Microsoft Live Mesh

Live Mesh is a new software product from Microsoft that was released to public few months back. It helps in synchronizing files and folders that are used across different computers and devices.

 When you work on a project or document on more than one computer (say one at home and one at work), you often land into this issue of keeping the files synchronized. Live Mesh solves this issue by connecting all the devices together, so that you don’t have to manually copy and keep the latest files by yourself.

To use Live Mesh go to http://www.mesh.com and sign in using a Windows Live ID (hotmail email address is good enough). After that, add a device (say your work computer) to the Mesh by installing the Live Mesh client software. Now you can choose any folder to be a Live Mesh Folder and the files in that folder will be automatically synchronized with other devices you have added to your Mesh.

Live Mesh also has a Live Desktop as part of the connected devices that you can access from any other computer (say internet café) through a browser. This Live Desktop shows all Mesh Folders and files and it is even possible to remotely connect to a computer.

Another useful feature is the ability to share a Mesh Folder with a remote user. I played with this feature today and found the updates I make to a file are visible to the shared user within few seconds.

Microsoft is releasing development APIs and SDKs as well, for developers who can make use of the Live Mesh platform to create applications that are accessible across multiple devices. Live Mesh is now in Tech Preview state (not even Beta) and Mobile and Mac support are also on its way.