Live Mesh Wish List
Locked
- Welcome to the Live Mesh Tech Preview!
Got a suggestion for a feature you’d like to see? Here’s the place to share it.
We’re all very excited about the ways that Live Mesh might work for us. Different people, from different backgrounds, with different needs: there’s no end to the variety of ways that each of us might find to make Live Mesh better – anything from small tweaks that would make Live Mesh easier to use, to full scenarios that would enhance the Live Mesh experience. So, if you have a moment, please, use your imagination and share your suggestions!
While we can’t answer every post, do know that the Live Mesh product team is reading your suggestions and coding like crazy to keep up with your ideas – so keep them coming!
*Update*
We have a new place for your wishes, a fresh start now that we're in beta phase: The new Live Mesh Beta: Suggestions Thread
Thanks for all the feedback!- Edited byBen [Live Mesh] Wednesday, April 23, 2008 4:13 AMSpacing
- Edited byBen [Live Mesh] Thursday, May 29, 2008 8:08 PMupdate
- Edited byBen [Live Mesh] Thursday, October 30, 2008 6:07 PMLink to new Suggestions thread
All Replies
- Am not in the Beta (yet), so maybe it is already in there.
Restore older files...
It is most likely already on the to do list, but if I should delete a file, or erase the data inside a Word file for instance, I would like it if there was a way to restore the old version. - Requests to get my hands on it are still in 'Pending' stautus (sob!); but ability to search across several meshes comes to mind. Interestingly, the Live Search component was not mentioned on the presentations. Is it included? Is there an API to search *meshes* for publicly shared documents (if there is such a concept)?
- SB- Edited byxf007 Wednesday, April 23, 2008 7:57 PMThe name had to be changed.
- I have a few enterprise type suggestions, I apologize if some of these are already in the release, I am not an official tester yet.
1) SSL connection to a fileserver over the WAN using windows pass through authentication.
2) Delta (bit level) File Sync over WAN, triggered when changes are made to the file.
3) Support for Delta level .pst file sync (very helpful for road warriors with lots of Outlook PST db's that don't want to lose everything if their laptop is lost)
4) Have the ability to email a link to a specific file to someone at a different company/network. The link would have an access token embedded in it that would expire after a specified period of time.
Thanks!
Ed- Edited byTheBigEd Wednesday, April 23, 2008 9:07 PMForgot to add something.
First one.
When i want to share a folder with someone let me pick someone from my Live Contacts rather than having to type in their email address
I've only been using it for 10 minutes...I'll have LOTS more to come I'm sure.
-jamie
http://blogs.conchango.com/jamiethomson - If your question is answered, please mark as answered.- I think this is a good idea, so long as it's not exclusive. One should be able to type in an email address as well.
Walter B - [ Todd Manlon asked me here to post this.]
Remote administration.
I spend a lot of time providing ad hoc "tech support" to my less tech-savvy relatives. It would be great if Mesh could enable a "Remote Adminstration" feature so that I could get onto their machines and help them.
I know that this could be enabled by adding their device to my device ring however its not strictly speaking my devie is it? hence, I guess the request is, enable me to remotely access devices that are not in my device ring - assuming that device's owner has given me permission to access it.
-Jamie
http://blogs.conchango.com/jamiethomson - If your question is answered, please mark as answered. - itsgreen said:
Am not in the Beta (yet), so maybe it is already in there.
Restore older files...
It is most likely already on the to do list, but if I should delete a file, or erase the data inside a Word file for instance, I would like it if there was a way to restore the old version.
That sounds like a "recycle bin in the cloud". Which sounds like a good idea to me.
http://blogs.conchango.com/jamiethomson - If your question is answered, please mark as answered. - Must have wish list features for me:
- File versions, so each time a change is made to a file, all previous versions are stored in the cloud and can be viewed and restored. A must for collaboration.
- Undelete, anytime a file is deleted it should be able to be restored. Perhaps add this functionality in the News Pane. This could be a link in the News panel next to the deletion entry. Such as "Jane Doe deleted file XYZ.docx. Click here to restore this file"
- Delta sync, so I don't have to wait for 500MB worth of pictures to re-upload (and re-download to my other devices) when I add a tag or star rating to them. Only the part of the file that has changed would be uploaded and downloaded.
- Mr. Paul said:
Must have wish list features for me:
- File versions, so each time a change is made to a file, all previous versions are stored in the cloud and can be viewed and restored. A must for collaboration.
- Undelete, anytime a file is deleted it should be able to be restored. Perhaps add this functionality in the News Pane. This could be a link in the News panel next to the deletion entry. Such as "Jane Doe deleted file XYZ.docx. Click here to restore this file"
I love those 2 ideas. Especially a "Click here to restore this file" link in the news feed. Undelete sounds like the recycle bin idea that I mentioned above.
If you were to allow different file versions then there should also be:-
The ability to rollback to a previous version
-
Ability to see how much of your space entitlement is being filled up with old versions.
-Jamie
http://blogs.conchango.com/jamiethomson - If your question is answered, please mark as answered. - 1. The ability to keep the sidebar minimized by default. (It *always* opens when I open a folder window.)
2. File versioning.
3. The ability to share files with people who don't have a Windows Live ID.
4. A more logical response by the taskbar icon to the mouseover -- right now, a tooltip AND the Live Mesh taskbar window appear on the mouseover. I'd rather have the tooltip appear on the mouseover and the taskbar window appear on a mouse click. - What I would very much like to see is the ability to sync Outlook across all devices or perhaps a selectable sync - such as sync email, but not calendar.
Along those same lines I would love to see an event calendar so that I can seemlessly sync my personal calendar with my work calendar without emailing an exported file from one machine to another. Perhaps even sync selected calendars in Sharepoint as well.
IT Professional - Add Remote Desktop Wake-on-Lan capabilities
- i know this isn't a "relevant-to-the-product" "wish", but i would like some Live Mesh wallpapers to be posted on the Mesh blog or Windows blog. i know there are some out there :-P; for instance, the guy on the channel 10 interview had an orange wallpaper with the Mesh logo on it.
- I would like to see a direct link to this forum from within the Mesh interface as it makes it easier for getting here to give feedback or discuss problems encountered.
SL - In Windows proper I can use SHIFT and/or CTRL in concert with my mouse to select multiple files in a folder. This doesn't work in Live Desktop.
Please could you enable this?
-Jamie
http://jamiethomson.spaces.live.com/ | http://blogs.conchango.com/jamiethomson - Scøtt Lovegrove said:
I would like to see a direct link to this forum from within the Mesh interface as it makes it easier for getting here to give feedback or discuss problems encountered.
SL
I thought the same thing. For now I have bookmarked the forum, but I think it would be invaluable to have this linked from the Mesh interface directly. It will expose more people to the fact that the forum exists.
-steve
Microsoft MVP Windows Live / Windows Live OneCare Forum Moderator - Syncing across devices without having to upload the files to Live Desktop first. That would be so amazing.
- When a Mesh folder is opened on the real desktop, there needs to be a right-click drop-down menu or a button to add and manage users so one doesn't have to go back and right-click on the folder icon to get to it.
- Also, it would be really convenient if one could invite someone to a folder from within Live Desktop.
- Extra storage
Hi,
I imagine that as and when Live Mesh gets properly released then the 5GB limit will, at some point, increase.
5GB is nowhere near enough for me though. I would like to use Live Mesh as my backup for my entire media library which today amounts to about 80GB and that will grow significantly when I start to digitally purchase movies. I know that 5GB to 100+GB is a very big jump so I'd like to request that you introduce a premium subscription service where I can pay for more space in the cloud.
Thanks
Jamie
http://jamiethomson.spaces.live.com/ | http://blogs.conchango.com/jamiethomson - How about being able to add network folders to your folder list? One of the first things I did after installing the binaries was get very confused about why the "add folder to your live mesh" wasn't available. Turns out that you can't add folders from a network share, even if they're mirrored locally. Since my "home drive" (my documents, etc) on my work computer is mirrored and offline-synced from the file server, I can't add the most useful folders for sync. Took me a good while to figure that one out too. I finally got the idea to create a folder directly under the hard drive and saw it work.
- More!
1. Better installer. I've had tons of issues with the one that's out now. The UAC requirement for windows vista is absurd, for example. Also, the MSI doesn't really work that well. As a system admin first, I want to be able to deploy this at a whim, and have an unattended install available.
2. Have some way to get rid of that annoying toolbar that comes up next to a synced folder when you open it.
3. Network location sync. As above. Makes live mesh next to useless on my work computers.
4. Ability to install on windows server. Lots of us use it at home. And yes, we have legit installs for various reasons.
I guess these are more bugs? I've made bug reports on connect for them too. As for less techie wishes:
1. Better integration with live spaces. For example, a "Spaces Photos" folder on my mesh desktop that's synced to a "Spaces Photos" subfolder in "My Pictures" that's synced to the "Photos" section of my live space. Yeah, awesome. I think it would be great to have some sort of "Send State" function. So that if, for example, you right click the Title Bar of Internet Explorer you can hover over "Send State" and a list of the devices in your cloud ring show up and you can just send the state to a device.
The state should include things like; what web pages are open, where you have scrolled to on the page, any text that you have highlighted. It would be nice if the state of a video could be saved but that would probably be very difficult.
It would be good if it worked on other programs like Office or Adobe Reader too.
On the receiving PC a little box should show up asking if you want to accept the state and if the receiving PC is off then the state should be stored somewhere in the cloud so that as soon as you turn the computer on, the state is waiting for you.
- I would like the ability to sync my Live Mail, Contacts & Calendar with Outlook using Mesh.
I would also like to sync OS and Program settings with Mesh. So for example, once I Installed a fresh copy of Vista I could connect to Mesh and then it would update all the settings so I wouldn't have to configure anything. Same process could be used for Programs, such IE favorites, Media Player playlists, etc.
Extra storage would also be nice, even if we had to pay for it.
James- Edited byJamesMoore Monday, April 28, 2008 5:36 AMtypo
- I've been using Live Mesh for a few days now and I love the direction that this is going. I have some ideas that I would love to see implimented on live mesh some time in the future.
1. Office Sync - I posted earlier about syncing Calendar, Contacts, Email. But what I really want is a full sync between all my Office applications as far as settings so that when I sit in front of my laptop, my Office Word workspace can look identical to my Office Word workspace at my place of employment. What I would like it to do is when I change the UI or change the preferences/options on one machine they are mirrored back to the device of my choosing (other than pathing settings). That way I don't have to reset things up twice. The bonus here is should I get a new laptop or desktop unit I can just sync the settings and it's set up exactly the way I like it. Why should I have to keep doing this?
2. Along the same lines, lets do the same with browsers. Can't we sync the settings from one machine to another? If I install a new application on one machine and perform all the setup - why can't I just install the application on another machine and sync the two applications? I can understand if this can only be accomplished initially with MS applications but that would be enough to get the other companies to follow suit.
3. How about the ability to link meshes? While I don't have a concrete use for this at the moment, I do see the possibility at some point to be able to interact with other meshes in some form. Perhaps sharing a folder between two meshs, maybe sharing the same device between two or more meshes.
4. Sync common data between difference devices. What I would really love is that my contact list in Outlook become my defacto contact list for all devices. When I get a new phone, it connects to the mesh and sync's with Outlook. As I add a new contact on my phone, it becomes available to my Outlook contacts. Since this method has a way to make my Outlook contact list grow fairly big, the device would have to support some type of inteligent filtering or syncing in that when I go to send a email, if the contact has a phone number but no email address it's not presented to Outlook as a possible email contact.
5. Music. I have a rather large music collection. I might not want to share all of the content on my mesh, but I might like to share a subset of that music, perhaps a playlist complete with songs. I already have set playlists on my Zune, I should be able to simply tag the playlist as well as a artist, album or type of music.
6. Perhaps have groups (sub rings) within the ring. This might be necessary as we start to add devices to the ring. Currently I have 5 computers in my ring but I just as easily could expand that to 10 - once we are able to add devices like camera's, phones, musicplayers, etc. That ring is going to look awful crowded. There are computers that I would want in my ring to share file content, others that I would need to have remote access to but perhaps not share file content. Again, this might be getting back to sharing or linking rings. I could set up a mesh for my parents, but I would need access to their ring to remote in to their computer to perhaps fix something or show them how something is done. Presently, I would have to have them in my ring for this to happen.
7. Web notification of updates available. Just thinking out loud here, but how about if the mesh were able to scan my computer (or the parts of my computer that I grant access to) and check automatically for software updates and present a list of updates available when I log on or present a icon that shows application updates are available? A large amount of today's applications are dependant on me having to either manually check application websites for updates or to press a check for update button within the application. Couldn't the mesh check my installed applications (there is already a list of installed applications which should have version information) and present me a list of applications that have updates available with links to install them? Again, I understand this is not something that will happen overnight, but having a central area to give me that information on all my devices much like MS does with their O/S updates (and in some case driver updates) would be a great time saver for me.
These are some of my ideas that would make my life easier.
IT Professional - OK, here is one I ran into today. How about run Live Mesh as a service, so I don't have to be logged in to connect to a remote computer. For example, I installed new software on a remote computer this evening that required me to reboot the remote machine. When the machine came back up, I could no longer connect to it as Live Mesh was not running as I was not logged in. Instead I had to VPN in and use remote desktop. I'll check on connect and see if this is already suggested.
Steve
Ok, it looks like it works on Vista, but not XP. I'll have to do some more testing on this and see.
Steve- Edited byswattz101 Tuesday, April 29, 2008 11:20 PMupdate
- I think it would be great to have a self-hosted Mesh down the line somewhere. This would allow for much more file space on the Mesh Desktop. This would be a great opportunity to connect up with the Windows Home Server team. It would be great to allow the Home Server to host the Mesh. That way we can put our own equipment at the center of our computing experience and still retain the "cloud" concept of Live Mesh. Having Windows Home Server also be a "Mesh Server" would do wonders for both products. There would be much more file storage, faster sync process (in most cases), and many more.
If the self-hosted "Mesh Server" idea doesn't come through, it would at least be nice to be able to install this on Windows Home Server. That would eliminate the manual sync'ing of data to it.- Edited bympalermo Tuesday, April 29, 2008 6:07 PMSmall Addition
- Not sure if my suggestion is what mpalermo is talking about, but I would love the ability to have the mesh interaction on a local lan that has no connectivity to the internet. The mesh server would be hosted in this lan allowing all of the devices (mesh capable devices) to talk to each other just as if they were all connected through the internet. I know the application portion of the mesh has yet to be unveiled, and maybe this is a mood point, but if all of my devices could talk to each other (through a local mesh server) via ethernet (with no connection to the internet) then this would allow me to host my own cloud with complete security control. This would also be very helpful for places where there is no connection to the internet (yes, these places do exist unfortunately).
http://www.theamoebaproject.com/blog/2 - I would also like to echo the frustration with the UAC requirement. Is this going to be a trend for MS apps? I've really found Mesh to be quite a step in the right direction, but forcing us to use UAC to install and RUN Mesh, is about to make me uninstall it. Perhaps if I could customize what UAC decides needs administrative priveleges, I'd be okay; but I'm an admin, I don't want it on all the time...
- As a developer I'm itching to get hold of the SDK (please don't make us wait until the PDC). Here's what I would like to see:
- An application repository for the live desktop so that you can run hosted apps from the live desktop and use cloud based data. The ability to synchronize that application to devices if a variant is available (maybe WPF for windows based PCs - etc). The Mesh should become the way to deploy and manage application installations.
- Standard schemas for contacts/inbox/tasks/notes etc.. These should be used by Outlook etc and hosted as typed data in the cloud. Basically you would get a unified offline/online storage (like PST files). This would enable some great hosted productivity apps. The Mesh could deliver on the promises of WinFS.
- Enterprise hosting for the Mesh that federates with the cloud storage. This should be based on an extension of Sharepoint.
- On the technical side I want to see the ability to provide good indexing tips for custom schemas.
- I also want to see more granular sharing options. At the moment all nodes are at the root level. This won't work for more complex data structures. For example, you don't want to synchronize email attachments to a phone device, but you do a PC.
- Make this a real platform on all devices. I want to be able to access my Live Desktop from Zune and run a Silverlight app to read my email and contacts.
- Provide transcoding of media and a hosted DRM solution so that media can be shared between devices without worrying about formats, licenses etc.
- An application repository for the live desktop so that you can run hosted apps from the live desktop and use cloud based data. The ability to synchronize that application to devices if a variant is available (maybe WPF for windows based PCs - etc). The Mesh should become the way to deploy and manage application installations.
- Support for my NAS drive. I store all my photos on my NAS drive and I want to share them with my family. I just want to right click on a share on my NAS and it to my mesh.
Program Manager, SQL Server Reporting Services - sb770 said:
I would also like to echo the frustration with the UAC requirement. Is this going to be a trend for MS apps? I've really found Mesh to be quite a step in the right direction, but forcing us to use UAC to install and RUN Mesh, is about to make me uninstall it. Perhaps if I could customize what UAC decides needs administrative priveleges, I'd be okay; but I'm an admin, I don't want it on all the time...
For what it's worth, the connect blog says they are working on it. :-) There was a change with Vista SP1 that they may be able to do it. As for the UAC requirement, I followed the instructions to automatically elivate and I like that idea better than turning it off.
You can read the blog here.
http://blogs.msdn.com/LiveMesh/
Steve
Steve - Looks like it's in the planning already.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/27/just-say-yes/
David Treadwell: I see your point. That’s one of the things we know we have to do a good job with Mesh; that is, to be IT-friendly, and to give IT control on what kinds of data can and can’t be stored on this thing. In addition, one of the things that we expect to do longer-term is to allow IT departments to operate their own cloud storage mechanisms, such that data owned by that enterprise would only be stored on that enterprise’s devices and that enterprise’s servers. They would never go to Microsoft and they would have complete control of that data. - joeyw_forum said:I agree with both of these! Really, really looking forward to the SDK and would love some test apps to demonstrate the power of Mesh with right now. People (such as my customers) aren't all that jazzed about yet-another-file-sharing-app, but when they see the video of the application data sync, they are.
As a developer I'm itching to get hold of the SDK (please don't make us wait until the PDC).
One more thing - can you provide some of the test apps shown in the videos as part of the preview? - How about supporting synch/integration with Office Live Workspace and/or Google Docs? I'm using all of the above now, but what would be nice is 1 central place where I could manage/access all my docs.
Thx!
- I second the integration with Office Live Workspaces.
Program Manager, SQL Server Reporting Services - The ability to upload folders is a "must have" feature. Uploading folders one file at a time is a real time waster and detracts from the overall usefulness of Live Mesh.
Jim - MVP Windows Live / Windows Live One Care Forum Moderator- Edited byJimR1MVP, ModeratorThursday, May 01, 2008 2:48 PMAdded information. Post does not appear below thread I was replying to.
- In the little side bar that is attached to the Explorer window (which I'd like to second the suggestion that we can default it to hidden...) when looking at the news anything that didn't occur in the current day is just marked as "Earlier". I'd kind of like to know what day the file was added/deleted/modified etc instead of just seeing the time.
The date does properly show up on the web site, but we're going to be stuck seeing the side bar I'd at least like the date to also be present for the news. - Please enable syncing without Live Desktop!
As discussed in this thread, we would like the ability to sync folders without having them sync with the Live Desktop, like FolderShare (but Mesh is cooler ;)).
At the moment, you cannot remove the Live Desktop as a folder syncing option. In the Live Mesh Options->Change Sync Settings menu for a meshed folder, the Synchronize files "Never with this device" option is grayed out for Live Desktop. Please enable it!
We all have folders which we want to synchronize, but which don't need to be pushed up to the Live Desktop.
- Mr. Paul said:
Must have wish list features for me:
- File versions, so each time a change is made to a file, all previous versions are stored in the cloud and can be viewed and restored. A must for collaboration.
- Undelete, anytime a file is deleted it should be able to be restored. Perhaps add this functionality in the News Pane. This could be a link in the News panel next to the deletion entry. Such as "Jane Doe deleted file XYZ.docx. Click here to restore this file"
- Delta sync, so I don't have to wait for 500MB worth of pictures to re-upload (and re-download to my other devices) when I add a tag or star rating to them. Only the part of the file that has changed would be uploaded and downloaded.
I agree 100% these are the top priorities.
I would add screen sharing ro remote control of devices that are not yours as #'s 4 and 5.
Ariel Assaf - Good job! I know there is a lot planned not yet implemented.
It is good to know what some of those are, so I can relax and not fret. Is there a public list (Mesh todo) somewhere?
Thanks for the "known issues list". Very useful.
Please add "how to" elevate privilege for Vista Home editions that don't have secpol.msc
The following I don't know if are in planning stage or even concidered.
Cloud folders don't remember view settings. Be nice to have all this saved. I usually have to:
- maximize the folder
- change view to "details"
- widen the "Modified Time" column so its readable
- sort "Modified Time" column
Also to quickly find files I can't quite remember the name of I miss having:- type sorting: lacking having few if any file types
- type icons: if system icons are not possible, then maybe some generic file type icons?
Frustration with initial slow upload (50kB/s 1st day of Mesh). I normally have much greater upload speed. Is it done yet, can I shut down and secure my system and catch my flight? There are multiple ways to see if a folder sync is up to date (WELL DONE) but... I am still not always sure which, if, and if not when all is sync'd.
FASTER sync [Delta sync?]
Thanks,
Rybak- Edited byRybak Thursday, May 01, 2008 10:14 PMspelling, formatting
- 1) Forum based Meshified folder UX. Opening the folder will show "MS Forum" like view of the mesh folder. App shipped with Mesh vNext. Easy way to deploy ad-hoc Forums with postings and content.
2) Flag files as "Sticky" like in the forum. That way, Explorer could handle its meta data special and show stickys at top of window with Desc, etc. Good way to post FAQ, Help, and Welcome info in a mesh folder.
3) 1-way push flag. So clients could delete own files, but not others.
4) Meshify printers using a local device agent. Copy files to printer device and it pops files and prints them. Would seem to be an easier way to print local from a remote session without having to setup remote print drivers (ala Quickbooks, etc).
- Please add the ability to sync large folders or large numbers of files. I have a 12GB pictures folder that I would like to keep up to date on both my pc and notebook. Unfortunately, Mesh does not allow anything over 5GB so it falls far short of my needs for only one folder!!!
Brian Murphy - How about a deleted items folder or recycle bin just like on the windows desktop
Brian Murphy - brianm_94 said:How about an option to shred a file? I like the idea of undelete in case someone else deletes a file I shared read-write. I also like the idea of multiple 'versions' of a file. But what if I accidentally upload something personal that I don't want 'in the MESH.' Not only do I want the options to delete it, but I would like to make sure someone else with read-write to my folder can't undelete it. It would be great to 'shred' it, but with current technology, I know that's not completely possible, what with back-ups, multiple replicated servers, and files moving around in the 'cloud' there will always be echoes of a file, but hopefully nothing that someone can put back together. ;-)
How about a deleted items folder or recycle bin just like on the windows desktop
Brian Murphy
Steve - I'll add that I want to be able to sync between devices without the Live Desktop being involved AT ALL! I want to have folders that I can truly choose where to share ... as in only between the devices that I want. Currently, I am being forced to always share with Live Desktop ...
- Hello,
I have tree ideas for the Wish List.
1 - Complete synch of the Users folder. When we log on another computer with our live ID we have access to same folder, same wallpaper, same settings of Apps, and same documents. And here come my second idea :
2 - A "Lite" Sync. Imagine a computer with a Solid State Drive (SSD) (8 gb or 16 gb) in a laptop or less size like the EEE PC. It would be great to have access to all our files on demand. I click on my word documents on my Desktop or a picture in my Pictures folder, it download. Then I modify it and it sync the change with other PC. And to be able to free space, if I don't use it for a specified time the hard drive space is free until I want to modify it again.
So if we combine the two idea we can have all our files on all our computer even with little hard drive. And maybe in the future it would be integrated inside Windows (Windows seven ?), and we could have access to our profile and documents everywhere. Multiple PC, one experience.
The Live desktop is great but if I need to modify a document I need to download it, modify then upload again. If we could see our document inside Windows without download all it would be great.
3 - My last wish list is to have somthing like Google Reader which sync with Windows Live Mail and a web app when we use phone (iphone etc...)
Regards.
LG- Edited byRoranippon Sunday, May 04, 2008 12:36 AMAdd about Live Desktop
- I really want to have options to enable "toast notifications" and also sounds on my laptop to indicate when updates occur, or notes are added to a folder. This should be configured on a folder by folder basis.
When I am working on my laptop, I could then easily notice that files had been added, updated, or deleted ... and see the notes that other people sharing the folder have added.
Again ... it would be important to be able to enable pop-up "toast" notifications *AND/OR* sounds (that I can choose/assign :-) so that I can choose how distracting that I want this to be. Toast notifications should *NOT* steal the focus of what I am working on ... and should auto hide after a brief amount of time ... - There is a currently greyed out option in a folder's sync settings saying "Only files smaller than 500KB" - obviously a sync option that will be enabled later.
I have suggestion though - please can you let us specify a maximum size limit rather than giving us only one option - 500k.
Thanks
Jamie
http://jamiethomson.spaces.live.com/ | http://blogs.conchango.com/jamiethomson - I would like to have the ability to send a "meshage" to everyone in my mesh that would come up in the bar. Perhaps the MesHage could appear as a sticky note that then gets transferred to history - in this way instead of a document appearing without reference you could provide context and more clear relevance. It seems to me that a folder tree that has items appearing by magic could benefit from more clarity.
- Wouldn't it be cool if the LiveDestop device could actually also be a VM? So maybe you could buy hosting for your LD as an option. So now when you transfer to a folder, the pages are live in your hosting directory. Other services could "hook on" the same way (ftp, SOA, etc). Maybe it could be a virtual-virtual machine (VM2). So no dedicated VM is actually running for each account, but some kind of provisioned service.
- getpat said:
I would like to have the ability to send a "meshage" to everyone in my mesh that would come up in the bar. Perhaps the MesHage could appear as a sticky note that then gets transferred to history - in this way instead of a document appearing without reference you could provide context and more clear relevance. It seems to me that a folder tree that has items appearing by magic could benefit from more clarity.
I would agree. It seems one would need more context of messages then just a list of 100 posts on the right. Posts should be in context of the file for example, or the folder in general. So clicking a file would show messages specific to that file. Maybe you could start a new message thread in a folder - and the new thread is actually a file in the folder with a special icon. Then you can click the file (i.e. thread) to see all posts in that thread. So the paradim would stay file based. Might be interesting. - Thin version of client is needed IMO. (maybe it is same exe with config file changes).
I can see uses already where I want to have people access to my mesh folder on their desktop, but I know they will not have time or patience to install full mesh client, nor will they really understand it (no slam, just busy biz people). For example, I would like to send my bookkeeper an invite that would just install the link on her desktop and she would get copies of my QB files - simple and clean and no other fuss. Just having web access to folder would not really work as multiple step process all the time.
So have option to send invitation in email that will install only the folder on other users desktop. They have 1 thing to click and it runs install of thin client. If they already have Mesh, then install not needed. If they already have thin client, no install needed. After the install, it walks them into live ID if they don't have. Maybe the folder itself has a reminder in it until they activate with a live id.
Why is this easier? The scope is even smaller and more focused and easier for non-techies to understand. No icon in task bar. No RDP. No circles. No needing to explain to user what mesh is why they want it. If they get it - fine. If not, we have a simple way to "remote" install (at their approval) a folder on their machine. I could use this for many right now (accountant, bookeeper, attorney, etc). - JamesMoore said:
I would like the ability to sync my Live Mail, Contacts & Calendar with Outlook using Mesh.
I would also like to sync OS and Program settings with Mesh. So for example, once I Installed a fresh copy of Vista I could connect to Mesh and then it would update all the settings so I wouldn't have to configure anything. Same process could be used for Programs, such IE favorites, Media Player playlists, etc.
Extra storage would also be nice, even if we had to pay for it.
James
I like those. I'd also like to see RSS feeds in addition to favorites. History would be good, too. - mpalermo said:
I think it would be great to have a self-hosted Mesh down the line somewhere. This would allow for much more file space on the Mesh Desktop. This would be a great opportunity to connect up with the Windows Home Server team. It would be great to allow the Home Server to host the Mesh. That way we can put our own equipment at the center of our computing experience and still retain the "cloud" concept of Live Mesh. Having Windows Home Server also be a "Mesh Server" would do wonders for both products. There would be much more file storage, faster sync process (in most cases), and many more.
If the self-hosted "Mesh Server" idea doesn't come through, it would at least be nice to be able to install this on Windows Home Server. That would eliminate the manual sync'ing of data to it.
I second this! I'd really like to have Windows Home Server be an "always on" home for Live Mesh for each of my family. Even for a home server, it's important that this be able to handle multiple meshes simultaniously. - Glenn Blinckmann said:mpalermo said:
I think it would be great to have a self-hosted Mesh down the line somewhere. This would allow for much more file space on the Mesh Desktop. This would be a great opportunity to connect up with the Windows Home Server team. It would be great to allow the Home Server to host the Mesh. That way we can put our own equipment at the center of our computing experience and still retain the "cloud" concept of Live Mesh. Having Windows Home Server also be a "Mesh Server" would do wonders for both products. There would be much more file storage, faster sync process (in most cases), and many more.
If the self-hosted "Mesh Server" idea doesn't come through, it would at least be nice to be able to install this on Windows Home Server. That would eliminate the manual sync'ing of data to it.
I second this! I'd really like to have Windows Home Server be an "always on" home for Live Mesh for each of my family. Even for a home server, it's important that this be able to handle multiple meshes simultaniously.
I third that. Home server (of any flavor) would seem to make a great "home" for a mesh server/client. - The ability to sync with existing SkyDrive folders as well as the Windows Live Photo Gallery. Unification of these services would greatly enhance its usefulness.
Not all those who wander are lost I would like to see:
1. I would be nice if I could set a picture that is in one of my live mesh folders as the background/wallpaper of the live desktop, or at least have a few from Microsoft to pick from.2. I would like to disable the side bar that comes up when opening the live mesh folders on the live desktop and on the device, Maybe you could at a button to the folder that opens/shows it.
3. I would rather have to click on the live mesh icon in the taskbar to make it open, not open when you mouse over like it does now.
4.I would like to hide the "Create new folder" icon on the live mesh desktop, maybe be able to access it by right clicking or put it in the menu when you click on the live mesh icon that’s on the live mesh toolbar.
5. And as a future goal it would be cool if I could run simple programs. To make it a little easier to implement maybe have it so you could run any program that doesn’t need installing, like the portable apps made for jump drives.- I'd like a "one-way sync", where my "master folder" gets copied to the other devices, but no changes from the devices are sent back the other way.
Use case: machines in branch offices showing images of real estate/properties. I want them to have the current set of images and associated files, and I don't want anyone making changes that go "back up". These are unattended machines that just play pictures in a loop. There's security to stop people messing with them, but I'd like the sync function to help me out too. - Let me second LRKuderick's call for robust Outlook sync via Live Mesh, among other things. I really want to see a Windows Live Mesh Outlook Connector that does the specific things that the Windows Live Outlook Connector builds are not handling well.
Let me lay out the specific functionality problems I'm seeing -- all deriving from the fact that a single user may have multiple profiles and email address inboxes of Outlook running on one PC box -- and that Outlook has severe problems handling this.
1. Plenty of PC boxes require support for multiple users with entirely separate Outlook inboxes and profiles.
2. You're seeing large numbers of single user PCs split into multiple user profiles for Outlook, which are a major chore / undertaking to start / keep synced. User Account Controls makes it much more likely that people will split their logins between regular and Administrator sessions. (Moreover, plenty of people are trying to bypass UAC by turning on the hidden (full) Administrator account in MMC -> Local Security Policy. Others, like me, have it turned on for purposes of installations & reconfigurations, but occasionally need to use Outlook while in that account.)
3. It's becoming far more common to run across multiboot platforms -- even multiboot MS-only machines.
a. HDD sizes have grown to be very generous even in laptops.
b. Vista is built to make partitioning that HDD space a cinch -- and thereby makes room easily for multiple OSes.
c. Plenty of people want to keep an install of XP alongside Vista.
d. Lots of other people are doing x86 Vista alongside x64 Vista.
e. NeoSmart's EasyBCD and VistaBootPro are both great ways of adding more OSes to Vista.
f. Some IT Pros have a lot of testing to do, and (like me) wind up with a multiboot of Windows Server 2008 and Vista. I've run across Windows Home Server and Vista multiboots. When Windows Small Business Server 2008 arrives this summer, that will provide other testbed OS options.
4. Outlook 2007 isn't handling multiple user profiles well.
a. It is a serious problem to sync multiple email address inboxes / .pst files / Business Contact Manager files / RSS feeds if you have more than one user / user profile / MS OS on your PC box.
b. You have to install Outlook on each OS partition no matter how many OSes you have -- no overwrite-installing for multiple OSes on a shared programs partition.
c. Business Contact Manager can't be moved to any other partition -- there are no install options for doing so.
d. Tangentially related evidence for the multi-profile hurdles in Office -- Some add-ins like the new Help Commands Ribbon have to be installed for every user profile, even if you originally install it via the full Administrator account.
So, absent a total rebuild of Outlook's settings code, it would be great if MS built a small app to replace the current Windows Live Outlook Connector -- a new Live Mesh connector -- that would eliminate all of the barriers currently in the way of easily syncing up Outlook data:
1. Across machines / devices without Exchange Server
2. Across MS OSes [virtually different machines]
3. Across user profiles for the many multi-user machines, as well as single-user Vista machines that now necessitate the maintenance of multiple Outlook user profiles.
4. Across multiple email accounts.
5. Across multiple MS apps that share the RSS Common Feeds within Vista.
6. Incorporating Business Contact Manager databases, etc.
Long way of saying Outlook is becoming part of the cloud too.
So, if MS wants early adoption of Live Mesh, It's time to provide a Connector add-in that rebuilds Outlook and unfetters its functionality as a consequence of people adopting their new service strategy!
Many thanks for bringing this to the attention of the right program managers around Microsoft.
Sincerely yours,
Martin- Edited bya_k_a Friday, May 09, 2008 12:38 AMsyntax
There doesn't seem to be an active discussion among the IE8, RSS, Live Mesh and Windows Live teams at MS about building a new web UI. Hope that you'll consider how MS could get leverage from one -- especially through Live Mesh, if you want to generate a user base.
I can't be the sole user who sees the current emphasis in Live Mesh platform as the rudiments of a different UI, not just a device sync. I don't, when it comes down to it, need device syncing as bad as I need better GTD / information-handling experiences on the web. I am feeling very cramped and frustrated with current client-side browsers and feed readers, especially from MS and third-party partners. Services / apps in this KM vein should be on the drawing board very soon at MS.
Does MS want to leverage its huge investment in Windows Live and Live Mesh as the next generation 'web' UI? Changing the UI browser / KM experience on the web would seem to make much better strategic sense than hitching a company's fate to companies like Yahoo, and trying to 'drive' users to particular sites on the web! If Live Mesh is just for peer-to-peer syncing, the platform will still miss the larger point about information overload. To wit, some thoughts:
Information loads are driving a need for full-function browsing / KM tools, and IE8 is only a minor UI gesture in that direction. Increasingly, web browsing, whether through IE, Firefox or an RSS reader, is becoming too client-app heavy, and personal start-pages are not positioned to substitute for client-side functionality.
If the dev team is serious about the FeedSync idea, then it would be nice to see evidence that it does what feeds were originally intended to do -- make for a better web browsing / KM experience. How about putting FeedSync to use to create a Live Mesh hub for browsing that isn't as client-app heavy? In the process, you would also consolidate a lot of the "social networking" user base under Live Mesh as well.
MS currently has no serious KM tools in its client app inventory -- in spite of IE's dominance. Live Mesh would be a nice place to host that functionality, but these tools could just as easily be embedded in the IE8 client. Just depends on who at MS will ask for the green light first to create the code.
At the moment, there are 'baby steps' toward this new web UI that should be taken, even though they haven't been, in the current MS web UI:
1. Lots of people are high-volume browser users -- who have a reason to bookmark lots of info -- but in any event have been too swamped to sync their bookmarks across multiple devices and keep on top of their bookmark structure. Therefore, MS needs a hyperefficient folder-tree builder for user-tagged/-bookmarked content. (Without it, a browser is not going to scale to meet current web navigation/research demands.)
a. Hierarchies are vital for research, even when tagging, once you reach a certain volume of tags. So, think folder tree capabilities, even if you are only putting tags into folders, not the actual site bookmarks.
b. Any other tool beats IE and Outlook at deftness of drag-and-drop for bookmarks/favorites/feeds folders. MS' own client-side interface in IE and Outlook for reorganizing folders is a complete slug, totally unwieldy. IE and Outlook are collapsing under the weight of the info they have to handle.
2. These browsing KM tools should allow people not just to bookmark / tag info, but to archive a snapshot of it on a mesh. (A local Google cache of sorts. This is what a cool new startup in alpha, Iterasi, is doing.)
3. These browsing KM tools would be great if they had extensions to mesh with existing collaborative project spaces / live meeting areas. (Think of MS Groove or 37 Signals' Basecamp or AirSet / MS LiveMeeting or Google's Marratech or Citrix or Skype.)
4. The entire mesh's KM folder tree contents have to be exportable for offline work/reference and syncing with new devices and new browsing apps.
a. The exported data has to sync into multiple folders on a client HDD simultaneously. (I don't want the entire account just sent to a single folder on my HDD, which I'll then have to manually dissect and refile. That just duplicates work and eliminates the advantage of saving the webpage and filing it at the same time, from within IE.) If it requires a client-side app, then fix SyncToy to make it easier to do so. Users will be grateful for this time-saver.
b. The account's contents must be exportable as bookmarks, with an intact folder tree.
c. The account's contents must also be exportable as entire archives (ZIPs), containing intact folder trees and nested webpage files. The pages can be saved as .mht files, as .pdf files (provided the links are live), or for browsers that don't care enough to support .mht, as .html file folders.
d. MS needs a web-clipping service (partial contents of a page, using a lasso or box, a la OneNote, and could even export clippings in OneNote's OpenXPS format.)
5. Automate the KM tools' "discovery" of new content on HTML sites.
a. Look into converting HTML pages into RSS feeds, or allow the tools to RSS scrape Windows Live Search results.
b. More ideas under RSS (next item).
6. RSS:
a. The primary RSS constraint in MS apps so far is that you're constrained in the Common Feeds setup to a 'river of news' view.
b. Make the RSS feeds viewable in some subdirectory, like Favorites is, so that it's easier to reorder the contents. The interface to create/edit folders within IE7 and Outlook is very sluggish and touchy. (You can only move one feed folder at a time up or down the list. No batch moves.) A folder for RSS would presumably fix that.
c. Give the user the option to save a page in its RSS version, if a feed exists on the page. The advantages would be obvious: You can clean out the embedded ads and CSS clutter. (That would help save you guys a hefty amount on server-side storage bills too.)
d. These tools should have a feed generator. Convert the pages you save into a custom feed that can be sent to your feed reader.
e. Off topic, but related to exporting, I'm just going to say what has long annoyed me. You want to do the entire RSS movement a favor? RSS readers tend to obliterate folder trees when you backup/export your RSS feed collections as OPML files. If you have a large number of feeds, rebuilding them is an absolute nightmare. (See: IE, Outlook.) So, as a side project, create a small app or file format that exports or uploads RSS feeds back into readers, so that your previously-created nested folder tree for these feeds remains intact.
f. Consider partnering with an RSS reader company.
g. Along RSS lines, make these research tools lifestream capable. (Not a huge priority, but another natural marketshare. If you're already using the toolbar add-in for bookmarking content, it should be shareable, and blog posts should be uploadable.)
7. These tools have to be able to save "grey web" pages that you can't otherwise permalink ... that only materialize from the bowels a long search session that would be too labor-intensive to repeat.
8. Look at the Onfolio getting started guide as a model of the kind of client Live Mesh browsing KM tools could be. It was the best organized research client, but MS has done nothing with it since buying it up in 2002. You'll see a million ways its functions could be redesigned so that its functions boost the capabilities of IE8, or even OneNote, or Live Mesh.
9. If the KM tools had the above export/sync features, and built-in client-side research organizer and RSS reader, MS would outcompete other browsing clients, and potentially change users' browsing experiences.
a.k.a.- A.K.A.,
Would you be available for off-forum e-mailing? Your comments were very interesting to me, and we're thinking along similar lines in certain areas.
Regards,
Nicholas Bedworth, CTO
DigitalDirect
www.digitaldirect.com
nicholas.bedworth@digitaldirect.com - Syncing of OneNote Notebooks.
- Edited byaatreya Sunday, May 11, 2008 1:42 AMupdate
- I too would lke to see Outlook sync via Live Mesh. Sync browser bookmarks across multiple devices. A way to keep the bar from showing if you prefer. More cloud space for bigger files.
This is going to be great! - Simple one. Can we have a MOE for Windows Home Server please?
http://jamiethomson.spaces.live.com/ | http://blogs.conchango.com/jamiethomson - "Send to Mesh..." menu item would be good in Office apps. Similar to the "Send to pdf". So you can easily "print" an email or document directly to a mesh folder as a pdf or xps document saving many steps and poking around.
- I second that request! I would like to see Mesh work with Windows Home Server. The comments about Office programs specifically Outlook sounds great also.
Thanks,
Kevin - Ability to exclude folders, from directory structure. For instance if top folder is selected, you should be able to exclude a folder from syncing thats under it.
- Hi, I'm using Live Mesh Tech preview. I think that a way to sync RSS feeds between computers would be really useful.
- This is aimed at the installstion:
You have to have UAC on vista enabled for the installstion to take place. This is Extremely annoying, for those who do not like the constant pop ups.
Jase - TheBigEd said:
4) Have the ability to email a link to a specific file to someone at a different company/network. The link would have an access token embedded in it that would expire after a specified period of time.
I STRONGLY second this idea. It would be extremely useful for me to simply copy a file into a mesh folder, grab a public link to it, and email/IM that to someone in order to share something with them, just as a one-time thing (without having to bother with adding them as a shared user and signing them up for live mesh.) - aatreya said:
I STRONGLY second this idea. It would be extremely useful for me to simply copy a file into a mesh folder, grab a public link to it, and email/IM that to someone in order to share something with them, just as a one-time thing (without having to bother with adding them as a shared user and signing them up for live mesh.)
Does Skydrive not suffice for this?
http://jamiethomson.spaces.live.com/ | http://blogs.conchango.com/jamiethomson - Well sure. Dropbox also has this feature. I think it would be useful to be added to Mesh, however.
- Some sort of "colaboration mode" which greatly speeded up the updates to a selected directory for some period of time would be great. I can see using OneNote, Word, or Powerpoint with others in a phone meeting where we are all able to work on a shared document at one time.
- Had three suggestions, please review here (links go to Connect):
Add Members to Folder by Drag/Drop from IM Buddy List
Improve Efficiency of Duplicate File Upload/Download
Identify Friends with Mesh Ok, after looking at some of the suggestions in the thread, here are some of my ideas, including things already posted. (In other words, things I would vote for plus my additional ideas.)
- Files and Folders
- Delta File Sync - ability to change just the bits instead of uploading whole changed file
- File Versions - Keep alternate versions
- Show who changed the file and when
- Ability to determine how many versions to keep/delete specific version
- Recycle Bin - Ability to undelete file. Versions are good, but if you delete the whole file or a specific version, then what?
- Shredder - Ability to securely delete a file. I've mentioned this before, and it may be hard to delete from offline back-ups, but this is a must for personal information.
- Ability to share files/folders within folder - keep from duplicating files / folders within the mesh.
- Sticky Files - File (such as a FAQ) that would always stay at the top of the folder
- Title/description of folder - Have a description next to the folder name in folder window (ex: Hawaii Pictures -- Pictures of my 2008 trip to Hawaii)
- Sharing
- Ability to email a specific file link
- Connection with some sort of Windows Live address book, containing Windows Live Messenger contacts, hotmail/ live mail contacts, Live Spaces contacts.
- Dropdown box to add people
- Add groups - be able to add all my family members to a 'family' group and then share folder to group instead of individual people
- One-way Sync -- I know that eventually we will be able to share files with friends and give them read-only access, but how about for devices also.
- Allow syncing with other products
- Ability to sync with other Microsoft products, such as Skydrive, Folder Share, Windows Live Photo Gallery, MSN Spaces ...
- Ability to share with non-Microsoft products, such as Flicker, Picassa, mySpace ...
- Remote Desktop
- Ability to remote into separate session in case console is being used
- Ability to share console
- Ability to share desktop with another users mesh - remote desktop for someone who's mesh you are a user, but devices are not in your mesh. Ability to share it out on a limited bases, not perpetual
- Wake-on-Lan for remote desktop
- Mesh
- Ability to host mesh on your own network
- Enterprise Mesh
- Local Mesh for Windows Home Server
Just a few ideas. I may come back and edit this as I come up with more ideas, and post them on connect or hunt down those from others and vote on them as I have time.
Thanks for the great Tech Preview
Steve- swattz101 said:
Add groups - be able to add all my family members to a 'family' group and then share folder to group instead of individual people
Great ideas Steve, just on this one above. We already have the ability to group our family/friends together via Live Contacts. This ability is exposed in a number of places, most notably in live Messenger. I would like Mesh to be able to leverage these groups.
I also believe that Live Groups (when it arrives) will fill a big space here.
-Jamie
http://jamiethomson.spaces.live.com/ | http://blogs.conchango.com/jamiethomson - Jamie Thomson said:
Great ideas Steve, just on this one above. We already have the ability to group our family/friends together via Live Contacts. This ability is exposed in a number of places, most notably in live Messenger. I would like Mesh to be able to leverage these groups.
I also believe that Live Groups (when it arrives) will fill a big space here.
-Jamie
http://jamiethomson.spaces.live.com/ | http://blogs.conchango.com/jamiethomsonThanks Jamie,
I just looked at http://dev.live.com/contacts/ and it looks interesting. I especially like the map feature. It looks like it's been around for a while, so I'm surprised I hadn't seen it yet. I made a couple of changes through the api and it didn't update to my messenger or hotmail address book. Either I'm doing it wrong, or it's not connected yet, as it is in beta also.
Anyway, this is a discussion for another place, not the mesh forums. :-) I only bring up the topic, because this would be a great thing to combine into the "mesh." Share info / folders / contact information with someone through the mesh, and if and of it updates, it shows up in the "news" section. I could also see an address book Application in the Live Desktop with current information updated by your contacts, so it is current. Kind of like it is through some of the other Live products.
Steve - My suggestion is about "asimetric" sync. For instance, imagine this: you have 10GB of pictures in your desktop and want to have all of them "everywhere". But your cellphone doesn't have that much capacity. So you could be able to select an option to resize pictures to "fit" the phone screen.
Not only in mobile phones, but also to many other devices. I'm thinking here of picture viewers/frames, portable consoles, car multimedia devices, Music/Video players, UMPCs, etc. There are times when you don't need "full resolution".
Going a bit futher, I envision a future where you can take a 10MPx picture with a Wifi/3G/WiMax enabled digital camera and have it automatically "uploaded" to the mesh. Then it will be "downloaded" to your desktop, laptop and also to your cellphone, but here with just 1MPx, because you don't need that much resolution in a 640x480 screen. And dreaming even more, you could have an "on demand" sync? You get your 1MPx picture in your cellphone, but if you want the full one, just click on a button and it will be downloaded!
I thinik I am dreaming too much! I've done a lot of flowcharts and notes about this.... maybe you are interested?
I hope I'll be soon invited to test Live Mesh! I really love this software+services!
Thanks for your work and keep on it!
Marc Vallribera i Ros - I would like the ability to see if a remote device is currently is use before I attempt a remote connection. I cannot tell if my wife is using our home PC before I attempt a remote connection.
- Gakubuchi said:
My suggestion is about "asimetric" sync. For instance, imagine this: you have 10GB of pictures in your desktop and want to have all of them "everywhere". But your cellphone doesn't have that much capacity. So you could be able to select an option to resize pictures to "fit" the phone screen.
Not only in mobile phones, but also to many other devices. I'm thinking here of picture viewers/frames, portable consoles, car multimedia devices, Music/Video players, UMPCs, etc. There are times when you don't need "full resolution".
Going a bit futher, I envision a future where you can take a 10MPx picture with a Wifi/3G/WiMax enabled digital camera and have it automatically "uploaded" to the mesh. Then it will be "downloaded" to your desktop, laptop and also to your cellphone, but here with just 1MPx, because you don't need that much resolution in a 640x480 screen. And dreaming even more, you could have an "on demand" sync? You get your 1MPx picture in your cellphone, but if you want the full one, just click on a button and it will be downloaded!
I thinik I am dreaming too much! I've done a lot of flowcharts and notes about this.... maybe you are interested?
I hope I'll be soon invited to test Live Mesh! I really love this software+services!
Thanks for your work and keep on it!
Marc Vallribera i Ros
Sounds like a gread idea, Marc.
I just came across this the other day through Betanews. http://www.eye.fi/products. It's a wifi enabled SD card that you put in your camera and it automatically uploads your pictures to the major picture sharing sites or your PC on your home wifi network. One of the things I'm looking for is integration with the major picture sites and mesh for sharing. Something like this and your idea of changing the resolution for different devices would be great. I especially like the idea of connecting the mesh to a wireless picture frame and selecting specific pictures to show. I've thought about getting one for my mother so I can push up new pictures of the kids as I get them, but currently they are still to much for my small budget. :-)
Steve - Robert Day said:
I would like the ability to see if a remote device is currently is use before I attempt a remote connection. I cannot tell if my wife is using our home PC before I attempt a remote connection.
Great idea Robert.
My problem is that everyone uses my main signon (even though I have set up sperate ones for them). Since the computer stays signed in, I can't tell if they are on or not. What I would like to see is the ability to use more than one session on a computer, then when I remote in, it can ask if I want a remote session or a console session, ideally telling me who is signed into the console, if anyone is.
Steve
Great idea Robert.
My problem is that everyone uses my main signon (even though I have set up sperate ones for them). Since the computer stays signed in, I can't tell if they are on or not. What I would like to see is the ability to use more than one session on a computer, then when I remote in, it can ask if I want a remote session or a console session, ideally telling me who is signed into the console, if anyone is.
Steve
There was a similar discussion with the Smart Displays. It was a kind of monitor that could be detached and carried across the house. It had WiFi and used remote desktop to interact with the computer. The idea of 2 sessions at the same time (one with a "real" monitor and another with the smart display) was great, but there was a licensing problem. Windows is licensed for single usage. Well, many people can use a Windows installation, but only one at the same time.
What could be possible is that Live Mesh tells you if there is an active session or not, but having 2 concurrent sessions I think is legally impossible.
MarcThere was a similar discussion with the Smart Displays. It was a kind of monitor that could be detached and carried across the house. It had WiFi and used remote desktop to interact with the computer. The idea of 2 sessions at the same time (one with a "real" monitor and another with the smart display) was great, but there was a licensing problem. Windows is licensed for single usage. Well, many people can use a Windows installation, but only one at the same time.
What could be possible is that Live Mesh tells you if there is an active session or not, but having 2 concurrent sessions I think is legally impossible.
Marc
I thought about mentioning the licensing issue when I posted. Currently, when running any server addition, including WHS, you are licensed for 2 terminal services sessions in addition to the console session. I would like to see this extended to at least Vista Ultimate if not Vista Home Premium. There are many reasons for this, just one of them being remote sessions with Live mesh. The other main discussion I have seen deals with Windows Media Center, both XP and Vista. The scenario with MCE is one person watching TV on it while another user wants to remote into it to do something without taking over the tv session.The smart display looks cool. To bad it didn't take off. I remember reading about another similar device that is like a reverse KVM. Two monitors, keyboard and mice connected to one PC, so two users could log on. I can't seem to find a link right now, except for Linux, though the one I remember was windows. Anyway, Linux has it, why not allow it on windows? It would be a great Vista Ultimate perk. :-)
Steve- I have 3 ideas. One of which I've seen tossed out, the others I haven't.
1) I'd also like the ability to sync files with computers, but not with the desktop. Ideally, this would allow me to sync a 10GB folder, without affecting my storage space. Eventually, I would expect to have to pay for bandwidth, at least a little
2) I haven't seen it mentioned, but I'd like to be able to sync single files with the mesh. An example is _vimrc files and other single config style files
3) The invite functionality needs to be easier. I like it where it is, for the purpose of adding people for sharing, but it should also be somewhere obvious, like on the main mesh.com page
Thanks for the cool product.
Jim Deville
IronRuby
alias: jdeville - [Ben asked me here to post this].
I often have multiple logins on one machine. For example, on my laptop I have my personal login for home use and my work login that's joined to the company's domain. Let's say I have a Live Mesh folder named "My Stuff" that I'd like to have access to no matter which account I'm currently using on my laptop. Under each login account I went to mesh.com and added my laptop and I'm able to access the "My Stuff" folder from each account. However, my Mesh's device circle now has two identical entries for my laptop, one per account. It's pretty annoying, because depending on which account I'm logged in under, one will say it's not-syncing and the other will say that it is syncing, and both offer the option to connect remotely. Since I have multiple machines on which I have multiple accounts, my device circle is full of duplicate entries. I think it would be a much better user experience if there were only one entry for each machine, but the UI somehow indicated that I have multiple accounts on that machine that are participating in the mesh and showed which account was currently active and syncing.
Keep up the good work. Live Mesh is shaping up to be something great.- Edited bygkramer Wednesday, May 21, 2008 4:47 AMAdded link to request to post in the wishlist thread
- Jamie Thomson said:
[ Todd Manlon asked me here to post this.]
Remote administration.
I spend a lot of time providing ad hoc "tech support" to my less tech-savvy relatives. It would be great if Mesh could enable a "Remote Adminstration" feature so that I could get onto their machines and help them.
I know that this could be enabled by adding their device to my device ring however its not strictly speaking my devie is it? hence, I guess the request is, enable me to remotely access devices that are not in my device ring - assuming that device's owner has given me permission to access it.
-Jamie
http://blogs.conchango.com/jamiethomson - If your question is answered, please mark as answered.
I would like to see this also, this could be useful not only for personal but for work. I choose not to store/save my password on one of my computers for security reasons. When the computer boots it allways pops up the window asking for my password. I wouldn't make it the default, but an option to start the program minimized so that I can choose when I wanted to login would be nice. Another option would be a smaller popup balloon telling me to login.
~Jared- You know how when you do a remote desktop session, the screen locks when you disconnect? How about an option to disable that? Of course having the current way as the default is best, but it's real annoying when I'm controlling my media pc, and the session breaks, and it locks the console in the middle of my show.
- The ability to change color depth to increase performance on rd
If I have a Office 2007 or 2003 license, to allow the use of Word or Excel in the Virtual Desktop. And directly modify those documents right on the site.
- It would be great if I could synch documents in my Office Live Workspace with my Live Mesh folders.
I'm not entirely sure this is the right thread for feature update request but here goes:
- Progress bar during installation: It is a relatively fast install compared to others but the vista spinning wheel doesn't really give me confidence after two minutes...
- Could we get a multiple file uploader into the Virtual Desktop (maybe nick it from Windows Live Spaces Image Uploader :p)?
- And, if this is possible - could you get an unzip option for uploaded ZIP files, or as an option before you click upload? I know the .NET Framework supports this :p
- And, also - would it be possible to get some Windows Live Folders (SkyDrive) integration? Virtual Desktop at first glance appears similar with more options including the availibilty of sync'ing. It would be nice to have the two services integrated.
Oh - and i like the Recycle Bin for Virtual Desktop idea
Andy M- Hi Andy,
This is indeed the exact right thread for feature update requests. :)
Thanks for the ideas; I'm adding them to the ever-growing list of great suggestions the team is receiving.
Ben. - Earlier in this thread (page 3 I think) somebody suggested setting synchronization for new computers.
I have this enabled on my computer for the below, and if there is a specific thread for where these settings are, somebody lead me to it.
Here's what I've got so far.
To sync your RSS Feeds from IE (or other centrally managed RSS reader):
Sync the folder C:\Users\%UserName%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Feeds\
To sync your Sidebar settings and gadgets:
C:\Users\%UserName%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Sidebar\
If anyone knows a better place for posting this info you can go ahead and post it.
Thanks!
By the way, I would suggest a "Hide this folder" option for these, at least on the Live Desktop, to reduce clutter. Great work Mesh Team!- Edited bycobrin Saturday, May 24, 2008 2:19 AMNeeded Context
- I use to have Foldershare before I got a Mesh invite and the only feature I miss is remote access to the folder structure and files on remote computers. 5GB's of storage isn't enough space to store all my work in the cloud, but allowing remote access to the file system would solve this for me.
matty - I wish that
Live Mesh can be soon combined with other Live Services
Allowing more developers to develop application for Mesh
Allow users to feed a "pet", which can give help/suggestion if we encounter some problems
Allow users to set a network(~VPN) between Meshs - Support French OS! And Select msn live contact instead of adding e-mail
- upload multiple files
- connorb3 said:
By the way, I would suggest a "Hide this folder" option for these, at least on the Live Desktop, to reduce clutter. Great work Mesh Team!
I would really like a "hide this folder" option as well. I don't like the blue folders cluttering up my desktop. - Christopher Seidel said:
The ability to change color depth to increase performance on rd
I think this is a must, and I'm sure it's an issue with everyone. The RD is just way too slow. Not useable by any means. - When i connect to the live desktop, and open a folder full of photos there are 3 items that would be nice to see...
(1) The preview pane that you can pull down takes FOREVER to load up... these photos are large in size, but woudl be nice if the previews could come up more quickly
(2) These previews - once they are displayed - are 50% accurate and the other roughly 50% are displayed as a bunch of horizontal lines... no visible rendering of the image... just some horizontal lines.
(3) When I click on an image, it is displayed in the main window, but there's no ability to zoom in... this is a required feature - the zoom ability.
thanks.
clay - Features I desire, think should be included:
- Public folders - Folders and files should be able to be made public if chosen, not requiring adding individual people from emails/contact list...this would then negate the need for SkyDrive
- Drag and drop - it does say this is coming, but highlight here anyway, needs to allow:
- Drag and drop bewteen pc and live folder/s
- Drag and drop bewteen live folder and live folders
- Drag and drop bewteen pc and other remotley connected devices, without requiring uploading/syncing to live folders
- Versions and restore - for collaboration, so people can see what version file is, highlighting changes, and revert back to previous versions if required/desired
- Undelete - for the same reasons as above
- Syncing between devices only - should have ability to allow syncing bewteen chosen devices without requiring syncing to live desktop as well, should be able to keep the live desktop out of the loop if desired
- Views - should have thumbnail option
- Contacts list - there should be the ability to add users via the messenger contact list, rather than just the tedious entering of emails manually
- Network folders/NAS - ability to add network attached storage folders/files to live mesh
Thats my list for now....
- 3. How about the ability to link meshes?
Excellent idea. I currently have 3 devices, but one belongs to the missus. I don't want all of her stuff synced to my PC, but there are some that I would need. There is also a need to link to other users at my church to share files. I currently use Skydrive to do this, but having them sync would be so much easier.
Bill Weimer - Bill Weimer - think you can do this today - though i've not tried it.
Right click on a folder you've mesh-enabled and click LiveMesh Options and then 'add members in livemesh folder'... believe you should then be able to invite other users to get access to this folder... again, haven't tried it - but i believe that's what this option is intended to do... - Le Master said:
Syncing across devices without having to upload the files to Live Desktop first. That would be so amazing.
I also think this is very useful, especially when two computers are in the same LAN but uploading/downloading to the cloud might be much slow(er). Probably the delta sync idea others mentioned can also benefit this idea.
By the way, although I haven't got an invitation to use dropbox, I believe they have something similar to this "local sync" idea. - Local Sync would be very useful.
- I second/third, Jamie Thomson from page 4, that an obvious addition is to add an MOE for WHS to allow for offsite backup for critical files as well as the sharing of photos etc with family. I added a piece on Cloud Storage on my blog recently that ended with "Final thought is that this could all become a non issue anyway in the coming months if Microsoft includes WHS in the evolving Mesh story"
http://www.customrm.com ¦ http://softwareplusservices.spaces.live.com- Edited bySJKP Tuesday, May 27, 2008 6:37 PMforgot reference to original post
- I have been using the likes of Foldershare and Skydrive for a little while, I (beit good or bad, have the RDP working in home premium, SP1). SO for me - to use this all legit with Mesh is awesome! so first thoughts are to the makers and people behind the scenes! very impressive!
My suggestions so far:
- Being able to use without UAC - doesnt really need to be explained - atleast give me the option.
- Choosing where the folders sync - (like foldershare) - choose a folder on each machine and sync, rather than to the desktop - again atleast give me the options.
- allow the RDP client to work as a service - thus if my machine restarts, and does not autologin, I can still RDP in and use the welcome screen (much like RDP, Logmein).
- Allow to sync (like foldershare) - without all the items using up my space on the cloud - so just sync between two machines, without going to the cloud also.
I am sure I will think of more as I get to use it more, and maybe I just haven't found these things yet.
I'd like to see what other suggestions could be implemented - It would be nice to see a product really take into consideration what the beta guys reckon ;)
(I apologise, I didnt see this thread first, and although some of my points are/have been mentioned, I'd like to show my interest in these particulars!) - You can actually synchronize to places other than your desktop by using the explorer and right-clicking on a folder.
- HAHA! funny you should say that - I did go exploring and managed to find it - can you tell I aint had it long! Cheers!
- I too would appreciate the ability to add my desktop to the live mesh.
www.parmmann.com - This isn't so much a "Mesh" wish, but a "Live Mesh" wish. (Although in Mesh requests, I'm in the linking meshes/ad hoc RDP Invite crowd)
I'd like to see more of a unified, at the very least consistent, Windows Live user experience. (UX)
Photo Gallery and Skydrive have Upload tools, not mesh (I realize CTP is post alpha pre-beta, so this is forgiven still noted tho)
You can brand/personalize the color schemes of mail.live.com, messenger, Me.spaces.live.com, but not skydrive.live.com, me.home.services.spaces.live.com, home.live.com, or mesh.live.com.
Mechanics for permissions, while "round", are still "reinvented" for every *.live.com offering. Also, they don't interoperate. Permissions set in Skydrive aren't known in Spaces, etc.
Could someone get the teams talking about some inheritence? Branding Options, default permissions, consistent Upload tools/UI.
I'd like to be able to just go to home.live.com, set a color scheme and basic permissions, and have mail, skydrive, spaces, gallery, calendar, messenger aware of it. Yes personalization would allow me to override a setting (set mesh back to the default blue, for example). Think NTFS file permissions: Inherit from parent, append, or override.
Xbox live friend's list setting is friends only.
Messenger contact updates are friends only.
Spaces default permissions should therefor be.... open to the internet! </sarcasm>
What's the point of linking an identity to my Passport, when the only thing that anyone cares about is password authentication?
Thanks for reading, the tone of this is intended to be less snarky than what probably came across.
We've read people's wishes for mesh being the basis for true "roaming profiles" (mainly in office app settings above). Before getting to that point, *.live.com would need to consolidate so that it is a branded offering instead of a collection of services hosted under the same domain. (Can you imagine what Office 2007 would be like if ONLY Word had the Fluent User Ribbon?) - WillFa said:I'd only have trouble finding things in Word 2007? <semi-sarcasm />
(Can you imagine what Office 2007 would be like if ONLY Word had the Fluent User Ribbon?)
Your suggestions have a lot of merit. The different user interfaces are confusing at first, even to experienced users. Things are hidden - someone had to point out the "Sign In" entry at the top right of the Live Desktop for me. Totally, totally missed it. - 2 things I would like to see:
1. The ability to edit/delete comments posted in a folder
2. The ability to set permissions for subfolders. For example I have a folder on my PC for photos, I would like to add this to the mesh but some of the sub folders contain photos that I do not wish to share with everyone as they simply would not interest them. Rather than create two top level folders (one for my close friends and one for everyone else) I would rather link the entire photos directory to the mesh and then restrict access to specific folders.
I have been playing with MESH for a week or so and offer these (either supportive or additive) thoughts (more detail in various posts on my blog):
1. Kaspersky thought the Mesh installer was a Trojan, someone needs to fix that!!
2. I appreciate that this is a tech preview, however for 2 years effort with the first sample application being file sync:
a. I was surprised that the current sync conflict detection is at the file level, surely this should be at the file content level
b. Sync conflict resolution needs to be improved, currently the only option appears to be to accept the most recently edited or “save as” any other variants. Some sort of delta compare, with file merge options please
3. Editing a document directly from the Live Desktop does not offer an edit and replace, but rather an edit and “save as”
Anyway more playing ahead....
http://www.customrm.com ¦ http://softwareplusservices.spaces.live.comVery excited about what Mesh could offer. Only real concern at the moment is that the current Tech Preview could be a red herring and distract people/developers/designers/architects from thinking more creatively about the business applications the Mesh platform could enable.
What about using Mesh as a mechanism for partners to exchange purchase order and invoices, with an audit application provided off the Live Desktop (see blog for more on this)
http://www.customrm.com ¦ http://softwareplusservices.spaces.live.com- RaiderClay said:
Right click on a folder you've mesh-enabled and click LiveMesh Options and then 'add members in livemesh folder'... believe you should then be able to invite other users to get access to this folder... again, haven't tried it - but i believe that's what this option is intended to do...
This allows you to add others to the folder, but the only security role I can assign is "Owner". All other options are grayed out.
Bill Weimer - I don't know if it is already here cause the list is so long.
I wish we could merge different users changes... when posible of course. Let's say a open a word doc, and at the same time one f my budies opens the same file and edit just a small piece of it. Now the client tells me that there was a conflict and that I have to choose to get rid of one of the versions... i believe in some cases merging could me posible.
Regards,
Seba
http://sgomez.blogspot.com - As with above poster, not sure if these have been mentioned already as the list is getting quite long. My vision for mesh would be the following:
I think the live desktop could be much more than it currently is. I would love to see the ability to build an actual desktop. For example the ability to install the windows live services (messenger, mail, photo gallery). Possibly even a version of works or the office viewers installed by default or offered via a link (in the same way messenger currently is in vista). A person could log in to their live desktop top from anywhere with an internet connection and use it much in the same way as they do their own desktop at home. Photo gallery would by default contain all photo's in your mesh folder, clicking on a word document in your folder would open in word viewer within the desktop, etc.
It would also be cool to be able to hover over a item in your folder and have it expand to show a larger image (like photo gallery). Another cool feature would be the ability to drag and drop a web page or part of a webpage (ie photo or article) and drop it in to your folder. It would show in your folder as an image and as in previous suggestion hovering over it would enlarge the image. Clicking on it could then open a web browser within your live desktop. This could be used as a simple way to bookmark an article for later reading or to share an article with someone else in your mesh.
The last item for my wish list would be the ability to have a folder sync but not store on line. Ie. a folder would synch to my home server and I could then share that folder on live mesh and I and others could access that folder on the live desktop. This would also be a great way for my parents/inlaws/friends to backup items to my homeserver. They could simply drag and drop to the folder and it would synch and save a copy on my server.- Edited byTroyleb Thursday, May 29, 2008 3:24 PMafterthought
- Hi all,
As those above have mentioned, this list is getting quite long - but that's a good thing, because we're grateful for all the suggestions! Please don't worry about posting a suggestion that's already been made. In fact, we want that: it serves as a kind of voting mechanism, and we're keeping track of how often various features are requested. So, of course, this means that even if you know that a suggestion has already been made, we encourage you to "second" or "third" or etc. that suggestion if it's something you want to see!
Thanks for all the feedback!
Ben. - In another vote (re-vote since I already chimed in on this?) for inviting others to my Mesh and RDP delegation... What about incorporating SharedView/Tahiti for this? (Why reinvent the wheel)
If it's good enough for MSN Messenger, It may be good enough for mesh.
Though one thing that I'd think to add to that sharedview experience... The Chat/broadcast message to participants feature in it, I'd like to see captured and logged in a single News Item enclosure... kind of like keeping a transcript of a screencast. But that's tweaking their product, not yours.
I'm guessing SharedViews's initial e-mail invite is setting up a teredo handshake, which I would like to see that done transparently by a feed synced out and MoeMonitor or Live Desktop popping up the invite request.
So maybe reinvent that wheel, and add white-walls. :) - Idea born in this thread.
Live Mesh becomes active before a user actually logs on. So some sort of "Live Lock" would be awesome. If the client becomes active before a user signs in then suppose my laptop get's stolen. I could log on to my Live Desktop, mark the device as stolen and force a 'format c:' command on the stolen device before the thief even gets to log on to the machine.
That would be a very cool feature. Ofcourse it would only work if the machine is hooked up to the internet after being stolen, even so, in a lot of cases it probably will be.
Cheers,
- Mark Blomsma - Bill_Weimer said:RaiderClay said:
Right click on a folder you've mesh-enabled and click LiveMesh Options and then 'add members in livemesh folder'... believe you should then be able to invite other users to get access to this folder... again, haven't tried it - but i believe that's what this option is intended to do...
This allows you to add others to the folder, but the only security role I can assign is "Owner". All other options are grayed out.
Bill Weimer
I've submitted this as a bug.
Bill Weimer - Some thoughts building upon Ori Amiga's video. Around the 27 minute mark, he's showing off the DeepZoon/Seadragon app that's mesh aware. He says "a user installs the app..." If I make a mesh aware application, why not just use the mesh?
1. Mesh Syncs via feeds. How about letting different types of feeds sync to the different containers. A Folder App to the applications OM container, or a folder to the Membership container. This would allow a folder to contain contact items that can be used as a "Group" for permissions (since Live ID doesn't have the feature, and wouldn't rely on sharing Hotmail/Messenger contact lists). It's more important to my suggestion to allow a Developer that makes Meshified apps to have a folder that he's owner of, and then be subscribed to as a "reader" by his user's applications container. Distribution and Update channel. Also, cross platform installer (Windows Installer vs One Click, vs WinMobile installer (Sliverlight has Mac and Linux support coming. Mesh too?))
2. Permissions for "SELF" (a la AD or NTFS permissions). As an example, if your app is licensed, you could keep track of a "GraceLogins" metadata attribute to allow the app to still run while offline. When the user connects to the internet again, your own code refreshes the license and the app itSELF resets the "GraceLogins" count.
3. Licensing enforcement. Have MOE be able to check a Max# of replication partners and not allow new subscribers. For Example, if Office becomes Mesh Aware, you don't want Office replicated to every copy of Windows a user has on a single license, do you?
4. Extensible events. Allow hooks into the Invite/Subscribe process for cutom handlers, if the dev chooses.
5. Attribute Generator Plugins/Callbacks. See example below.
Hypothetical:
I'm an app developer that wrote "Mesh.NET Stockings", a twitter client for cyberstalking your friends. I'm so proud (or delusional) of my app that I think users will pay directly for it instead of using all the freebies out there.
One such disposable-income-laden individual, Lou, comes to my website, checks out my product pages, blog, and screencasts; and decides that this thing is worth the $5 per user, $2 per device that I'm charging and coughs up $9 for 2 device licenses. My e-commerce platform spits out the charge confirmation and instead of sending out an e-mail with a download link to the installer, sends out a Mesh invite to a folder I have owner privileges over.
Lou accepts, and gets a new app provisioned to his apps container. A custom handler I've added to my source folder adds programmatically generated metadata attributes so that this app syncs to Lou's Live Desktop (or Local MOE) with a License Token (with the "plugin" generated value. Mesh's replication wouldn't see changes in this value, but allows for personalization on a per subscriber basis. Allows Unique Keys to go out to each customer) attribute, MaxDevices attribute and AvailableLicenses (a "well-known" optional attribute that MOE will check). Lou then right-clicks on the app and sets it to replicate to his work PC as well. MOE decrements "AvailableLicenses" to 1, and adds WorkPc's Device ID to a "Lesees" Well-known attribute. (This second attribute is for when the user acts like a user and tries unsubscribing a device to free up a license. Thus just moving a single license around to every machine) Lou runs Mesh.NET Stockings from his home PC. My app code checks the "Lesees" attribute, sees the Home Device ID isn't in it, but there's an available license. Burns the license (decrements Available), updates the Lesees, everyone's square and happy.
Lou then tries to subscribe his Smartphone, MOE catches that the phone's ID isn't in lesee's, and there's no available license, and raises the event "LicenseViolationSubscribe" which calls a handler I've written and specified in the initial replication. The "ExtortforMoMoney" proc runs which tries to upsell, but more importantly, sends News back to my Source folder to let me see how many sales I'm dropping (News item correlated to web site sales), or who's trying to hack my app (which may lead me to rethink my licensing terms).
Lou runs my app and thinks it's the best thing since honey on sliced bread, and tries to invite his friend to it. (Not sure if invites on the app container happen, camera went out of focus when Ori was showing his provisioned apps. Coincidence?). This triggers a "LicenseViolationInvite" event and runs my proc saying "Mesh.Net Stockings isn't available to be shared directly. Would you like to send 'friend@live.com' an e-mail linking them to 'http://www.softwaredev.com/MeshNetStock/about.aspx?referredby=Lou.Zerr@live.com'?
Thus as a developer, Mesh could help me as an installer, an auto-update channel, a license compliance framework, a "Customer Improvement Program" submission engine, and a viral/grassroots marketing platform.- Edited byWillFa Sunday, June 01, 2008 7:53 PMproofreading
- swattz101 said:Robert Day said:
I would like the ability to see if a remote device is currently is use before I attempt a remote connection. I cannot tell if my wife is using our home PC before I attempt a remote connection.
Great idea Robert.
My problem is that everyone uses my main signon (even though I have set up sperate ones for them). Since the computer stays signed in, I can't tell if they are on or not. What I would like to see is the ability to use more than one session on a computer, then when I remote in, it can ask if I want a remote session or a console session, ideally telling me who is signed into the console, if anyone is.
Steve
Even without using multiple sessions, The Live Remote Desktop should be in it's own session rather than the logged on users. In fact, connecting via Mesh Remote Desktop should have nothing to do with who's at the console. This would be in-line with how RDP works. If another user is currently logged on to the console (and fast user switching is enabled), you'll get a prompt that says that another user is logged-on, continue? If you hit yes, then it prompts the person at the console (with a timeout) and at that point, you login to your normal profile. It doesn't matter who is logged in, you only login to your profile. I actually see this as a security hole, one that RDP already long-since solved, but that Mesh Remote Desktop is introducing -- I posted about it here: http://forums.community.microsoft.com/en/LiveMesh/thread/805f2237-60c4-4981-9877-b4ad346b78f2. Add My vote for contacts list, would like it to be imported from MSN, Outlook, GoogleMail, LiveMail etc. with the ability to associate a mesh login to the email address so that I can grant access to a folder without having to re-invite the person.
ie. if person x gives me the authority I can share a folder with them that will then show up on their LiveDesktop without having to email them an invite.- Favorites sync with http://favorites.live.com
I've been dying for a way to get my live favorites on my WinMo phone somehow
- Your in luck, it already does that.
If you install the Live mesh client for windows, set it up, then right click any folder on your computer, you will get a option "add to live mesh", this will upload it to your Live mesh desktop and also sync it with what ever device you tell it to in your live mesh ring.
- I'd like to have permalinks that take us directly to folders on our Live Desktop. e.g. If I have a folder called "myfolder", http://www.mesh.com/folders/myfolder might take me to it.
Discussed more with Ben from the Live Mesh team here: http://forums.community.microsoft.com/en-US/LiveMesh/thread/21424573-0ea6-4e35-a01b-0de81310c7ff/
-Jamie
http://jamiethomson.spaces.live.com/ | http://blogs.conchango.com/jamiethomson - I like Jamie's "permalinks" idea too...
- PLease add support for Windows 2003 and Windows 2008. I know it's server OS but there are a lot of people like me who run it at home for fun and would like to use LiveMesh on it. I don't think it shall be so much difficult to add support for both of those.
- Lorry Craig said:
PLease add support for Windows 2003 and Windows 2008. I know it's server OS but there are a lot of people like me who run it at home for fun and would like to use LiveMesh on it. I don't think it shall be so much difficult to add support for both of those.
Second this, along with Windows Home Server. As soon as we start looking beyond the current consumer orientated tech preview and rather at Mesh as a business application platform, with secure sync of business documents as an example, then we are going to want to have the source and target machines based on server technology rather than desktop. This also means that the MOE will need to be able to run as a service under a specified "account", rather than in the context of a logged in desktop user.
http://www.customrm.com ¦ http://softwareplusservices.spaces.live.com - The concept of "vaulting" mesh folders on a device would be good. The idea that I can add aditional challenge response security on a folder outside of the machine security.
eg. I have a "Private" folder synced and would like to have a password request pop up every time I access this folder for it's contents. So if my device is compromized, I have an additional level of protection. this sould be settable by device.
Re-entering the "live/passport" password would be sufficient. - Support for Virtual storage devices please.
In this context a virtual storage device would be some space in the cloud that behaves like a device. e.g.:
- Skydrive
- SSDS (i.e. SQL Server Data Services)
- Box.net
Jamie
http://jamiethomson.spaces.live.com/ | http://blogs.conchango.com/jamiethomson Already submitted this through the feedback link of the help file, but let me just add it here as well.
Support for Low Height screens. I'm using a Fujitsu U850 right now, and it has a screen dimensions of 1024x600. The news bar extends too far down and iI can't click on any of the buttons below. Seems like there's either a minimal height in the code displaying the bar or some other reason that's causing it to not shrink to fit the screen properly.
It definetly looks like it'll fit even at the smaller size though. And if you're wondering how many people would access Mesh through such a low display size, keep in mind that small screen notebooks like my U850, the 7" eeePC are bursting into the market and since these devices are very likely to be supplementary systems, they must defiently be able to access the Live desktop! ;)- First of all I'd like to give a big +1 to the following:
- Recycle bin style - restore deleted files from the Live Desktop.
- File versioning - roll back/forward to other versions.
I didn't notice this one yet, so:
- The ability to access a folder via a direct link - i.e. rather than syncing with a folder five me direct access to the folder on the cloud.
I'm assuming its on the list already, but it would be great if I could install the Mesh client on my home server (currently a Trial Windows Server 2008 - the decission is still out as to what the final platform will be).
Next up, I'd like to add a small rant about the GUI. This is a repeating bone of mine with many of the live applications. It would be great if the local GUI better integrated with the system style. Rather than using the obvious Live style (granted very similar to the Vista Aero style, couldn't the GUI use the system style?
While I'm on the subject of GUI. I'd like to give a +1 to having the option to default the control panel (at the side of each mesh folder when open) to "minimized". Better yet, if the minimized state of the control bar could somehow be integrated as a windows toolbar (admittedly not thought too much about the how).
By the way, loving Mesh so far with the integration of a few of these suggestions and it will be unbeatable. - I've posted some of my feature requests on my blog (http://mark-dot-net.blogspot.com/2008/05/live-mesh-first-impressions.html and http://mark-dot-net.blogspot.com/2008/04/thoughts-on-live-mesh.html), but I'll summarise them here too:
A couple of features to reduce network usage for those who pay per GB on their broadband usage:
1. Ability to sync between folders computers without also going to the live desktop. This should not send data via the internet if those computers are on the same network.
2. Similarly, if two computers on the same network are downloading a folder, it should only be downloaded from the cloud once. (not sure if it already does this).
3. Ability to exclude certain file types and subfolders from a shared folder (e.g. when sharing C# source code, I don't want to sync .pdb files, or the contents of bin and obj folders
4. Ability to have a read-only copy of a shared folder, where you only want one-way sync
And some applications that would benefit from live-mesh integration
1. OneNote - can we share a notebook in a live mesh folder?
2. OneCare Live backup - (obviously only when more disk space is available)
Mark - Password protected encrypted folders.
Thanks to Live Mesh my working files are synchronized everywhere I might need them... but yikes the sensitive personal and customer information they contain is now everywhere.
My wish is for a Live Mesh feature to encrypt and password protect synchronized folders. I don't want some random person who gets access to my Mesh or one of my devices to get in to my shorts.