Mesh Sync Options

I’ve been using Live Mesh for a while now and it’s been working great. I’ll be honest and say the Live Desktop portion isn’t something I use that often but it has been helpful at times to be able to get to files…the main reason it’s not as useful is I can’t run an app there to make use of the data when I’m not at my PC. For example if I wanted to open and edit a document I currently can’t open Word and edit the file within my Mesh Live Desktop. But the main reason I like Mesh is the syncing between multiple systems.

Currently I have it syncing between 3 systems and my Live Desktop. The one complaint I’ve had from the start has been not being able to choose the sync settings for the live desktop…meaning everything had to sync to the live desktop. There are options for all of the PC’s for each folder if it should sync or not sync for this device but it’s not something you can change for the live desktop. At least not from the client PC’s!

I found this post on the Live Mesh forums where Scott Lovegrove posted a little tip that was exactly what I was looking for. I don’t understand why you can’t do this directly from the desktop but at least it let’s me choose not to sync to the Live Desktop for some folders.

This can’t be done from the client, it has to be done from your Live Desktop. If you go to www.mesh.com and go to the folder in question and choose the edit option in there, you can choose to not sync with the desktop from there.

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SL – Windows Live Platform MVP

So this let’s me still sync folders between PC’s without having them go to the Live Desktop. Perfect! In case you’re wondering why I would want to do this…for large folders, such as my Photos, I am well past the storage space limit on Live desktop but would still like to sync the folder on multiple systems (like a poor-mans backup!)

Forget eBooks, I want eMagazines

There’s been a good amount of press lately about the eBook readers like the Amazon Kindle or the Sony Digital Reader. The problem with these is the up-front cost and limited selection of titles available for them. What we really be a great way to promote the digital books is to offer digital magazines instead.

There’s the obvious geek factor in that tech magazines would be a perfect fit for this…what geek wouldn’t love to have a digital reader that automatically downloaded the latest edition of all the tech magazines so they could be easily read. Ok, honestly it would just reduce the cluttered pile of magazines in the bathroom, but you get the idea.

There’s the green factor, magazines could still sell their subscriptions but would not have to print the same volume of the actual magazine reducing paper and ink.

Then there’s the additional features that could be incorporated…see an ad or article that’s referenced…it could link directly to it or request more info be sent. How great would that be to be sitting (most likely on the throne) reading and just click to have additional info emailed or flagged on your computer to follow up on.

The eMagazine reader would use a standard format, not one of the existing pain in the @$$ webazine reader apps that simulates an actual paper magazine by making you actually flip pages and show the corners being pulled. Yea, it was cool to see the first time, then it’s just an annoyance having to wait for the page to turn and have to zoom in to actually read what’s on the page because it zooms out every page turn so you can see the whole page. :::sorry, end of rant:::

And to throw in one other idea to sync everything together…it would be great to have it be a Live Mesh enabled device. This way I could not only read the magazines on the reader but on any of my devices: work computer, home PC, etc. Add a proposal I have to review to my Mesh and I can read it later on the reader….one day I hope!

Untangling Mesh – Aka RTFM

While going through some of the info posted on Mesh I found the one line that made me very happy.

The ability to stop synchronizing a folder with your Live Desktop—but still synchronize it between devices in your mesh—is coming soon.

This is what I mentioned previously and that  I am really looking forward to. Not only will I then be able to make specific files/folders available anytime/anywhere on my Live Desktop, but I can sync other folders just with my Mesh devices so my files are accessible and backed up. I also came across another bullet item that was great to see…

Not all synchronization options are available. Some are early peeks at features currently in the works but not up and running yet.

That explains why there’s option dialogs but I can change the default selection. Overall I’m really excited about what Mesh is hinting at and from the things I’ve heard, I just have to keep telling myself it’s still in Tech Preview status and not fully baked yet.

Mesh…gets a little tangled

I finally had some time to spend playing around with Mesh some more and while I still love what it can do and the future features it holds, I have found one major downside to it. It’s something I just didn’t catch on to from the way the menu’s were presented and why I was very confused as to what the difference between Mesh and FolderShare is.

There is a dialog box to select when to sync files in the folder you select.

I was under the impression that I could choose to have some folders sync with my Live Desktop as well as other devices in my Mesh AND have the option of having some folders sync with devices on my Mesh but not sync to the Live Desktop. This is apparently not the case. I was trying to go through and setup everything today and after repeated attempts of trying to disable the sync with the Live Desktop, figured it’s not going to happen.

This is one feature that I really hope they add in to Mesh as for me, it would make it the killer app I was hoping for. The benefit I see is that some files/folders I’m not so worried about having remote access to but I want to have them in sync between devices for backup/redundancy. Or another example, I’m not so worried about having all of my sons pictures on my Live Desktop (he’s 2 so there’s a ton of new photos all the time) but I would love to be able to add other members (ex: family) to be able to get the photos on their computers so I can avoid emailing them. This is what I do with FolderShare now and it works but if Mesh added this it would do everything FolderShare does and have the capacity to do so much more.

Live Mesh

I got an invite to Live Mesh the other day and got it setup on a couple systems to try out and see what it’s all about. I’ve read comments on how Mesh is designed to be a platform to be built upon so I’ve been eager to see what it’s all about. Steve Clayton posted about a short video spot on Mesh that makes it look, well, it looks like Microsoft hired some of the Mac advertisers for a change. While I think it will be a while before things are as simple as their shown I hope Microsoft keeps trying.

Installing Mesh is painless, just need to Add the device and a short download and install later (didn’t even have to click Next & Finish!!!) it’s up and running on the system. I think it’s cool to have the virtual desktop but I’m not sure yet what I’d really want to keep there. While I can think of people I know who would love to store their stuff online easily and be able to access it while traveling without a computer, I tend to have at least one if not more systems with me where ever I go (even got my wife hooked on Windows Mobile!)

The folder sync part seems very similar to FolderShare with a few exceptions. First off it’s great to be able to add a folder to your mesh right from explorer/My Computer. Another plus is the ability to select which devices you want to sync that folder with so you can sync it just to your Live Desktop or just with one or more devices in your mesh. I’m sure it’s just not added yet but I don’t like that you can’t add members as anything other than owner just yet…it seems like there will be more options since the field is a drop down but things like Reader only are missing still. But hey, it’s not even in Beta yet so I’m not complaining!

I’m still looking around to see what, if any, limits there are to the folder sync side of things. I’m hoping that Mesh doesn’t have the same limitations as FolderShare where you’re restricted to files less than 2GB and 10,000 files per folder. For most of the users I have running FolderShare that’s not a problem but at least a dozen of the folders I have well exceed the number of files.