• On The Insider: Anne Hathaway Jokes about Ex's Troubles
July 16, 2008 7:25 AM PDT

Microsoft opens up Live Mesh

It just got a little easier to get into Ray Ozzie's cloud.

Microsoft has opened up its Live Mesh service to anyone who has (or signs up for) a Windows Live ID. The service, announced in April, lets people share data among multiple Windows computers, as well as over the Web.

The vision for Live Mesh is broader--envisioning people sharing data among Macs, PCs, and various devices, as well as opening up the possibility for desktop applications to add online components, and Web apps to add offline components. For now, though, it's largely about file sync.

Microsoft is expected to add more features by its Professional Developer Conference in October.

In any case, Microsoft had been limiting Live Mesh sign-ups to those with an invitation, but now it's open to anyone who wants to see it in its early stages.

The change was noted by Microsoft in its Live Mesh forums and spotted by Windows Live enthusiast site Liveside.Net.

"The Live Mesh team is pleased to announce that anyone in the U.S. can now use Live Mesh just by signing in to www.mesh.com with a valid Windows Live ID," Microsoft said.

Oddly, it also told international users they could get into the act by spoofing their systems into appearing to be U.S. machines and then gave instructions on how to do so. That seems an odd choice to me. But hey, there you have it.

"Please be aware that this may cause other applications that specifically require your native country region and language settings to encounter problems," Microsoft cautioned.

Recent posts from Beyond Binary
Surface developer tools coming this month
Another brutal day for tech stocks
Microsoft planning add-on to SQL Server
Employment outlook gets murkier at tech companies
Microsoft denies companywide hiring freeze
Add a Comment (Log in or register) 16 comments
by JCPayne July 16, 2008 7:47 AM PDT
All 2 users should be happy. *smirk*
Reply to this comment
by Simplicius July 16, 2008 8:12 AM PDT
@JCPayne: actually, I can guarantee that there are more than 2 users. I know all 4 of them ;)
Reply to this comment
by livecrunch July 16, 2008 8:34 AM PDT
Hope it will not be buggy as Windows Vista :) lol

[CNET editors' note: ad link deleted].
Reply to this comment
by Kev Orng July 16, 2008 8:36 AM PDT
The servers that support the mesh... are they located in a country that is not subject to the whimsy of the "Patriot" act?
Reply to this comment
by Penguinisto July 16, 2008 9:11 AM PDT
Of course, if someone were to compromise a Live user account, that user is now screwed across multiple machines... yuck.
Reply to this comment View all 2 replies
by Vegaman_Dan July 16, 2008 9:14 AM PDT
How does this differ from MobileMe or any of the other cloud offers?


I'm concerned that we are rushing to put everything online to make it easier to share across different computers and systems, but that also puts all your personal information and data now at much greater risk for data theft, identity theft, etc. We've seen breaches from all the big companies at times and I'm not quite sure I really trust their security measures to put my trusted data there. Not yet, at least.

Reply to this comment
by manodud July 16, 2008 10:40 AM PDT
mac support - coming soon
5 gig space is good.. free is good..

isnt as elegant..
mobile support - coming soon
upload multiple files - coming soon
drag and drop files - coming soon
........
feeling of insecurity... baked in!
Reply to this comment
by alegr July 16, 2008 11:06 AM PDT
Finally, a pet project of the Chief Architecture Astronaut Ray Ozzie (see http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2008/05/01.html) is coming to life. But does anybody care?
Reply to this comment
by someguy999 July 16, 2008 11:23 AM PDT
I've used mesh for a while and I was super excited about it. Until I worked on a 30 page proposal with a bunch of collegues, I encouraged all of my co-workers to frugly send invites only to other co-workers who were working on the proposal, it turned into a 70 page proposal becuase I would reopen and find that it was reverting back to previous versions or versions weren't saving out properly back up to the mesh and I was more often than not forced to re-write huge portions becuase of it not saving properly... it was an utter disaster and I vowed not to use again until it was more widely adopted and further along.

I like the idea, but it initially caused me huge pain!
Reply to this comment
by pqAZ July 16, 2008 12:21 PM PDT
I have been using Live Mesh for a few months and it works fine. I am not so careless as to put sensitive information into the cloud at this point. No one should be doing that with any of the cloud-based products out there. This is not a finished product and you have to treat it that way.

Just because this is a Microsoft product doesn't make it worse than the others (DropBox, Syncplicity, etc.). Take it for what it is and use with care. I *never* keep original important documents only on a cloud server from any company. Maybe one day, I'll be able to trust it completely but not yet.

I am going to keep using it. It serves me quite well.
Reply to this comment
by Imalittleteapot July 16, 2008 1:23 PM PDT
We just use a shared FTP host/folder. We've been doing this for years. Or a personal one for personal files. I just map it. Maybe not all the bells and whistles, but I still don't get it people.
Reply to this comment View all 3 replies
Powered by Jive Software
advertisement

About Beyond Binary

During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft.


Beyond Binary is a look at how technology is changing our lives and the people behind all that life-changing stuff, with an extra emphasis on that which emanates from Redmond, Wash.

Add this feed to your online news reader

Beyond Binary topics

Stuff I'm reading

Featured blogs

advertisement

Inside CNET News

Scroll Left Scroll Right