The other requirements are a Windows Live ID and Microsoft Internet Explorer to access the contents on the Internet. Users who might find those restrictions to strict are better off with Dropbox who is less restrictive in this regard.

Live Mesh works by adding computer devices to the Mesh. The Mesh are all devices that synchronize data. It basically works by adding devices to the Mesh in first place, e.g. a local computer running Windows XP. That computer is then added to the Mesh that the user has access to. The process finishes with the installation of the Live Mesh software on the local computer.

Live Mesh will create a system folder on the computer system containing all folders that have been selected for synchronization by the user. That’s different from Dropbox which makes use of one static folder with the requirement that all synchronized folders are created in that folder. Some users have posted workarounds by using symbolic links but that’s pretty advanced and not recommended for beginners or inexperienced computer users.

Folders can be added by right-clicking them and selecting “Add folder to Live Mesh” from the context menu. It takes a few seconds before the newly selected folder appears in the global system folder. Synchronization with the Live Mesh online service usually starts immediately afterwards.

Live Mesh is currently providing 5 Gigabytes of storage space to its users, 3 Gigabytes more than what Dropbox is currently offering.

Another interesting option is the ability to invite members. Inviting members will give them access to selected folders – and their files. That’s interesting if documents need to be shared with several computer users regularly.

Live Mesh does have its shortcomings. The main being the concentration on the Windows platform and the Internet Explorer requirement for browsing the data online. While Internet Explorer will surely remain a requirement the prospect of being able to add mobile devices and Macs looks interesting. It remains to be seen though if mobile devices are limited to the Windows Mobile platform.

As of now Live Mesh provides a fast way of synchronizing data online for Windows users. It works intuitive, the performance is fine and the storage space is enough for a lots of data.

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Well soon we’ll get a glimpse of the possibilities of Windows Live Mesh synchronisation platform, and it’s a hell of a lot more then simple data synchronisation across multiple devices.

Essentially Live Mesh is a platform from which applications can run from the desktop, from the web and from various different devices. Long Zheng posted some screenshots of a test application demonstrating this in action.

The potential for this is simply amazing and I’m really exited for when the Mesh platform is released fully and applications become available. Imagine this situation… you have a 15 gigabyte library of songs which you can now synchronise into the cloud and your Live Mesh Online desktop. Any changes you make to the music files can be synchronised between platforms. Imagine having a media application running from the Mesh platform. sing this you could be anywhere, decide you want to access your music library or songs and simply go onto your online desktop and play them as if you where on your computer at home.

If you ask me this kind of situation is a whole lot more appealing then this entirely cloud-based OS we keep hearing so much about.

I’m excited. What’s your opinion?

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What I find most interesting is that both developments have a very similar aim or goal, but at the same time are very different. G.ho.st is not so ambitious as to try and become the next major web platform like Mesh, but it is trying to become the focal point of all our web interactions.

G.ho.st began as an online desktop with some uploading and synchronising capabilities while Live Mesh is a synchronisation service with some form of online desktop.

You can access the new release of G.ho.st at test.g.ho.st although be warned that it is currently even more alpha then the existing release. I actually didn’t notice any increases in instability but maybe that’s just me.

So far the changes I have noticed seem to be largely cosmetic. I requested the desktop context menu be simplified a few months ago and that seems to have happened, the start menu has also been streamlined slightly and I have noticed a few new icons scattered around the place. It could possibly be a little faster as well, but I really am not sure on that one.

I had a look around for some release notes, or a blog post from the G.ho.st developers but couldn’t seem to find one anywhere, so beyond what I’ve noticed so far I couldn’t tell you any additional changes although I’m sure there are many. I’ll keep fiddling around and see what I find.

Have any of you been using G.ho.st lately?

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