Microsoft last night introduced a new service called Live Mesh. After reading a half dozen summaries of the service (none of which had very concrete information), I concluded that Live Mesh is an advanced synchronization tool that does pretty much what Windows Live Foldershare has been accomplishing on my PC for the last two years. Using Foldershare I create one folder on my office computer called “Sync” – then on each of my remote computers Foldershare automatically synchronizes the contents of the folder (and all subfolders). It’s very cool – BUT – I also use Google Apps (documents and spreadsheets) – which don’t require any of this because all data is saved on the web and accessible from any Internet connected computer. This is where Microsoft is getting desperate to close the gap and protect their legacy desktop software. Will Live Mesh be worth the wait? It’s hard to say but you can get in line to test it – and I’ll show you where to sign up.

To try Live Mesh for yourself you’ll need to have a Windows Live ID.

Observation: If I ever get to a screen where the Live Mesh program REQUIRES the use of Internet Explorer (ie. It’s not truly an open platform, I’m deleting the whole mess from my computer).

Navigate to the Sign In portion of the Live Mesh Tech Preview Screen.

The first thing that left me scratching my head about Windows Live Mesh was puzzling through the myriad Microsoft properties that I had to navigate in order to get in line for the Microsoft Mesh preview. For something that is being talked about on nearly every web site, they sure don’t make it easy to join the testing (and I’m sold that the words “beta test” are code for “don’t blame us for bugs in the v1.x release” and not truly a testing stage – so I expect most of these “betas” to now be publicly available and not require the user to play detective to find the link).

Now navigate to the Connection Directory – Select Developer Tools from the CATEGORIES and then from the Developer Tools side panel on your right – select Live Mesh Tech Preview. Enter your name and other information here and you’ll be in live for testing:

I’m positive that we’re going to be hearing a lot about LIve Mesh in the coming months. This is Microsoft’s defense against applications that run entirely “in the clouds” (aka hosted applications like Google and Salesforce) and don’t require software. Whether this Mesh technology succeeds is going to depend on one thing. Can you and I setup non-technical members of our family on this service and not become the support department for Microsoft?

If this technology is “plug and play” with no configuration then I think Microsoft has a chance. The more open this platform is (running through any web browser), the greater the odds for success. If this becomes yet another thinly veiled attempt by Microsoft to “sell the stack” (meaning load more Microsoft software in order to make one complete solution) then I don’t see it advancing much further than the testing phase.

Use the link to get in line for the public beta and try this technology yourself.

Link: Live Mesh

Related posts:

1. Microsoft Mesh gets explained and evaluated – via Clinton Fitch
2. Microsoft Whistles Past The Graveyard With Secret Beta of Office Subscription Model
3. Microsoft Security Essentials free anti-virus software due out today
4. Microsoft Surface Preview Starting Today in 5 AT&T Stores
5. Microsoft To Shutter Plays For Sure August 31, 2008 – Orphans YOUR Music – Yet Another Reason DRM Sucks