Weekly Kickass Web App – Windows Live Mesh

After this week, the weekly kickass web app will be put on hiatus, and you will merely be bombarded with them when the time calls for it.  This week I’ve decided to write a review about Windows Live Mesh.  It’s hard to find good reviews on anything related to Microsoft or MSN, but I hope to change that tonight.  

Windows Live Mesh is an online web application which allows the sharing of files between multiple computers, and what makes it different than other online storage applications is that it allows the syncrhonization between multiplie media devices.  For example, you can sync up files between your PC, Mac, iphone, Blackberry, and almost any other media platform.  Windows Live Mesh prides itself on being the best web application for: 

•  ”Unified Device Management” – enabling your devices to report into a common service, for status, for health, or to report their location.
•  ”Unified Data Management”- or the transparent synchronization of files, folders, documents & media, the bi-directional synchronization of arbitrary feeds, of all kinds, across your devices and the web.
•  ”Unified Application Management” – for centralized web-based deployment of apps across the devices you own.
• “Centralized Management” – where you could configure and personalize your devices and remote control into them from just about anywhere. 

And from the moment I started using it, I found that the software wasn’t that far off from its ideals.

When you click the large call to action button in the middle of your screen it brings you to a desolate page devoid of..well..anything.  You start yourself up by clicking “Creative New Folder”, name it, and right away you can start loading files.  If you have Vista or a Vista knockoff you’ll notice that it looks a lot like its File Browsing system.  And since it looks just like it, you assume that it can operate the same.  To test this out, I went ahead and tried veiwing the fules I uploaded as thumbnails.  However, to do this I had to install Microsoft Silverlight.

I had been hearing a lot about Silverlight but I never paid it much attention.  Upon installing the software I found something interesting:

It functions just ike Vista!  I was particulary excited because I can easily upload videos, flash movies, and other animation files and view them right there on the web without installing anymore software.  I also didn’t have to wait for a conversion time of the video, it would just play right there the moment I uploaded. (If only Vimeo could learn how to do that).  If you’re looking for a way to keep lots of files between you and your fellow bloggers, try Windows Live Mesh out, it makes for a great online content management system and it’s easy to use.