

    “Squirting”

    Yeah they had better rebrand that.

    • http://twitter.com/karlcramer Karl Cramer

      Hopefully the marketing guy who came up with that term is now working stock at the company store.

    • Guest

      No marketing guy every came up with it. But Ballmer did say it once after others used it.

    • http://twitter.com/laserfloyd Lewis McCrary

      Um.  Yes.  XD

    • Seth_p

      Could be cool, make a squirt sound upon successful squirting… or something like that :

    • Monkey D Black

      hahahaha…..hmmm.

    • Guest

      Or have TellMe ask “was that good for you?”

    • Hookem

      It would also need an appropriate squirt animation to go along with the sound.

    • Anonymous

      I remember the Zune feature to transfer music but I never remember it being called “squirting”.  If I had heard that term I may have gotten an iPod instead :(

  • Anonymous

    I want to be able to play videos that I have on my PC/phone to the xbox. the current process is clusmy and requires the xbox to reach into the pc using a UI that has never been updated and it is fugly.

  • Anonymous

    Ah yeah. So you first say this rumor (or rather, its original source) is not credible http://www.liveside.net/2011/12/07/rumor-microsoft-to-bring-beaming-file-transfers-across-windows-windows-phone-and-xbox-in-the-future/#comment-381135461, then post about it anyway, linking to LiveSide. Alright.

  • Levon

    um this can already be done on windows phones, I transfer my music to my phone over my wifi lol.

    • Anonymous

      Can you do so without a network though?  I think not, my Zune can’t anyhow.  The idea of this is that you can send it directly from device to device, not over some pre-existing network.  

      Think Apple’s Airdrop (They copied Zune squirting), it can be done anywhere aslong as the two devices are in wifi range of each other.  

    • Guest

      There’s a network either way. But no, this requires that you select a WIFI network. It doesn’t have a built-in default capable of establishing an ad hoc peer to peer network if required like Airdrop does.

    • Anonymous

      by network I meant one with a dedicated router in the middle, so not adhoc.  So we agree

  • Lord Jem

    i like this… such an interesting banking experience. Could be applied to more corporate situations allowing managers to monitor financial situations  

  • William Johnson

    This could be really cool…. Now if MS would do something that they actually show is another thing.

  • Anonymous

    If we could all live in a Microsoft world, it seems life would be a lot easier…

  • Guest

    Hey look, the banker of the future is still using Windows 7.

    • Anonymous

      +1

    • Anonymous

      Actually in the financial industry, that’s probably very accurate.  They move slow as hell.

  • Hasona

    Actually if we think about it the tech world has evolved as hell. 10-5years ago if we looked at the video we would say that is far into the future, today a lot of these feauture are available.

    Its quite remarkable if we think about it the world is changing a lot and that is fast

  • Anonymous

    Sounds like they’re ripping off Apple again!

    • Guest

      To an iTard like you maybe. To everyone else it sounds like they’re extending the concept they pioneered with Zune several years ago and Apple recently copied with Airdrop.

    • Anonymous

      No. They are using existing technology. Apple didn’t invent bluetooth, NFC, wifi or any other networking technology. Apple is just the only company that pretends it invented everything.

    • Anonymous

      Yet Microsoft can’t figure out how to establish an ad-hoc peer to peer network. Whatever this is, it’s inferior to AirDrop.

    • Guest

      They already figured out how to establish an ad-hoc peer to peer network, shill. With Zune. You know, the capability that Apple is now copying?

    • http://twitter.com/alexh2o Alex H

      I guess just like Microsoft can’t figure out how to do wifi sync like iOS5 does with iTunes… Oh wait no Zune/WP7 has been doing that for the last 5 years!

      Well I guess Apple has beaten Microsoft to implementing NFC on their phones at least… Oh no Apple hasn’t added that to the iPhone yet.

      Apple did at least bring us AirPlay last year for streaming video/music/pictures between devices! Microsoft could never do anyth… Oh yeah Windows Media Centre has been doing this since 2004.

      The kool-aid shop is that-a-way —->

    • Guest

      “With its built-in Wi-Fi, your Zune can alert you to the presence of every other Zune within 30 feet; you can then choose to send a song (or even a podcast or a photo) to any of the neighboring devices. The potential recipient gets a message asking if he or she wants to accept the tune. If so, you start squirting, and in 10 or 15 seconds the other Zune has the song, and its owner can play it.”

      Sound familiar, douche? That was 2006. Airdrop: 2011.  

    • Guest

      AirDrop is proprietary. This uses Wifi-Direct, which everyone else except Apple has endorsed.

    • Anonymous

       Let me guess Microsoft’s implementation of Wifi-direct will have viruses, BSOD and other bugs.

    • Anonymous

      “Let me guess Microsoft’s implementation of Wifi-direct will have viruses, BSOD and other bugs.”

      Wow, another witty, insightful, and original comment hating on Microsoft! Can you teach me to be as cool as you? Purty pleeze??

    • GaryGibson

      Shape up, soldier.

  • Anonymous

    If Microsoft is so great why couldn’t they make an end-to-end implementation like Apple? iTunes on iMac –> Airport Express –> Powered Speakers. I challenge you to do that with Zune. There is no Airport Express that Zune can communicate with!

    • Guest

      Yes, it’s sad how everything Apple is so proprietary. Luckily there are numerous 3rd party solutions that similarly let you wireless stream from PCs or devices to your speakers/stereo/TV, without all the proprietary limitations and restrictions so typical of your now dead Messiah’s company.

    • Anonymous

      This is a very good point. Microsoft assists developers to make apps on their platform so 3rd party developers can make money. Apple forces you to use one product so now their fans are forced with only the option of believing their product has to be superior. That is very sad for them. 

  • Derekaw

    Sounds like Apple Mac Air Drop

  • Anonymous

    Apple didn’t copy this feature, why would they bother when Zune never sold? Apple probably was thinking it up at the same time and waited until it was economical to do implement AirDrop. First Apple sold 100 million iOS devices, how many Zunes were sold?

    oh SNAP!

    • Anonymous

      Wow, you bagged on Zune sales figures. You are SO original and COOL! Showed them M$ losers, didn’t you?

    • Guest

      Yeah ASs is nothing if not predictable.

    • Guest

      How desperate for interaction does someone like you have to be, that you would spend your day making a fool of yourself just so someone notices you?

  • http://subvert.ca/ Geof Harries

    A humble suggestion: If you want to securely and quickly transfer any type of file, not to mention messages, to other people on your Windows network, give Flik http://getflik.com a try. Flik is an app that runs on Windows desktop PCs and a Windows Phone version is in the works.

  • Guest

    What’s a “Zune?”  Is that a competitor to the iPod?