Windows Live Mesh 2011 Review

UPDATE: 23 Nov 2010 – SugarSync are now providing a free 5Gb account and no longer require credit card details for the free service. I’m currently evaluating it and indications are that it will replace Dropbox as my recommended and used sync solution.

This is a follow up to my review of the Windows Live Sync Beta and covers the final release which sees the product renamed back to Live Mesh.

Like many, I was a user of Live Mesh since the day it was made publically available. I used it extensively to synchronise development software, personal documentation and photos with family around the world. Live Mesh was a critical part of my daily life and the Live Sync Beta was, to put it mildly, an absolute disaster. The beta of Live sync was bad enough to make me, my family and many friends drop the product in favour of Dropbox.

Will the final release address all the complaints and tempt us all back? Below is an updated comparison of the three products I compared in my previous review. There are still a few unknowns and I’ll update this post when I have the answers.

Feature		Live Mesh 2011
Released	April 2008 – in public Beta	September 2010	2008 – currently at version 0.7.110
Support Forum	Yes – here Searchable Latest Posts This forum is fairly quiet now and users are being directed to Live Sync	Yes – here Searchable Latest Posts There are a lot of angry posts here. At the time of writing, it’s still branded as Sync	Yes – here Searchable Tag Cloud Categories Latest Posts
System Tray Icon	Unobtrusive icon. Spins when Syncing. Opens Mesh menu with single click.	Unobtrusive icon. Spins only when signing in. Double click to open admin screen [SAME AS THE BETA] Suggestion: Spin the icon during syncing. Single click to open.	Unobtrusive icon. Spins when syncing. Double-click opens dropbox folder.
System Tray Icon Menu	Provides quick access to all your folders, news and devices.	Provides the options of starting the Mesh‘admin window’ or changing user. [SAME AS THE BETA] Suggestion: Bring back the Mesh menu and add usage figures like DropBox	Allows you to access your drop folder, see what’s recently changed and nicely shows your usage.
Shell Integration – Folders	Easy to identify blue folders. (don’t drop Gb files in them) Adds a ‘Live Mesh folders’ folder under your Profile which provides some basic navigation and management. Adds a pop out panel to synced folders which allows you to manage permissions and see a news feed for that folder	Does nothing. [SAME AS THE BETA] Suggestion: bring back the blue folders or some other symbols to differentiate synced and non-synced folders.	Adds a folder to your Profile Adds a blue shortcut on your desktop.
Shell Integration – Menus	Right click any folder and easily add it to your personal mesh	Mesh gives you nothing. You have to go into the Admin screen to add a new folder. [SAME AS THE BETA] Suggestion: Bring back the Mesh menu.	Dropbox operates more like it’s name says it does, i.e. a single folder which you drop stuff into.
Remote Desktop Support	Yes	Yes, Faster and has zoom feature. I still find remote connections to be very slow and instead use www.teamviewer.com. Suggestion: Make Mesh as fast and easy to use as TeamViewer.	No
Cloud Storage Capacity	5Gb Free, no option to purchase more	5Gb Free, no option to purchase more. Suggestion: link to the SkyDrive 25Gb.	2Gb* Free, then pay for up to 100Gb. You can get additional free Dropbox storage by completing the tutorial and inviting people.
Cloud Storage max individual file size	*I’m trying to find this information*	The beta was 2Gb. *I’m trying to find this information* for the RTM.	300Mb
Peer-to-Peer sync Capacity	Unlimited	Unlimited	NA. Everything as to sync with the Cloud. It would be nice to offer P2P syncing.
Peer-to-Peer max individual file size	*I’m trying to find this information*	40Gb	NA. Everything has to sync with the Cloud
Windows Platforms	XP SP2, Vista, 7, (unofficially Server 2003, 2008)	Vista, 7, Server 2008 +	XP, Vista, 7, (unofficially Server 2003, 2008)
Cross Platforms	Mac	Mac OS X v10.5 or later	Mac: OS X Tiger (10.4) or later, Ubuntu 7.10+ and Fedora Core 9+.
Mobile Platforms e.g. iPhone	Windows Mobile	Suggestion: Add support for all major mobile platforms.	iOS v3.0 or later, Android OS 1.5 (Cupcake) or higher. Critically, this means iPhone and iPad users have a single service they can rely on.
Sync Speed	Moderate	VERY FAST	VERY FAST
Storage Usage Indication	No	No [SAME AS THE BETA] Suggestion: Add a clear indication of storage use to a revised Mesh like system tray menu.	Yes
News Feed	Yes. Provides a great News feed on the tray menu for all news and then a News feed for each synced folder	No. [SAME AS THE BETA] Suggestion: Bring back the Mesh overall and folder specific news.	Minor. Provides a small bit of info via the ‘Recently Changed Files” tray menu.
Ability to Purchase extra cloud storage	No	No. [SAME AS THE BETA] Suggestion: Allow people to give you their money for more storage.	Yes
Administration Interface e.g. adding users	Windows Client Easy to add new users to a folder and share it with them	Web Browser Uses the Windows Live website, which if you go too far back in the breadcrumb trail, there is NO way of finding your way back to where you were. [SAME AS THE BETA] Suggestion: Do not use the Windows Live site. You’ve installed a client, let’s use it like we could with Mesh	Web Browser Fairly efficient, but another layer in the process
# Shared Recipients	Unlimited I’ve never hit a limit and seen folders with hundreds of people sharing	The beta was 9 , I’m still trying to clarify if there is still a restriction.	Limited by the sum of storage. Adds any shared storage to peoples quota, so although this doesn’t stop you sharing with someone, if they don’t have the available storage, then they won’t be able to share with you.
Offline Mode	Yes	No [SAME AS THE BETA] Suggestion: Add an easy to switch to Offline-mode.	No
Application Syncing	No	Office and IE	No
Browser Access to files in Cloud	Yes, via Live Desktop	Yes, via SkyDrive	Yes
Public Hyperlinking	No	No	Yes, via the Public folder.

So the big and perhaps over hyped complaint of 2Gb cloud storage has been addressed and we now get 5Gb again. Other than that though, there is too much ‘[SAME AS THE BETA]’ to warrant a move away from Dropbox. If you are going to pay for storage, consider SugarSync too. My only complaint with SugarSync is that they offer no basic free option.

I’ve been using Dropbox for 3 months now and it has been an absolute pleasure. On the contrary, I’ve spent less than 3 hours with Mesh 2011 and I just don’t need the frustration; uninstall in progress.

Take a look at this excellent review if you are still undecided.

Mike