This is a post I've put off for way to long, but collaborative technology is on the move. And with the "wave" of support for Google Wave, I thought it time to mention a product that I don't know how I lived without for the longest time. It is the centerpeice of my day to day life, it allows real-time collaboration, syncs my documents across any number of devices and any number of people.
Microsoft Live Mesh had one mission goal when it started, beat Apple MobileMe to the market. It did. But like every Microsoft technology that usually rocks my face off, it is NEVER advertised. Not even close to properly. It's embarrassing. They have some really slick tools and as a result all the money must go there...because it sure as hell doesn't go to marketing. But then again there is this video that I wasn't even close to aware of until about 6 months into the limited tech preview. It's a great commercial, it's pretty, it's dare I say - Apple quality. Too bad my perception is incredibly askew, because when I showed this video to several people who had no knowledge of the product/not really into tech at all their responses were quite far from accurate. Watch it for yourself, or just keep reading.
The idea that is trying to be sold in the video is that this woman takes a picture from her phone, and it instantly syncs to a man who is leaving the office for the day. It then syncs to his photo frame, then it syncs to a man in an airport on an Apple Macbook, then his Zune. Meanwhile a girl in a car is receiving the man's Zune playlist her on Microsoft Sync device and Windows Mobile phone. Seconds later kids behind an Xbox are sharing their latest Halo video with friends. The point is that Mesh allows instant synchronization of files across any number of devices, any number of people, regardless of platform.
"This is what technology should be, things should be this simple. PC, Mac, Xbox, Zune, you shouldn't be limited. You should be able to get all of your stuff wherever you are on any device you are on."
- Ray Ozzie, CEO of Microsoft
- Ray Ozzie, CEO of Microsoft
Ray Ozzie, the successor to Bill Gates was called "One of the top 5 programmers in the world," by Gates. He is clearly living up to that statement. Office 2010 will be his (it does live collaboration), Live Mesh is his (offers syncing of documents over any number of devices and people), Office Groove part of Office 2007 was his (this was his first move at Microsoft), Windows Azure the new server OS of Windows, and it offers cloud services that anyone can build/deploy. If Bill Gates is associated with the personal computer, Ray Ozzie would be associated to the cloud.
Now I am about to make a claim, that seems to come as a shock/certain level of gravitas when I tell people. Live Mesh is hands down, the absolute centerpiece of my tech life since I started using it. Almost everything I do now, hinges on this technology. This product became the starting piece of my personal tech ecosystem. I currently have Mesh installed on my primary desktop (iMac - I only use the Vista side though, but its installed on the Mac side), my Windows Server, my laptop, and my phone.
We're just going to overlook the names of my devices, as there is actually a naming convention behind what I've done - but it's pretty darn nerdy, like to the degree I think I got problems. Maybe I'll share it someday, but not right now.
I installed Mesh on the Windows and MacOS side of the same computer - Ninth. It's also appropriatley labeled so i know the difference, but the icon is also a giveaway. It's also installed on my phone "Samsung Epix," my laptop "Second," and finally my Windows server. As a result of having this software installed on every computer I use (rather than just access it via the web) I can now remote control my devices from internet connected device. Yeah, remote control. I can go to a computer lab, and sign into my local desktop over the internet. But sure remote control, it's been done for years. Who cares Adam? Here's the selling point, copy and paste works between machines. I can drag files between my local desktop and my remote desktop via Internet Explorer and they are instantly copied/moved. Not only that, its ridiculously fast. Something that isn't well known is that part of the Mesh installer, installs a video driver. As a result, when you are remote controlling a machine you can hide the desktop on the device or continue showing it - great if you have roommates or others around and you don't want them watching what you are doing on that remote machine. Furthermore, the video driver hacks up Windows a bit if you are are using more than single monitor - it knows how to consolidate the desktop into a single screen for you. It also removes the background on the remote desktop to save on graphics processing and turns it solid white. It's fast. You won't believe how quick your machine responds.
So just why exactly does my life now hinge on this tech? Instant file sharing across devices, its like an automated backup policy for my life. Mesh also creates "Mesh Folders," folders that turn neon blue in Windows to suggest they are Mesh folders and they are syncing with other devices. When I create a Mesh folder on one device (or the cloud - Live Desktop) all of my machines with the Mesh client installed instantly receive a dialog box asking "Would you like to sync this folder to your desktop?" So lets go with this, and assume I choose to sync on that device. Now i have a shared folder that syncs with the cloud (Live Desktop) and my other devices. The moment I place a file in that folder from any device, my client tells the cloud "I have new stuff!" it pushes its changes to the cloud, and the cloud pushes those changes down to devices that don't have the new information. I have a folder called "Senior Year" which contains a lot of my lab work/papers for school. I'll go to a computer lab, type a paper, go to mesh.com, upload the file to the "Senior Year" folder and then all my devices that are syncing that folder instantly have that paper.
When I installed Mesh on my Epix (Windows Mobile 6.1 required) it instantly says "Your first mesh folder was created on this device, it is the My Picture folder." In about 20 seconds it occured to me what was now possible. If the default save for my camera is my "My Picture" and "My Pictures" is now a Live Mesh folder, that syncs with the cloud...that means every time I snap a picture its pushed up to the cloud. If I sync with my desktop..."HOLY CRAP!" is exactly what I screamed when this all clicked with me.
To add insult to injury, the wow factor went up again when I noticed I could "Invite People to this Folder." That means I could snap pictures, my devices AND other people get them!? What?! BRILLIANT! Oh yeah - did I mention Live Mesh is completely free to use? PC's running XP, Vista, Seven, Server (Server is an unofficial, but still installs), MacOS, Windows Mobile Phones and soon Xbox360 and Zune. Don't overlook the MacOS support here folks, Microsoft runs this game because they offer support to competitors. Free support. Free tools. How do you get to to the top? By not discriminating and having open tools. Clearly Mesh has become the glue that can hold all devices together and I am a huge fan. My Mac friends are actually incredibly reluctant to admit that this is a piece of Microsoft tech they themselves can't believe they are in love with. Their biggest comlpaint is no iPhone support - but last time I checked iPhone doesn't have a file structure/means to navigate a file structure. Kinda renders the tech a bit useless/unavailable. I told them to take it up with Apple...
Hopefully after all of this, you can see how incredibly useful this tech is. If you are shocked that it isn't advertised, you are not alone. This technology is 100% free to use. Hence I am not really impressed with the costly MobileMe or Google's new tech called Wave. If I want to sync my bookmarks across devices - I just turn the folder that holds my bookmarks into a Mesh folder and sync it to the location of other bookmark folders on other devices. I'm always up to date! Live Mesh is part of the Live suite of services, like Zune Live, Xbox Live, see a running theme here? Don't be surprised when Mesh becomes the centerpiece of Microsoft technologies - like Courier, after all they did say you could share with yourself and other people...
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