Friday, April 24, 2009

Living in the Cloud with Microsoft's Live Services

Hey ... I own a Mac ... but I am not anti-Microsoft. I think that they do most things just OK ... for example, OS X is better then Windows as an operating system, Firefox is a better browser than IE, but when it comes to strategy on Web 2.0 and Cloud services, Microsoft has taken on Google and others, and in many aspects, comes out on top!
Specifically, I am talking about two services, Mesh.com and Sync.Live.com. Although these two services have some overlap, I have found that they both have become invaluable tools in my day to day computing.
The concept behind Mesh.com is that you have a "mesh" of devices, this includes Windows PC's, Mac's, as well as Smart Phones (currently only Microsoft SmartPhone (Windows CE) based devices are supported). Mesh.Com allows you to synchronize files between the devices, as well as remotely control Windows based computers (which is a really neat feature). Mesh.com's main features are described below.
File Synchronization
Mesh.com supports both Peer-to-Peer file synchronization, as well as synchronization to online ("cloud") storage. The Peer-to-Peer synchronization requires both computers to be on at the same time (obviously), whereas the synchronization via the cloud storage allows synchronization to happen at any time. First the file is copied from the source computer to the cloud, then, later, a second computer can synchronize that file from the cloud ... sort of asynchronous synchronization ;-). The synchronization paradigm is based on folders. You can choose which folders on your computer that you want synchronized, and with what computers (or the cloud) you would like the folders synchronized.
File Synchronization Caveats
  • On the Mac, you must synchronize via the cloud. Currently there is no Mac Peer-to-Peer support.
Cloud Storage
Mesh.com currently provided 5 GB of free online cloud storage. This is significantly larger than other synchronization servers offer for free (syncplicity, dropbox, etc). This storage is used to provide access to files that you have synchronized from any computer, at any time.
Cloud Storage Caveats
  • Currently there is no way to increase the storage provided by Mesh.com
  • No interface with Live.com's Skydrive which provides 25GB of online storage
  • Although you can access files from the web (Mesh Desktop) you cannot upload files from there and must use synchronization to populate your Cloud storage
Remote Control
With Windows based PC's (from Internet Explorer) you can connect to and take control of your remotely located (also) Windows PC using Mesh.com. OK ... that didn't come out too well. Imagine controlling your PC at home from your computer at work (through firewalls and no VPN, but still secure). This works assuming both PCs are running Windows, and you are using IE as a browser (and have the feature enabled. Anyway, it is super easy to setup and still reasonably secure. Great to get the file you need or (as I often have to do) trouble shoot for the family while away.
Remote Control Caveats
  • You need to be running Windows on both sides and you need to be using IE as a browser.
Mobile Phones
With Windows Smart Phones (currently) you can load a mobile version of Mesh.com's software. In the mobile version, Mesh can monitor and synchronize folders, for example, monitoring your My Pictures folder so whenever you take a picture with your phone, the picture is automatically uploaded to your Mesh.Com cloud storage.
Mobile Phone Caveats
  • You can only synchronize files that are stored in the Cloud storage
  • This only works with Windows phones currently.
File Sharing
In addition to synchronizing your files, you can also share some of your folders with others, such as setting up a picture folder that the grandparents can see and automatically get copies of pictures downloaded to their computer.

Sync.Live.com, formerly Foldershare.com is very similar to Mesh.com. This seems confusing a bit, since both technologies come from the same company, but perhaps Microsoft will eventually merge the technologies, taking the best of both. Sync.Live.com has a simpler mission in life, synchronize folders between computers. The main features are described below.
File Synchronization
Sync.Live.com supports file synchronization between Windows and Mac computers. Sync.Live.com only supports Peer-to-Peer synchronization, so both computers need to be on at the same time for the synchronization to take place. Sync.Live.com supports up to 20 Folders to be synchronized. Each folder can have upto 20,000 files (total for all folders and sub-folders). The synchronization appears to be quicker and a bit more robust than Mesh.com when syncing very large numbers of files (which I do).
File Synchronization Caveats
  • It may not seem like much of a limit, but 20 Folders with 20,000 files is a limit. With almost 18,000 original photos in iPhoto, It takes 3 folders to sync, (originals, data, modified), and that will only last me for another year (until I have over 20,000 originals).
  • Since Sync.Live.Com only supports Peer-to-Peer synchronization, both computers need to be on.
File System Access
Where as Mesh.com provides remote access and control of computers, Sync.Live.Com provides remote access to the file system, and allows you to access and download any file from your computer via its web page.
Live Photo Gallery Synchronization
Sync.Live.com is embedded in Microsoft Live Essentials Photo Gallery (please note on teh Mac this link will redirect you to Microsoft's Mac Download page :-p) that makes it easier to use Live.Com to sync Photo's between windows based computers.
Photo Gallery Caveats
  • Since you cannot run Photo Gallery on a Mac ... this feature is not available there)

SO WHAT... HOW DOES THIS HELP.
Let me tell you how I use these services and perhaps this will provide some insight on its usefulness.
First of all, I am a backup fanatic. I actually bought my first Mac computer because of Time Machine (of course, that was as soon as Time Machine was announced, before Time Machine was even released). Time Machine is greate for backups, but the information is stored locally (same physical location). I use Sync.Live.Com to backup all my photo's (iPhoto), music (iTunes), movies (iMovie), and documents to an Off-Site computer. This saves me about $50 per year in offsite backkup (I have about 40GB worth of files to sync).
I use Mesh for keeping all my current work synchronized between my work laptop, my home Mac and another Windows computer. I also share some of these files with co-workers who need to collaborate on files. Since we all travel alot, Mesh.com takes care of the heavy lifting to ensure that the most current spreadsheet is available for everyone.
I also use Mesh for remote access and the periodic remote troubleshooting. (I was using it for my Windows based Treo, but have since switched to the Blackberry and am anxiously awaiting Mesh for the bberry.
So, there, I hope you like the post.
Microsoft's Live Tools
Check out my Delicious links associated with this post at http://delicious.com/tim.alosi/cloud
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Posted by Unknown at 9:31 PM
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