A First Look at Live Mesh

Published April 2008

For more information:

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Abstract

Live Mesh is a “software-plus-services” platform and experience from Microsoft

that enables PCs and other devices to “come alive” by making them aware of
each other through the Internet, enabling individuals and organizations to
manage, access, and share their files and applications seamlessly on the Web
and across their world of devices. This document provides selected reviewers
with a first look at Live Mesh, including instructions on how they can try it out for
themselves.
The information contained in this document represents the current
view of Microsoft Corp. on the issues discussed as of the date of
publication. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market
conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the
part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of
any information presented after the date of publication. This is a
preliminary document and the subject matter contained within this
document may be changed substantially prior to final commercial
release of the software, products, or services described herein
This reviewers guide is for informational purposes only.
MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
IN THIS SUMMARY.
Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of
the user. Without limiting the rights under copyright, no part of this
document may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, by any means
(electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), or for
any purpose, without the express written permission of Microsoft.
Microsoft may have patents, patent applications, trademarks,
copyrights or other intellectual property rights covering subject
matter in this document. Except as expressly provided in any written
license agreement from Microsoft, the furnishing of this document
does not give you any license to these patents, trademarks,
copyrights or other intellectual property.
Unless otherwise noted, the example companies, organizations,
products, domain names, e-mail addresses, logos, people, places
and events depicted herein are fictitious, and no association with
any real company, organization, product, domain name, e-mail
address, logo, person, place or event is intended or should be
inferred.
Microsoft, the Live Mesh logo and Windows Live are trademarks of
the Microsoft group of companies
© 2008 Microsoft Corp. All rights reserved.
Introduction.................................................................. ..........................1

Getting Started..................................4
CONTENTS
Live Mesh Notifier.............................8

Live Mesh Folders.................................................................. ................9

The Mesh Bar.............................................................................. ..........12

News.......................................................................................... ............15

Live Desktop.......................................................................... ...............17

Live Mesh Remote Desktop........................................................ .........19

On the Horizon................................................................................. .....21

Conclusion................................................................................... .........23

Cleaning Up Your system............................................. .......................24

Glossary................................................................................... .............25
 INTRODUCTION

Why Live Mesh?

Today we live in a world of the Web and a world of devices. Although the Web is at the center of
our experiences, those experiences are delivered through a diverse range of increasingly
powerful devices. As we take advantage of this new digital world, our experiences often become
fractured and complex. We create and accumulate massive amounts of data, with the information
and applications we care about residing on different devices and spread across the Web. We also
interact with a broader array of people, struggling to stay connected with them and informed of
the latest happenings. We are in need of, and increasingly demand, seamless “just works”
computing experiences that bring it all together.

Microsoft is starting to solve these and many related problems with Live Mesh, a platform
experience that uses the Internet as a hub to bring together your data, devices, applications, and
the people you want to connect with into your own personal “mesh” that is always up-to-date and
available from anywhere. With Live Mesh, Microsoft believes that:
… your devices should work together.
… your data and applications should be available from anywhere.
… the people you need to connect with should be just a few clicks away for
simple sharing, collaborating, and learning more about them.
… you should have all the information you need to stay informed.

What is Live Mesh?

Live Mesh is a “software-plus-services” platform and experience that enables
PCs and other devices to “come alive” by making them aware of each other
through the Internet, enabling individuals and organizations to manage, access,
and share their files and applications seamlessly on the Web and across their
world of devices. Live Mesh includes:
 A platform that defines and models a user’s digital relationships between devices, data,
applications, and people—made available to developers through an open data model and
protocols.

 A cloud service providing an implementation of the platform hosted in Microsoft data

centers.

 Software, a client implementation of the platform that enables local applications to run offline
and interact seamlessly with the cloud.

 A platform experience that exposes the key benefits of the platform for bringing together a
user’s devices, files and applications, and social graph, with news feeds across all of these.

What differentiates Live Mesh is its underlying platform. As a platform company, Microsoft
believes in the power of the operating environment—and that if that environment is built correctly,
the entire ecosystem will benefit. Live Mesh is built on the Live Services Platform, providing a
Web-centric Mesh Operating Environment that evolves the user experience from one of “My
Computer” to one of “My Mesh,” with the user at the center of that experience. (For more
information on the Live Services Platform, go to www.mesh.com/blog.)
While many existing offerings may appear similar in that they utilize hosted
services for storage, sharing files, or peer-to-peer connections between PCs,
most of those products fulfill only one specific need. Live Mesh is unique in that it
takes a more robust approach, bringing together all of this functionality in one
offering. By weaving together the best of software and Internet services, Live
Mesh delivers a platform and experience that is comprehensive yet simple and
open.

Who Will Benefit?

Live Mesh provides a seamless “just works” experience that puts you at the
center of your digital world by connecting you with the people you care about and
putting you in control of your information, applications, and devices. As such, it
can benefit anyone who uses the Internet and has more than one device—or has
only one PC but wants to access its data or applications from nearly anywhere.
Early adopters will likely be technology-savvy individuals who today struggle with
multiple devices. However, this user base will expand over time as more and
more individuals see the benefit of a Live Mesh approach to simplifying their
computing experiences, sharing information, and staying connected.
Specific benefits of Live Mesh include:

 Devices Working Together. Live Mesh brings the Web to your devices so that your data and
applications are seamlessly synchronized and aware of each other, communicating over
encrypted channels to help keep user data secure.

 Anywhere Access. The information you put in your mesh is available from any of your other
devices, including your own personal Live Desktop that resides on the Web. Live Mesh also
provides remote desktop functionality for situations where you need to take full control of a
device remotely.

 Simple to Share. With Live Mesh, you can simply invite a friend or colleague to share a
folder, giving them access to view or edit only the files you put in the folder. Live Mesh keeps
track of and synchronizes the changes across your mesh.

 Stay Informed. Live Mesh has a robust news feed system that allows you to easily keep
track of the activities you care about, including the online status of your friends or colleagues,
changes to files and folders in your mesh, and the status of your devices.

A Closer Look
The remainder of this document examines how Live Mesh enables you to:
 Keep data automatically synchronized across devices with Live Mesh folders, including the
ability to share data with other Live Mesh users.

 Access devices and applications remotely with Live Mesh Remote Desktop, which lets you
take full control of any device in your mesh from virtually any PC with a Web browser and
Internet connection.
  Access your mesh from any Web browser with Live Desktop.

 Stay abreast of what’s going on with Live Mesh News, so you can easily keep track of
friends or colleagues, changes to files and folders, and status of the devices in your mesh.

Each feature is discussed in greater detail in the following sections, along with detailed instructions
on how to “try it for yourself.”
 GETTING STARTED

Prerequisites and System Requirements

Access to the Live Mesh technology preview is by invitation-only. To try it out,
here’s what you’ll need—and need to know:
 Windows Live ID. Someone from Microsoft should have already provided you with a special
Windows Live ID, which you’ll need to try Live Mesh.

 Operating System. At this time, Live Mesh supports PCs running Windows Vista and
Windows XP (with Service Pack 2 installed). Live Mesh will eventually support Macintosh
computers and Windows Mobile-powered devices as well.

 Second PC. The Live Mesh Remote Desktop enables you to access and control devices in
your mesh using only a Web browser. As such, it can best be experienced from a second PC.

 Administrator Rights. Administrator rights are not required to install and use Live Mesh (the
main client/shell enhancements). However, they are required to install the Live Mesh Remote
Desktop Enhancements, which improve security and performance when using the Live Mesh
Remote Desktop feature. If you don’t have administrator rights or choose not to confirm the
User Account Control elevation prompt when using Windows Vista, you can still try out all the
features of Live Mesh.

 Web Browser and Internet Access. Live Mesh is compatible with Microsoft Internet
Explorer 6, Firefox 2.0, and Safari 3.0, or later versions of each Web browser. However, the
Live Mesh Remote Desktop feature is not compatible with Firefox.

 Windows Live Messenger. To view your Messenger contacts’ status within Live Mesh, you
must be signed in to Windows Live Messenger. You can install Messenger at
http://get.live.com/messenger/overview.

Note: You’ll be using a prerelease version of Live Mesh and, as such, you should keep a
separate copy of any files or folders you add to your mesh.

Instructions for Trying Out Live Mesh

The following sections of this document discuss the various features of Live
Mesh. Instructions for trying out those features are presented as follows:
Try it out…

1. Step 1

2. Step 2

You should now be ready to start using Live Mesh! To make it easy for you to see
how Live Mesh is intended to work, we’ve created a test account for you that has
been pre-populated with some files and user relationships.

Signing In
The Live Mesh experience begins by signing in, which is done using your
Windows Live ID.
 To sign in to the Live Mesh devices page:

1. Using your Web browser, go to http://www.mesh.com and click Sign in.

2. Enter your Windows Live ID and password.

3. Click Sign in.

4. To enable Messenger integration, sign in to Messenger using the same Windows Live ID and
password.

Devices View
After you sign in, you’ll see the Live Mesh Devices page (see Figure 1), a
visualization of your personal computing environment. Live Mesh breaks down
the seams between these devices by making all your information accessible on
any device and making those devices accessible no matter where you are. Live
Mesh delivers this experience by building on the Live Services Platform Mesh
Directory, which associates your identity with the devices, files, applications, and
people that are part of your mesh.

Figure 1: Live Mesh Devices page after adding multiple devices.

Everyone starts with one device, the Live Desktop, which can be accessed with
any supported Web browser. This “device in the cloud” makes it easy to access
information in your mesh even when you’re not using one of your own devices.
(Live Desktop is discussed in greater detail later in this document.)
You can see in Figure 1 that devices can use Live Mesh to share their status or
other information. The screen shot shows one device reporting itself as online
and healthy, a second device reporting itself as online but requiring attention, and
a third device with no status currently reported. Over time, Microsoft expects
devices such as PCs, mobile phones, printers, and more to communicate to the
user and with each other using the mesh. In addition, just as the Live Services
Platform makes it possible for devices to publish information to the mesh, it also
enables users and other devices to reach in to manage or interact with those
devices. You’ll see an example of that later with Live Mesh Remote Desktop.

Adding a Device
To synchronize folders with the Live Desktop, you’ll first need to add that device
to your mesh. This is done by installing the Live Mesh software, which assigns a
unique cryptographic identity to the device and associates that device with your
mesh. The Live Mesh software also includes a synchronization runtime,
extensions to the Windows Explorer shell that make it easy to interact with your
mesh, and support for Live Mesh Remote Desktop, which is discussed later in
this paper.

To add a device to your mesh:

1. Click Add Device, select the version of the operating system you’re running, then click Install.
During installation, you’ll see a pop-up above the notification area in the Windows taskbar
informing you of progress. (If you’re using Windows Vista, you may get a User Account Control
(UAC) elevation prompt during installation. You must have elevated privileges to install the Live
Mesh Remote Desktop enhancements, which improve security and performance for the Live Mesh
Remote Desktop feature. If you don’t elevate during installation, you can still install and use Live
Mesh.)

2. After installation is complete, a sign-in dialog will appear (see Figure 2). Sign in using your
Windows Live ID and password.

3. In the Add Device dialog box, rename the device if you like. (If you’re running Windows Vista,
make sure the check box next to Enable Live Mesh Remote Desktop enhancements is checked.)

4. Click Add Device. The Live Mesh notifier will appear above the notification area of your
Windows taskbar and a Live Mesh icon will appear in the taskbar.

The same process applies when installing subsequent devices. After you’ve
added a device, you’ll have access to your Live Mesh folders from that device
(either from the notifier or Windows Explorer) and the added device will appear in
the Live Mesh notifier. A Live Mesh entry will appear in the Start menu under All
Programs.
The Live Mesh software is installed on a per-user basis, and all data and settings
are stored in the same manner. In addition, no changes to firewall policy are
made during installation. This eliminates the need for administrator rights or
consent dialogs during the installation process, isolates the impact of the
software, and makes it simple to uninstall. However, there are several ways in
which Live Mesh can be enhanced using optional components that do require
administrator rights to install, including peer-to-peer network connectivity and
enhanced Live Mesh Remote Desktop support. Computers with Microsoft Update
turned on should get updated automatically with the latest version of the Live
Mesh software as it becomes available.

Figure 2: Live Mesh software sign-in dialog.

 LIVE MESH NOTIFIER
After installing the Live Mesh software, you’ll see
the Live Mesh notifier icon (see Figure 3) in the notification area of your Windows

taskbar.

Figure 3. Live Mesh notifier icon (appears second from left).

Hovering on the icon brings up the Live Mesh notifier, which provides a
convenient way to access, manage, and stay abreast of what’s happening on
your mesh. Today, the notifier provides three views:
 Folders, which provides information on and access to the folders in your mesh.
 Devices, which provides information on and access to the devices in your mesh.

 News, which enables you to stay abreast of the activities in your mesh.
Figure 4 shows the devices view in the Live Mesh notifier. We’ll explore the
features of the notifier later in this document, after adding some information to
your mesh.

Figure 4. Live Mesh notifier devices view.

 LIVE MESH FOLDERS
If you have more than one computer, you’re probably
familiar with the problems of making sure the files you need are always on hand,
no matter which device you’re using. And, of course, if you’re collaborating on
documents at work or putting together a photo album at home, there will be files
that you’ll want to share with colleagues, friends, and family.
Live Mesh folders solve those problems by enabling you to share and manage
folders across devices. Folders can be synchronized among devices in your
mesh and shared with other users, who can access the folders you share
through their own meshes. Through Live Desktop, Live Mesh also offers a cloud-
based storage service that enables you to access your data even when all your
devices are unavailable.
Live Mesh folders deliver two key features that set them apart:
 Robust synchronization among peer devices and a storage service in the cloud.

 A rich collaboration space that’s more than just a place to drop files.
From an end-user perspective, Live Mesh folders appear just like the other
folders on your hard drive, with a standard file path. You can copy or move files
between Live Mesh folders and other folders on your device, and your
applications can read or write into those folders as they would any other folder.
Behind the scenes, the Mesh Operating Environment keeps folders synchronized
across your mesh. Similarly, developers who want to make their applications
“mesh-aware” can take advantage of the Mesh Operating Environment APIs to
determine the status of—and interact with—files, devices, and other users across
the mesh. This will enable the delivery of “optimized online, enabled offline”
experiences in which applications will always have local access to data,
eliminating the need to worry about the availability of network connections or
whether users are working offline—in a way similar to the Cached Exchange
Mode feature of Microsoft Office Outlook 2007.

Creating a Live Mesh folder

When you add an existing folder on your device to your mesh, it continues to
exist in the same location on your hard drive, where it looks and acts like other
local folders. You can still drag and drop, copy and paste, or save files or other
folders directly to it. There are three ways to add a folder to your mesh from your
device:
 Make any existing folder on your device a Live Mesh folder by right-clicking the folder and
then clicking Add folder to your mesh.

 Drag and drop a folder into Live Mesh Folders, a location under My Computer in Windows
Explorer that shows all folders in your mesh.

 Open Live Mesh Folders, right-click in Windows Explorer, click Live Mesh Options, then
click Create folder in your mesh.
By default, a copy of the folder is added to your Live Desktop and files are
synchronized when they are added or modified. You can also adjust how Live
Mesh folders are synchronized across your mesh, enabling you to specify the
devices on which you want the folder to be available and when to synchronize
files. This is another example of how the Live Services Platform makes it
possible for all your devices to work together, giving you a way to view status and
manage settings for any device in your mesh.

Figure 5. Adding a Live Mesh folder.

To create a Live Mesh folder:

1. Create a new folder on your Windows desktop and copy a file or two into it.

2. Right-click on the folder, then click Add folder to your Live Mesh.

3. Click Show synchronization options to view or change synchronization settings.

4. Click OK to add the folder to Live Mesh, upon which the folder’s icon will change to blue to let
you know it’s a Live Mesh folder.

Working Offline
Live Mesh is designed to work offline as well, enabling you to interact with Live
Mesh folders on your local device in the same way as you would with any other
folder. When you go online again, any changes to your Live Mesh folders will be
synchronized across your mesh.

Figure 6. Working offline.

Future Directions
Today, Live Mesh folders provide the ability to synchronize files. However, the
Live Services Platform was designedwith a flexible data model that can also
represent applications, discussions, settings, and more. Over time, Live Mesh
will deliver new experiences built around other types of data.
In addition, the Live Services Platform is designed to support a federated storage
model that will enable enterprise customers to host their own storage services,
ensuring that their data is never stored in a Microsoft data center. More
information on how federation works will be provided later in 2008.
 THE MESH BAR
After you’ve created a Live Mesh folder, there are several
ways to open that folder on your device:
 In the notifier, click the Folders icon, then select a folder—or click Manage folders and then
double-click the desired folder

 Open the Live Mesh Folders folder in Windows Explorer and double-click the desired folder
The Live Mesh software extends Live Mesh folders with the Live Mesh bar, a
companion window that provides an integrated view of what’s happening with this
folder across the mesh—and is especially useful for collaborating with other
users.

Synchronized Devices
In the Live Mesh bar, under Synchronized Devices (see Figure 7), you can see
how the folder is being used within your mesh. You’ll see machine presence and
synchronization status for the folder, as well as a convenient link to manage
synchronization settings for the folder.

Figure 7: Live Mesh bar – Synchronized devices view.

To view the Synchronized Devices view in the Live Mesh bar:

1. Double-click on a Live Mesh folder and click Synchronized Devices. You’ll see the status of each
device synchronizing the folder.

2. Click Edit to see how you can change the synchronization settings for the folder.

3. Click Cancel to return to the Synchronized Devices view.

Members
Devices and folders aren’t the only thing woven into your mesh—other people
are, too. In the Live Mesh bar, under Members, you can see who else has access
to a Live Folder and invite friends or co-workers to share the folder. Live Mesh
uses the Activities service in the Live Services Platform to monitor which folders
users have open, enabling you to easily know when other members are looking
at the same content (as indicated by the orange square). The same view also
integrates status information from other services such as Windows Live
Messenger, showing whether the members of a folder are online or offline (see
Figure 8).

Figure 8: Live Mesh bar – Members view.

To invite another Live Mesh user to share a folder:

1. On the Live Mesh bar, click Members. An orange dot to the right of a member’s name shows who
is actively browsing the folder. If the user is on your Windows Live Messenger buddy list, you’ll
see a Messenger pawn, which you can click to send that user an instant message.

2. Click Add and type the other person’s e-mail address. If desired, click View e-mail message and
customize the message.

3. Click OK to send the message.

4. In the Members view of the Live Mesh bar, you’ll see that the person you just invited to share the
folder has been added to the list, with status as “pending.”
News
With people woven throughout your mesh, you can stay abreast of their activities.
The News view in the Live Mesh bar builds on the Activities service in the Live
Services Platform to give you context about what’s happening in a folder,
providing an easy way to see what’s changed and add comments to a folder.
Behind the scenes, the Mesh Operating Environment handles news entries the
same way as files and folders, synchronizing the data throughout your mesh so
that it’s always available.

Figure 9: Live Mesh bar – News view.

To post a message about a folder:

1. Select the News view in the Live Mesh bar and click New post, then type your message and click
OK. In a moment, you’ll see the message you just posted appear.

2. Add a new file to the folder and you’ll see another new news post appear, notifying you that the
new file was added.
 NEWS
Keeping you up to date is a core concept of Live Mesh, so news is
prevalent throughout the system. Live Mesh provides a broader view of news in
the notifier, showing you the most recent activities across all of your folders.

Figure 10. News view in Live Mesh notifier.

Clicking “View all news” in the notifier takes you to a Web page that displays a
more complete view of recent activities. And clicking on the name of a member in
any news view takes you to that member’s profile page, showing you that
member’s activities for the folders you share and enabling you to easily see how
that user has been participating in your mesh.

Figure 11. Member profile.

To view all of the news for your mesh:

1. Open the Live Mesh notifier, click the News icon, and click View all news.

2. Click on a member’s name to see that person’s profile.

News provides a flexible and customizable way for the devices, folders,
applications, and members in your mesh to communicate with you. The
underlying Activities service in the Live Services Platform provides a way for
developers to build applications that can both create and read news for a
resource in the mesh after the applications have been granted the appropriate
permissions by the user who owns the resource.
 LIVE DESKTOP
You’ve seen how the Live Mesh software connects you
with the information and people in your mesh. But how do you access your mesh
from devices other than your own—say, when you’re borrowing a friend’s
computer?
For true anytime, anywhere access, you can use the Live Desktop (see Figure
12), a virtual “device in the cloud” that can be accessed using only a Web
browser. Live Desktop is an Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX)
application that interacts with the Live Services Platform’s storage service to
display the files you’ve chosen to store in the Live Mesh cloud. Through Live
Desktop, you can interact with your mesh in the same way as you would from
devices that are joined to the mesh.

Figure 12. Live Desktop.

Microsoft envisions Live Desktop as a “home base” for anywhere, anytime
access to all of your information. Today it provides access to the files, folders,
and people in your mesh but, over time, it could become a portal for anytime,
anywhere access to applications as well.

To try Live Desktop:

(Note: This is best experienced from a second system that’s not running the Live Mesh software. All
you’ll need is a Web browser and an Internet connection. If such a system is available, move to it now.)

1. Open a Web browser, go to http://www.mesh.com, and sign in with your Windows Live ID. This
will open the Live Mesh devices page.

2. Click the Desktop button at the top of the screen and you’ll be presented with the Live Desktop.

3. Double-click on the Live Mesh folder you created earlier. You’ll see the familiar Live Mesh folder
view, including the Live Mesh bar.

4. Double-click on the file you placed in the folder. You’ll be prompted to open or save the file.
Assuming you have the application necessary to open the file on the PC you’re using, you can
click Open to bring up the file in that application. (Note: This downloads a temporary read-only
copy, which is opened using the target application, which you can use to save the file locally).

5. Close the application.

6. In the Live Mesh folder, click Upload File, select a file, and click OK. When you open that folder
on your PC running the Live Mesh software, you’ll see that the new file has been added.

7. Now create a new Live Mesh folder by double-clicking Create new folder on the Live Desktop.
Name the folder and click OK. The new folder will appear on Live Desktop and on the Windows
desktop of your PC running the Live Mesh software.
 LIVE MESH REMOTE DESKTOP
Although the Live Desktop enables
you to interact with the folders in your mesh, there are times when you’ll need full
remote access to a device, such as to schedule a recording on your home media
center or check a customer record on the CRM system at work. Live Mesh
Remote Desktop (see Figure 13) addresses this problem by enabling you to
access any device in your mesh from any other device that’s running the Live
Mesh software, as well as from any compatible Web browser.

Figure 13. Live Mesh Remote Desktop.

Live Mesh Remote Desktop builds on the Windows Remote Desktop Protocol,
enhancing it in four key ways:
 End-to-end connectivity that is accomplished through a combination of client logic and
hosted relays, enabling you to connect regardless of network topology, firewalls, or network
address translation.

 Device presence that enables you to see which of your devices are available for a remote
connection.
 Stronger connection security, in which ports are opened only when authorized requests
are routed through the Live Mesh rather than leaving ports open to receive connections—and
with only the source of a request able to connect to opened ports. This is a more robust
approach to security than simply requiring a user name and password.

 End-to-end encryption, in which traffic is encrypted with a key known only to the two
devices involved in the session, making it extremely difficult for any other device (including
Live Services Platform relays) to snoop on the traffic.

To use Live Mesh Remote Desktop:

1. On the Live Desktop, click the Devices button at the top of the page and then click the device you
want to access. The device ring will rotate to bring your device to the front.

2. Click Connect to connect to the device. (You may be prompted to install an Active X control and
may need to accept User Account Control prompts if running Windows Vista.)

3. When prompted for confirmation that you want to connect with the device, click Connect. Live
Mesh Remote Desktop will establish the connection and, as soon as the encrypted connection is
available, you’ll be prompted with the Windows log on screen for the remote device. (This may
take up to 30 seconds, as a message will be presented on the screen of the target device letting
anyone who may be using the device know that you are trying to connect remotely to it.)

4. Enter your user name and password for the remote device and click OK. You should now have full
control over the device.

5. On the remote machine, open Notepad and type a few words of text. Select the text and copy it to
the Windows clipboard as you normally would. Then minimize the Internet Explorer window,
open Notepad on your local system, and paste the text into the local document.
 ON THE HORIZON

Live Mesh Applications

You’ve seen how Live Mesh makes your devices come alive, enabling you to
interact with the files and people in your mesh. Fulfilling the Live Mesh vision,
however, will require supporting an additional element of your digital life: your
applications. Live Mesh applications are not yet implemented, but we’d like to
provide a hint of what’s to come.
Just as the Mesh Directory stores relationships between you, your devices, and
your files, it can also associate you with the applications you use. In addition to
enabling applications to read and write the files, folders, and news in your mesh,
the Mesh Operating Environment is built to synchronize all types of data, which
enables Live Mesh to distribute applications throughout your mesh as well—even
to your Live Desktop, if appropriate.

Figure 14. Example

of a Live Mesh
application.

Figure 14
shows an
example of a
Live Mesh
application.
After adding
the application
to your mesh
and granting it
permission to
access the
information in
your mesh,
you’ll be able
to run this
application
directly from
yourLive
Desktop. And in the same way that you control how devices synchronize files in
your mesh, you’ll be able to specify whether you want this mesh application to be
available on those devices so that you can run it locally when you’re not online.

Developer Platform
In the coming months, you’ll hear more about the developer platform for Live
Mesh, including how developers can write services and applications that interact
with the mesh to provide a more personal and meaningful user experience.
Broader Availability
Microsoft intends to increase the number of people invited to preview Live Mesh
throughout the rest of 2008, with plans to deliver a more open beta release in the
fall.
 CONCLUSION
Live Mesh is a “software-plus- services” platform and experience
from Microsoft that enables PCs and other devices to “come alive” by making them aware of each
other through the Internet, enabling individuals and organizations to manage, access, and share
their files and applications seamlessly on the Web and across their world of devices. With Live
Mesh:

 All your devices work together.

 All your data and applications are available from anywhere.

 The people you need to connect with are just a few clicks away for simple sharing,
collaborating, and learning more about them.

 You have all the information you need to stay informed.

Through such capabilities, Live Mesh provides a seamless, “just works”
experience that puts you at the center of your digital world.

For More Information

For more information about Live Mesh, visit the Live Mesh blog at
www.mesh.com/blog or contact:

Rapid Response Team

Waggener Edstrom Worldwide
(503) 443-7070
rrt@waggeneredstrom.com
 CLEANING UP YOUR SYSTEM
Feel free to keep Live Mesh installed
and experiment with it, as the account you have will remain active. However,
please remember that it’s a technology preview and safeguard your data
accordingly.
Should you wish to uninstall Live Mesh, follow these steps:

Remove Your Devices from the Mesh

1. Go to http://www.mesh.com and sign in.
2. Click the device you want to remove from your mesh.
3. Click Options, then click Remove device from Live Mesh.

Uninstall the Live Mesh Software

For each device on which you installed the Live Mesh software:
1. From that computer's Control Panel, double-click Add/Remove Programs (in Windows
XP) or Programs and Features (in Windows Vista).
2. Select Live Mesh and click Uninstall.
Note: Uninstalling the Live Mesh software does not remove any local folders from your device.

Uninstall the Live Mesh Internet Explorer Add-In

For each device on which you’ve used Internet Explorer and Live Mesh Remote
Desktop:
1. Launch Internet Explorer.
2. Click Tools, then Internet Options.
3. Select the Programs tab, then click Manage Add-ons.
4. Select WLCTSCControl Class and click Delete.
 GLOSSARY
Following is a list of the key terms used in this document.

TERM DEFINITION
Live Desktop A “device in the cloud” that is automatically
added to your mesh and can be accessed
from any Web browser
Live Mesh Name for the overall service
Live Mesh bar The companion window that is appended to
the right side of Windows Explorer for Live
Mesh folders
Live Mesh devices Devices that are connected to your mesh
Live Mesh Devices A view of devices provided on the Live
Desktop
Live Mesh folder Any folder in your mesh
Live Mesh Folders A system folder created on your device when
the Live Mesh software is installed
Live Mesh news News provided on activities in your mesh
Live Mesh News A view of news presented on the Live Desktop
Live Mesh notifier The window that appears when you click the
Live Mesh icon in the notification area of the
Windows taskbar and provides easy access to
the folders, devices, and news in your mesh
Live Mesh Remote Feature of Live Mesh that builds on Remote
Desktop Desktop Protocol to enable you to remotely
access devices in your mesh
Live Mesh Remote An optional component of the Live Mesh
Desktop enhancements software (for Windows Vista) that enhances
security and performance when using Live
Mesh Remote Desktop
Live Mesh software Client software that is downloaded and
installed to add a device to Live Mesh
Live Services Platform The Microsoft software-plus-services platform
upon which Live Mesh is built
Mesh Operating A Web-centric operating environment that
Environment provides synchronization, data storage, and
other services to tie together an individual’s
data, devices, applications, and contacts