What do you do when you have a huge file you want to transfer, say, from your laptop to your desktop or vice versa?
Do you try to sync it using a file-sharing service like Live Sync or Live Mesh? Do you email yourself the file using services like YouSendIt.com? Or do you upload it to a remote server using a service like Sky Drive so you can download it on another computer?

If you are like most people, the answer is “no” to all those options. Rather, you probably save the file to a thumb drive and transfer it that way. It’s pretty straightforward and easy to do. And nowadays thumb drives can hold a lot of data (mine holds up to 32GB and I’ve seen some that go up to 64GB). So, file size is not really a problem.

Still, wouldn’t it be even better if we could just transfer such files wirelessly? Theoretically —  or should I say, technically — you can do so. There’s Bluetooth and there’s ad hoc wireless networking that can be achieved by WiFi, but anyone who has tried to transfer big files through these ways will be frustrated as the process is neither simple nor straightforward.

That’s all set to change soon though. The WiFi Alliance (the trade group that manages the wireless specification) recently announced a new wireless networking specification — dubbed WiFi Direct — which will enable devices to establish simple peer-to-peer (P2P) wireless connections without the need for a wireless router or WiFi hot spot. The group expects to begin certifying devices as WiFi Direct-compliant by mid-2010.

“WiFi Direct represents a leap forward for our industry,” says WiFi Alliance executive director Edgar Figueroa. “WiFi users worldwide will benefit from a single-technology solution to transfer content and share applications quickly and easily among devices, even when a WiFi access point isn’t available. The impact is that WiFi will become even more pervasive and useful for consumers and across the enterprise.”
The techno-geeks among my readers are bound to point out that WiFi-based P2P wireless networking between two computers is already possible. The problem with this kind of ad hoc wireless networking is that it’s more complicated than it’s worth.

To achieve it, you have to activate it through a little-known setting located in your wireless preferences menu. I don’t personally know anyone who bothers to do this. Thumb drives are infinitely easier and faster to use.
WiFi Direct is supposed to be different. It allows the setting up of a P2P connection between any two WiFi-compliant devices (not just laptops), provided one of the devices is WiFi Direct-enabled. So, a WiFi Direct laptop can establish a connection with a mobile phone that is merely WiFi-enabled.

This is probably more significant than might seem obvious. What it means is that you don’t need all your WiFi-compliant devices to be upgraded to WiFi Direct. Rather, you just need one of your devices to be WiFi Direct-compliant, and P2P connections will be achieved throughout your devices (running through that one WiFi Direct-compliant device).

What about Bluetooth? Well, WiFi Direct is a competitor and it looks set to eat its lunch.
Bluetooth is popular for connecting your phone to a wireless earpiece (you know, the kind that makes you look like an alien space commander) and some people like to use it for connecting a wireless mouse to their laptops. But it’s hardly used for transferring big files mainly because of three shortcomings.

Firstly, it has a very short range. Secondly the transfer speed is slow. Thirdly, it’s too complicated to use.
I can already hear the techno-geeks asking what I’m talking about in my last point. How can I claim that it’s not user-friendly when there are so many people using it? But consider this. Every device you want to connect via Bluetooth has a different set of instructions on how to connect it to another Bluetooth device.

Once you figure out how to do this, you need to set the device to “discover” other devices. Then you need to enter some kind of PIN to establish the connection. It’s a nonsense. Thumb drives are easier.
So, is this a Bluetooth killer? Maybe.

I say maybe because WiFi Direct is not available yet and I will have to reserve judgement until I actually get to test it out. On paper it sounds great but we all know the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

For one thing, I will want to see if it’s easy to use. I want to be able to establish a connection between two devices with, at most, two steps. And the steps for connecting devices should be the same for all devices. Lastly, after being connected once, the system should be able to remember and not require users to pair the devices again.
Is this asking too much? If so, I’ll just stick to my trusty thumb drive.

Oon Yeoh is editor for New Media at The Edge Malaysia. He invites you to follow him at www.twitter.com/oonyeoh.

This article appeared in netv@lue2.0, the technology section of The Edge Malaysia, Issue 778 Oct 26 - Nov 1 2009