Friday, August 8, 2008

MS Live Mesh - Remote Desktop Meets the Cloud

You might not think of remote desktop as a cloud tool but MS has added cloud storage to remote desktop and called it Live Mesh. I have been using it recently and it is pretty nice. I use VNC fairly extensively and, when I'm not using VNC, I tend to use SSH. Well, I heard about this Live Mesh thing and decided to download it and give it a try. It is currently a beta product but I haven't had any issues.

My first thought on using it was that it was a clone of gotomypc. I'm not a user of gotomypc so I can't say for sure but it looks that way. The big difference is that gotomypc doesn't have a free version or online storage. I think the integration, storage and synchronization services are what make Mesh a unique tool.

Being an MS product, you might expect there is no Linux support. You would be right. There is MAC OS/X support though and Windows Mobile is on the way. I would be a lot more excited if they planned to support blackberry. But, it is still a great way to stay in touch with my desktop, laptop, work computer and the non-linux database servers in my lab.

This is what my home desktop looks like from the Live Mesh Desktop:

You can access a live mesh remote desktop from any computer that can run IE. The computer you are connecting FROM does not need to be running Live Mesh at all. Just log into your account at livemesh.com and login. You can then connect to any device in your mesh.

When you log in via a browser, you get a device screen where you see all of your devices and can connect to new ones. Your device names are not the actual hardware identification. You get to give them friendly text names.

If you open your live desktop, you can create folders to store data in the cloud. You currently get 5GB of storage for free,. You can create multiple directories and automatically sync those directories to the devices of your choosing. As an example, I created a Documents directory. Anything I put in that directory is automatically propagated to my work computer, my laptop (BIGDOG) and to one of my database servers (which has partially become my son's computer).

This is my Live Desktop:

I haven't really noticed any speed differences between the IE connection and the Remote Desktop tool. I prefer to use the remote desktop but I can't really say why. Here is what my db server looks like, first in IE and then in the remote desktop tool:

IE:

Remote Desktop:

If you notice in some of the above shots, Mesh windows have a side window with tips and information. I snipped that window out of some of these shots. It's kind of annoying but usually provides helpful information. I could see in the future, if this becomes a pay service, that ads might be placed there to support a free version.

This is the text of the help window when connected to a remote desktop:

So that's pretty much live mesh. It offers synching and free storage (more than mozy even) as well as a remote desktop that is accessible from a browser. I think this just shows how much cloud computing will be integrated in everyone's life and not just in business.

LewisC

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9 comments:

Unknown said...

You can also use RHUB http://www.rhubcom.com remote desktop appliance for Remote PC Control. Since it is an appliance, it is much more secure than hosted solutions. You can connect to up to 1000 PCs remotely and you get free audio conferencing. File transfer can be done to a specific computer or to multiple attendee computers. Further, RHUB appliance combines web conferencing, remote support, and webinar, in a single appliance, which is highly convenient, and cost-saving for there will be no monthly add-ons.

Unknown said...

Informative blog. Thanks for the post. Cloud computing provides a various type of services for the internet users. I got a good job in cloud computing field with the help of cloudjobs They are specialized in matching the job seekers and job providers.

Unknown said...

Cloud plays a big role in the field of computing. I was in a need of much stuff about it. Then I gathered much by attending a Cloud Conference, hosted by cloudslam team.

Anonymous said...

Wow...that has to be one of the most cluttered desktops I have ever seen. I have used remote desktop software to provide plenty of support and whenever I see a desktop that cluttered I always advise them to clean it up because that can be a major and easily avoidable waste of computer memory.

Unknown said...

Great Article on cloud computing. thanks for sharing it here and I am expecting more and more article on cloud computing. Getting a Job in the Cloud Computing Industry become a dream when i was doing my Computing degree. After finishing my degree I came to know about the job site Cloudjobs.net through which i got a good job in the computing Industry.

Raizu said...

Well; nowadays almost all over the world ISP's and other hosting providers are going to cloud computing based data centers.My friend in US who was looking for chaep and reliable cloud desktop a few days back.Then he found provider to which he is very happy now.He always appriciate their support services.

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