Windows Live Mesh (formerly known as Windows Live FolderShare, Live Mesh, and Windows Live Sync) is a discontinued free-to-use Internet-based file synchronization application by Microsoft designed to allow files and folders between two or more computers to be in sync with each other on Windows (Vista and later) and Mac OS X (v. 10.5 Leopard and later, Intel processors only) computers or the Web via SkyDrive. Windows Live Mesh also enabled remote desktop access via the Internet.
Windows Live Mesh was part of the Windows Live Essentials 2011 suite of software. However this application was replaced by SkyDrive for Windows application in Windows Essentials 2012 and later OneDrive in Windows 8/8.1/10. Microsoft announced on December 13, 2012, that Windows Live Mesh would be discontinued on February 13, 2013.
Features
Features of Windows Live Mesh include: Ability to sync up to 200 folders with 100,000 files each (each file up to 40 GB) for PC-to-PC synchronization Ability to sync up to 5 GB of files to "SkyDrive synced storage" in the cloud Remote Desktop access via Windows Live Mesh and the Windows Live Devices web service PC-to-PC synchronisation of application settings for applications such as: Windows Internet Explorer - synchronisation of favorites and recently typed URLs between computers Microsoft Office - synchronisation of dictionaries, Outlook email signatures, styles and templates between computers
History
FolderShare and Windows Live Sync
Microsoft bought FolderShare from ByteTaxi Inc. on November 3, 2005, and subsequently made it a part of their Windows Live range of services.
On March 10, 2008, Microsoft released its first user visible update to the then Windows Live FolderShare. This comprised a rewrite of the FolderShare website and an updated Windows Live FolderShare client. Support for discussion groups and Remote Desktop Search was also removed in the update. The new client had some user interface and branding updates and contained several bug fixes - including official support for Windows Vista and discontinued support for Windows 2000.
Since its rebrand as Windows Live FolderShare, the client and service had undergone extensive platform changes, switching from the original LAMP which it was originally built on when acquired, to the Windows Server platform. In the Windows Live Essentials "Wave 3" release, Windows Live FolderShare was again rebranded as Windows Live Sync. New UI improvements were also announced to be part of the "Wave 3" release, integrating it with other Windows Live services. New features of the then Windows Live Sync "Wave 3" compared to FolderShare included increased limit of sync folders, integration with Windows Live ID, integration with Recycle Bin, unicode support, support for Mac OS X, and integration with Windows Live Photo Gallery and Windows Live Toolbar to sync photo albums and favorites between PCs. Windows Live Sync Wave 3 was released on December 11, 2008, and an update of Windows Live Sync for Mac was released on November 2, 2009, to add support for Mac OS X 10.6.
Live Mesh Beta
Microsoft released the Live Mesh technology preview on April 23, 2008, a data synchronization system that allowed files, folders and other data to be shared and synchronized across multiple personal devices and up to 5 GB on the web. Live Mesh was based on FeedSync technologies to convey the changes made in each device so that the changes can be synchronized across all devices and the cloud. The information about devices and folders participating in a synchronization relationship was not stored locally but at the service-end.
The Live Mesh software, called Mesh Operating Environment (MOE), was available for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Mac OS X, as well as Windows Mobile 6. It could be used to create and manage the synchronization relationships between devices and data. Live Mesh also included a cloud storage component, called Live Desktop, which was an online storage service that allows synchronized folders to be accessible via a website. Live Mesh also provided a remote desktop software called Live Mesh Remote Desktop that could be used to remotely connect to and manage any of the devices in a synchronization relationship. Live Mesh Remote Desktop allowed users to control their devices from the Live Mesh application, as well as from any other internet connected PC.