FolderShare and Windows Live Sync Microsoft bought FolderShare from ByteTaxi Inc. on November 3, 2005, and subsequently made it a part of their
Windows Live range of services. On March 10, 2008, Microsoft released its first user visible update to the then Windows Live FolderShare. This comprised a rewrite of the FolderShare website and an updated Windows Live FolderShare client. Support for discussion groups and Remote Desktop Search was also removed in the update. The new client had some user interface and branding updates and contained several bug fixes - including official support for
Windows Vista and discontinued support for
Windows 2000. Since its rebrand as Windows Live FolderShare, the client and service had undergone extensive platform changes, switching from the original
LAMP which it was originally built on when acquired, to the
Windows Server platform. In the Windows Live Essentials "Wave 3" release, Windows Live FolderShare was again rebranded as Windows Live Sync. New UI improvements were also announced to be part of the "Wave 3" release, integrating it with other Windows Live services. New features of the then Windows Live Sync "Wave 3" compared to FolderShare included increased limit of sync folders, integration with
Windows Live ID, integration with Recycle Bin, unicode support, support for
Mac OS X, and integration with
Windows Live Photo Gallery and
Windows Live Toolbar to sync photo albums and favorites between PCs. Windows Live Sync Wave 3 was released on December 11, 2008, and an update of Windows Live Sync for Mac was released on November 2, 2009, to add support for
Mac OS X 10.6.
Live Mesh Beta Microsoft released the Live Mesh technology preview on April 23, 2008, a
data synchronization system that allowed files, folders and other data to be shared and synchronized across multiple personal devices and up to 5 GB on the web. Live Mesh was based on
FeedSync technologies to convey the changes made in each device so that the changes can be synchronized across all devices and the cloud. The information about devices and folders participating in a synchronization relationship was not stored locally but at the service-end. The Live Mesh software, called
Mesh Operating Environment (MOE), It could be used to create and manage the synchronization relationships between devices and data. Live Mesh also included a
cloud storage component, called
Live Desktop, which was an online storage service that allows synchronized folders to be accessible via a website. Live Mesh Remote Desktop allowed users to control their devices from the Live Mesh application, as well as from any other internet connected PC. Live Mesh also included a developer component, which consisted of a set of
protocols and
Application Programming Interfaces (API) known as
Live Framework (which was also briefly known as
MeshFX). It was a
REST-based API for accessing the Live Mesh services over
HTTP. Microsoft had also provided
APIs for
managed code (including
.NET Framework and
Microsoft Silverlight) as well as for
Win32 and
JavaScript via a developer
Software Development Kit (SDK). Live Mesh beta was officially discontinued on March 31, 2011.
Windows Live Mesh 2011 A beta version Windows Live Sync "Wave 4" was released on June 24, 2010. This new version, while initially branded Windows Live Sync, was the first version which was built using both FolderShare and Live Mesh technologies. Compared to the "Wave 3" version of Windows Live Sync, the new version featured increased limit of sync folders and files, ability to sync up to 2 GB of files to the cloud on
Windows Live SkyDrive synced storage, addition of Live Mesh's remote desktop access via
Windows Live Devices, and ability to sync application settings for Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office. This new version of Windows Live Sync was also designed to be completely separate from both the previous versions of Windows Live Sync and Live Mesh, and as such any previous synchronisation relationships were not retained when being upgraded from Windows Live Sync "Wave 3" and Live Mesh. The previous Windows Live Sync "Wave 3" website, and the Live Mesh Desktop, was also replaced by the new
Windows Live Devices service in the "Wave 4" release. The beta was subsequently updated on August 17, 2010, and on August 29, 2010, the service was officially rebranded as Windows Live Mesh, and its cloud-based SkyDrive synced storage was increased to 5
GB, as was the case for the previous Live Mesh service. The new version also allows users to sync hidden files, view a list of missing files that are awaiting to be synchronised, and various performance improvements. The final version of Windows Live Mesh 2011 (Wave 4) was released on September 30, 2010, as part of
Windows Live Essentials 2011.
SkyDrive Microsoft announced on February 20, 2012, that Windows Live Mesh is set to be superseded by a new
SkyDrive desktop application, where the cloud storage portion for the application will utilize the full 7 GB
SkyDrive storage (or more if the user has purchased additional storage), rather than the limited 5 GB "SkyDrive synced storage" in the current version of Windows Live Mesh. However, the new SkyDrive desktop application will not support direct PC-to-PC synchronization, and must utilize the SkyDrive cloud storage for synchronization between two or more devices. On August 7, 2012, Microsoft released
Windows Essentials 2012, where it was announced that Windows Live Mesh would be removed and replaced by the
SkyDrive for Windows desktop application if a user upgrades from Windows Live Essentials 2011. The Remote Desktop feature from Live Mesh, which allowed users to access the remote computer from the web browser, is not transferred to Skydrive. Users are directed to use
Remote Desktop from a Windows computer instead. Windows Live Mesh was discontinued on February 13, 2013, and some of the functionality is replaced by SkyDrive. ==References==