The idea behind Live Mesh is to create an environment in the cloud where a
user’s devices can be quickly synced and work in concert with each other. The
company is looking to do this by using a Live Mesh API
to give users access to various services, including some Live Services, through
the devices in their personal mesh. These Live Services include Storage,
Membership, Sync, Peer-to-Peer Communication and Newsfeed.
The APIs would be the same regardless of the connected devices used. Through
these services and applications, users will have access to all their data and
applications from any of the connected devices.
Data is kept in Live Mesh folders, which are automatically synchronized and
can be shared with other Live Mesh users, according to a Live Mesh reviewer’s
guide.
Among the applications that will be introduced April 23 are Live Mesh Remote
Desktop, which enables users to control any device in their mesh from any PC
with a Web browser and an Internet connection, and Live Desktop, which gives
users access to the mesh via any Web browser.
In addition, Live Mesh News lets users keep track of other Live Mesh users,
changes to folders or files, and the status of any connected device.
The Technology Preview will only work with PCs running Windows Vista or XP
with Service Pack 2 installed. Eventually, Parasnis said, Live Mesh will also
extend to Macs and devices running Windows Mobile.
Users can access Live Mesh via Internet Explorer 6, Firefox 2.0 and
Safari 3.0 or later versions, though Live Mesh Remote Desktop is not compatible
with Firefox.