Recently I talked about keeping several computers, in different locations up-to-date with the latest versions of my files.  Microsoft’s Mesh has solved this problem.  Yesterday, I received my invitation to participate in the closed beta.  I didn’t have to pull any strings or call in favors to get the invite.  I went to the web site, filled out the request and waited for a few days.  It was worth the wait.

Once I had the account, I logged into the Mesh site.  I was presented with the picture above (without my computers that have been added).  I went to each of my computers and clicked the Add Device button.  A system tray program was installed and that computer was a part of my mesh.

Next I went to my Live Desktop.  This is where I can share resources between computers.  By clicking the Create New Folder icon a “mesh-share” is automatically created and shared among all the computers in my mesh.  A short-cut to this share is added to my desktop and any files dropped into that folder are automatically synchronized on each computer in my mesh.

I started with my presentations, since I have a lot of them.  I copied them into a mesh-share called Presentations.  Here is where it gets really cool.  From another computer I opened a PowerPoint that was in the mesh-share.  I didn’t copy it to the computer; I merely opened it.  I made an adjustment and saved it.  The final version was instantly available to all the machines in my mesh.

In Windows Explorer, a new right-click item is added to the menu.  It’s called “add folder to live mesh” and it permits any mesh member to synchronize a local folder with other computers on the mesh.

On top of the file synchronization, mesh adds a remote control feature to any computer on the mesh.  I can already do this with a combination of VNC and Hamachi.  I did test out the feature in mesh just to see how it works.  It was slower than VNC.  I also had a problem connecting to my home desktop with dual monitors.  The remote display was resized to the equivalent of one screen (half the normal size).  There may be a way to fix this, but I didn’t see the need to invest the time to research it as this remote control solution will be a backup for what I already use.

I am still playing around with all the features of Microsoft Mesh.  I will certainly add a post as I become more proficient in its use.

Tags: collaboration, edtech, mesh, networking, sharing, technology
This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008 at 11:01 pm and is filed under edtech, efficiency. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.