First screenshot leaked for Windows Live SkyDrive Wave 5

With all the news on Windows Phone and Windows 8 recently, things had been quite quiet on the Windows Live front. But that doesn’t mean the Windows Live teams have been resting. Bits and pieces have surfaced from the recent Windows 8 pre-beta leaks which hints at built-in Windows Live Mesh and SkyDrive integration, with cloud roaming capabilities for apps, files and folders, and preferences and settings.

Back in April, we also hinted about an overhaul of the Windows Live SkyDrive Wave 5 web interface, which will make it easier for users to manage and search for files and folders stored in the cloud. A sharp-eyed LiveSide reader revanmj recently spotted on the official Office Web Apps blog a screenshot of the new Windows Live SkyDrive Wave 5 interface. We believe this screenshot was accidently posted on the blog post, and has since been replaced by the Wave 4 version. Fortunately, the screenshot still remains on the server, as shown below:

2476.Add files

As you can see above, the UI looks nothing like the current Wave 4 version of SkyDrive. In fact, it appears to have a similar interface to Hotmail’s, with a navigation pane on the left allowing you to access various views of your SkyDrive (presumably, “Quick Views” might be there too). The actual content within the folders of your SkyDrive will presumably in the middle, with the menu bar on the top. In fact, LiveSide understands that the new SkyDrive interface will replace both Windows Live Photos (http://photos.live.com) and Office (http://office.live.com), having a single interface to manage both photos and videos as well as Office documents stored on the cloud.

With Windows 8 around the corner being “all in” with the cloud, it would be interesting to see how Windows Live SkyDrive plays a role in this space. In fact, in response to the recent Amazon Cloud Player (and perhaps Google’s new Music Beta service), Mike Torres, Group Program Manager for Windows Live, tweeted the following:

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/MITorres/status/52596665177214976″]

Perhaps we might see a response to the recent cloud music offerings from Microsoft? Zune on Windows Live anyone?