Microsoft's Live Mesh Is Apparently for Us

Live Mesh aims to share photos other files and programs among your many devices.

I couldn't be sure what it was about, or who it was aimed at, when I first read Microsoft's official description of Live Mesh. I'm still not sure what it will do, but apparently it's worth watching because it's aimed at us consumers.

Essentially, "mesh" is Microsoft's extending the concept of "cloud," which is storing and sharing everything on distant computers managed by others, including companies like Microsoft. Microsoft is planning to add software, "platforms," and "experiences" to mash together a mesh.

To start, it appears Mesh will sync digital files among devices. But it will also be a "new software-plus-services platform" and offer "unified device management." Not sure what those are, though.

Only by looking at screen shots and videos of execs did it become a little more clear, at least conceptually, that Mesh is aimed initially at consumers. The early examples describe sharing photos among friends and family, and include a "Home Desktop" in the network.

Surely the concept will extend to corporate offices. But information-technology folks at businesses usually want to lock out other devices like "Home Desktop." So this one appears to be for us—maybe?