Update on Windows Live Mesh

Hi David, thanks for the follow up on Mesh status. I am a SkyDrive and Mesh user. I still can't leave Mesh because of some features that are missing in SkyDrive and are really important to me:

1) Sync *ANY* Folder (also outside the SkyDrive root folder): I can sync my Picture folder, my document folder, my Desktop, without any workaround (like configuring Libraries or MLINKs).

2) Sync folders on my pc shared by others. Right now I can't do this in SkyDrive (I can only see shared items on the web and in the SkyDrive app for WP).

3) Remote desktop to PCs under NAT.

 Unfortunately the Windows Remote Assistance is not reliable as Mesh Remote Desktop.

 I can't use Windows RDP to connect to non-pro edition, and I have difficulties to find the endpoint of PCs under NAT. So, no, it doesn't offer the same functionality that Mesh does.

 LogMe in Pro is not free.

 I understand that the remote connection is not a core feature for a cloud storage service. Could you suggest a *free* solution that works as good as Mesh Remote Connection?

Please, please, don't shut down Mesh until SkyDrive offer the same level of features.

One thing that you should have in place very soon (something that is important in Windows Live Mesh and Dropbox) is that when I share files or folders, that they will actually be able to have them on the PC and not needing to go through a browser, and being able to view and edit documents without a internet connection.

I have some folders shared with me on SkyDrive, they are more or less useless since I need to download and then upload files to sync them. This was never a problem with Mesh or Dropbox.

Hello,

From my point of view Skydrive is useless without Live Mesh features.

I use Live Mesh between my office PC, home PCs (2) and laptops (3). I have some folders only synced to the cloud, some are replicated across all my PCs and all kind of mixed replications. RDP is also a very convenient feature.

I was waiting a Skydrive update to install Win8 on my PCs and buy a Surface. This will not happen so I have to thank you for saving my wallet.

Sorry, but SkyDrive is not even close to the sync capabilities of Mesh.

Sometimes I just want to keep two PCs in sync. I do not want to sync to the cloud all the time.

I want to be able to sync *ANY* folder, not only the ones under SkyDrive - and certainly not having to mess around with mlink and other workarounds to get My Documents sync to the cloud.

Make SkyDrive more useful and then it may be something good. As it is now, it's not.

I was a Mesh (and Sync) user. SkyDrive is good but the reason I loved Mesh was its easy remote desktop feature. I know that my Windows PC have remote desktop but I was never able to make it work. I am not a super smart PC person and that is why I liked Mesh because remote desktop was so easy. Sadly, the lack of remote desktop in SkyDrive to access my apps is sad. Thankfully, Chrome remote desktop is easy to use so. Please put easy to use remote desktop in SkyDrive.

I agree wholeheartedly with the other Live Mesh users. I haven't found any other solution that provides Cloud-less sync between users. (Yes, Cubby provides it between computers--but only for the same user. If I want to share files with other Cubby users, I have to use the Cloud. Live Mesh stands alone with this feature.)

I also require the ability to sync folders without having to move them to some other folder. There are a number of other services that provide this feature (including Cubby), which leaves SkyDrive as an unremarkable solution. (CX.com offers 10G free.)

If Microsoft is determined to end-of-life Live Mesh, I beseech you to release Live Mesh as open source.

Also, the 100G-limit for paying customers is another obstacle, because I have over 500G of data that I need to sync.

@David Kornfield I am using SkyDrive on WIndows 7 (and Cubby and Dropbox). I am not taking about offline editing of MY FILES, but files that are SHARED. Today, the only place I see them in online at SkyDrive and they only allow editing of Office documents.

How about at least matching the functionality of Live Mesh before killing it?  As far as I know, SkyDrive STILL does not support LAN syncing.  It also doesn't support syncing files between machines without syncing them in SkyDrive.  There is also no support at all to do remote access.

SkyDrive only does a small fraction of what Live Mesh did, but somehow that is what is replacing Live Mesh...  I have tried 3rd party remote desktop services, but none of those seem to work as well.  I also haven't found anything that I can sync many GBs of files between PCs without paying huge monthly fees because EVERYONE else (including Microsoft now) forces you to store a copy in the cloud and pay for that amount of storage.  I just want to sync between PCs.

Since Live Mesh hasn't even been able to be installed for a while now, I have had to deal with a bunch of random 3rd party cloud services.  Honestly, I don't even know what is syncing where now because I had to get 3 or 4 to just do some of the basics of what I had backed up before.

It also greatly annoys me that instead of adding these features back of giving a replacement, other features are being added to SkyDrive instead.  How about giving us back what you took away before adding more features that we don't care about?

Like the others, Mesh has features I use that no other service offers. If you port the ability to choose the destination folder(s) on each PC I will happily switch. Until then, you darn well better keep Mesh running.

Here is an example, in case it wasn't clear.

With Mesh, I can choose to sync the folder %APP_DATA%/Minecraft/Saves to Mesh, and then on all my other computers, set it to go to the correct place on that computer. No extra steps required to play a Minecraft world on multiple computers.

With SkyDrive, I can choose to sync the same folder to SkyDrive, but it then shows up in the SkyDrive folder on all my other computers, and I have to manually copy the folder to the correct destination in order to use my files. Obviously, that's completely unacceptable.

The Live Mesh remote desktop was easy and worked across lots more versions of Windows than what just the remote desktop default app offers. Also, Live Mesh was also so much easier to use. I had it installed on my PC and my parents' PC so I could be tech support 2,000 miles away from home and it was an easy to use interface. The Windows default app just wasn't as smooth in what you saw (mouse arrow was jumpy and refresh rate wasn't great) and easy to use...and the Live Mesh program was a great app.

I totally agree with the comments that removing this feature without replacing it shouldn't have been an option. I don't want to have to create a logmein account when I already had a Hotmail account...err, a Windows Live ID....err, a Microsoft account.

Finally, someone should be slapped upside their head for referring Microsoft product users to other company's products because you're dropping support for something. If there's a low amount of people using Live Mesh, it could be because there wasn't the ad presence that it would have been given if it were an Apple product. iLive Mesh, or whatever it would have been called, could have been huge. It didn't help that Live Essentials dropped Live Mesh a long time ago.

What a mistake.

Sincerely,

One of the 25,000

I uninstalled Live Essentials 2012 and reinstalled 2011 because they removed Mesh! I love the Favorites sync and Remote Desktop! I'm guessing Favorites sync is gone?

How about open sourceing theses really good bits that are no longer in any of the alternate product offerings?

<blockquote> via en.wikipedia.org/.../Windows_Live_Mesh

.. Unlike the Mesh Operating Environment (MOE), which was limited to sharing folders, the Live Framework APIs could be used to share any data item between devices that recognize the data.[11] The API encapsulated the data into a Mesh Object—the native synchronization unit of Live Mesh—which was then tracked for changes and synchronized. A Mesh Object consisted of a collection of Data Feeds, which could be represented in Atom, RSS, JSON or Plain Old XML formats. The data entries within these feeds were synchronized via the FeedSync protocol. </blockquote>

David Kornfield, thanks for your response. I use mesh instead of Skydrive for all of the reasons mentioned by @Licantro in his post. I appreciate that you are suggesting cubby as an alternative for Mesh, but I really want to get a Surface RT tablet to use for some document editing and other work, and Cubby currently doesn't appear to have an RT compatible app in the Microsoft store.

Can you offer any alternatives that will work with the entire Microsoft ecosystem of products? If not, will you please either reconsider shuddering Live Mesh, or at least bringing SkyDrive up to snuff with Mesh's basic feature set.

Thanks,

Andrew

I too was an avid Live Mesh user, using it to sync and share 100s of GBs of data across a team of fellow PhD students. Although the inability to sync peer-to-peer with Skydrive is missed, I would be satisfied with higher tier  storage plans in Skydrive especially if you priced the storage aggressively.

After it was clear that Live Mesh was going to be phased out this summer we moved to Dropbox for Teams. Skydrive was in the running as an option for us, but limited storage capabilities and an inability to sync shared folders across multiple PCs pushed us towards Dropbox. We still use Skydrive for document sharing, Word and Onenote mostly, as simultaneous users in Word is fantastic for co-creating research papers.

So, adding a group-storage plan like Dropbox for Teams would be a welcome feature to Skydrive.

Occasionally I miss the remote desktop feature from Live Mesh, but I do not find it to be a huge loss. The Live Mesh Remote Desktop was always too slow to be useful for long sessions of serious production work. With all of our data in Dropbox and Skydrive now, there is rarely a need to access a machine remotely to grab a file anyway.

If you guys continue to listen to your customers and add features at the pace you have been, I fully expect for Skydrive to be the obvious cloud storage service sometime in 2013. You're nearly there. Keep at it.

Hi David,

I am very disappointed to hear this as MESH offers three key things which SkyDrive does not.

1. Peer to Peer Syncing, i don't want or need all my data in the Cloud

2. Larger file sizes

3. Proper folder management, the ability to sync any folder

These are the features that differentiate it from the likes of DropBox and Google Drive, without these SkyDrive is just another Cloud Storage service.  

Is there any roadmap for these features being added to SlyDrive in the future?

Thanks

David

SkyDrive is NOT NOT NOT a replacement for Live Mesh in that it doesn't support P2P sync between PC's of ANY folder on you PC. Unfortunately this seems to be more of a trend with Microsoft today. Ignore the users, remove functionality and in general have a we-know-what-best-for-you attitude same as Apple.

Also, the comment that there's only 25 000 users of live Mesh left is really an insult and a slap in the face. What the bloody hell did you expect when the latest upgrade of Live Essentials FORCED a de-install of Live Mesh?

Sorry David but I don't think anyone belives you have " been working to bring the DNA of Windows Live Mesh together with SkyDrive"

What we have is skydrive, which has had some enhancements. Ability to open an uploaded file in office web app; Desktop sync client, Windows phone client. .Net API, Xbox client. I use them all and they are all good.

But the first point in the first comment, comes up again and again.  We can take map the root of our skydrives to a folder on our PCs and sync. But I have a huge Profile folder and I want to sync 5 small sub folders of it to every PC I use. Each one has different reasons why it can't be moved to be a subfolder under skydrive. If they are available from the cloud that's a small bonus for me, but for me the key thing is if my machine goes on line for a while it's sync'd and then it can go off line.  

That's "the DNA of Windows Live Mesh".  

I spent 10 years working at Microsoft can translate Microsoft-speak into plain language

In MS-Speak "You’ve been a great help in how we brought Mesh and SkyDrive together",

" a great Help in how we did X" means "there was a lot of noise when we did X: some reflected our view of the world and we ignored the rest"  

and "Bringing product X and Y together" means "Users of product X are now expected to use product Y which , to some degree, may meet their needs"

In MS-Speak "we look forward to continuing to hear from you as we build  for you"

Means "We have decided the product features and nothing you say will change them but if you want to agree with us we can all have a group hug. "

Lovely, yet another blunder by Microsoft.  Build a decent product that works dependably and then pull the rug out from under it's users.  I used Live Mesh to sync My Documents (about 4GB) to all of my PCs and to remotely control them when needed.  I use SkyDrive to backup My Pictures (about 60GB) off my main Desktop PC.  I don't want all of pictures on every PC I own as this will will clog my SSD based laptop, etc.

Now with the rug pull MS if either forcing me to sync everything everywhere (which just plain stupid) and use a third party remote control tool (LogMeIn, etc.).  Way to go Microsoft!  Buy Office 2013?  Buy Windows 8?  I'm thinking Ubuntu and Open Office with Storage Made Simple and Google Drive.  My money is better spent there.  I've been with you for 15 years but I'm about done doing gymnastics just to use your products!

Wake up!

I feel like this is a huge mistake. Since both were accessible under the Windows Live login, why not just merge them under a single brand and then work on integrating features, rather than chucking the baby out with the bath water? The ability to remote to my home PC running (interesingly) Windows 7 HOME "Premium" (which does not have native Remote Desktop) was essential to me. There were no issues with the fact that I have a few PCs which are NAT'd, and I did not have to turn to some paid or ad-driven 3rd party application with limitations. I also relied heavily on Mesh's ability to just SYNC my files (to the cloud or to another PC) from from where Windows intended them to be ("My Documents", anyone?) without having to drag them into Skydrive's bins. And I also didn't have to think about file size limitations and whether every movie or database I've created is under the 2Gb limit.

Maybe if Skydrive included the remoting functionality and had the ability for your Skydrive folders to be the SAME as your Windows personal folders (under your profile... My Docs, My Pics, My Videos, My Music... ) without the small file size limitations, I could swallow this bitter pill a little more easily.

What will happen to the IE Favorites Sync?  This feature is so useful across multiple computers!   Is it done?

I dont understand what microsoft is trying to do. i have been a loyal microsoft user forever. i've had windows phones since ce and i just made my whole office switch to windows 8. Why do you keep getting rid of features that work? why not just combine live mesh with skydrive and offer the features of both? Why simplify things that have proven to work and are popular with your customers just to try and grab market share from competitors who are only sad copies of your own model? live mesh is the best product besides office that you offer. it saves time from backing up and synchronizing devices. i personally have 6 computers and they all use live mesh. my business runs because of live mesh. im at the point where im getting disgusted with your company. you make your customers jump through hoops for no reason. the reason live mesh never caught on is because you have never advertised it. i stumbled on it and realized how powerful it is. your marketing of good products is terrible and it has allowed companies with inferior software to grab market share. why do i have to read instructions to use a simple product. it should be intuitive for the user. it took me 20 min and 10 websites just to figure out how to minimize windows on windows 8. in windows phone you took out all the great features that made it simple too. copy paste, file explorer. the start menu, selecting multiple files. i can only add one phone number per contact for a particular category. what if someone has multiple mobile phones? i can't even choose which phone to text to. you guys are dumbing down the tech to match apple when instead you should be building on what you already have and leveraging that. in addition , you need a better marketing team to advertise your products better. every commercial i see is about windows 8 and the surface when you should be touting your software and its abilities. and then how many damn websites does it take to advertise for one company? there's office and outlook and microsoft and hotmail and who knows what  else. it should be one site that clearly navigates to all of the products in a clear and concise way with better descriptions to detail each product. truthfully, i have been fighting and marketing windows products for years and ive always been a loyal user. if you guys get rid of live mesh, without incorporating the features into skydrive, i'm gone. This is my last straw. i've invested so much money and time into your company and i dont feel like you guys really are concerned with user feedback. The fact that in this article, you, Microsoft, would actually refer us to use other company's products just show me how far the company has declined and it doesn't seem like you care. you are about to lose 25000 people who actually use your product to chase an app that people have downloaded and found lacking. who cares about cloud storage if i cant even access all of my files? and to have to pay even more money that still wont cover all of my file storage needs seems silly when now i can access everything from anywhere with no limits. you guys are so close if you would just stay with what works and incorporate better products vs eliminating great ones. who makes these decisions? it seems like no one is driving the ship. no proactivtity just reacting to the market.......late. hopefully someone in charge will read all of these comments and actually do something about it. to me customer retention is just as important as getting new business being that you dont have to sell them as hard because they already believe and have invested. I run a web development business and it gives me the chance to try most of the products on the market. i still believe in Microsoft but im becoming jaded with every new disappointment. i remember when microsoft used to steer and create the market vs react to it. just my 4 cents.

David Kornfield, thanks for your reply. I really don't agree with Microsoft's decision to shut Mesh down, but I appreciate that you're taking the time to address our concerns.

Last night, I switched my main computer from mesh to a combination of SkyDrive and cubby, and here are my thoughts:

First, the 2gb file size limit on SkyDrive is an unnecessary hindrance. While I don't have many 2GB+ files, I occasionally make video tutorials for courses that I TA that run afoul of this limit, so I had to put these files in a separate directory that syncs with cubby and not SkyDrive. Bottom line, though, it's my 7GB (plus whatever extra I pay for), so limiting how I use my space after Mesh has shown me that there are no real technical reasons for this file size limit is frankly anti-consumer.

Second, I found a utility called SkyShell Ex that allows me to sync files to Skydrive from any directory by automatically setting up the Symlinks and adding a useful "Sync to Skydrive" option in the right-click menu for files. I don't see why Microsoft couldn't build this feature directly into Skydrive. If it's just a matter of setting up SymLinks, it seems like a summer programming intern could add this feature in less than a day for both PC and Mac versions of Skydrive, and it would really improve SkyDrive's usefulness.

Third, the revision history in Cubby is really great and almost makes up for the lack of remote desktop found in Mesh. It's just a shame Mesh and Skydrive never added that feature in since it's really useful for working with documents and increases the amount of cloud storage consumers need (i.e. more revenue for Microsoft through Skydrive subscriptions).

Fourth, I think killing Mesh in favor of Skydrive is bad for your developer ecosystem and users alike. There are already tons of basic file-sync services out there that work on Windows, Mac, and mobile platforms (i.e. Box, Dropbox, etc). By keeping Skydrive, Microsoft is opting to compete directly against these developers, thereby taking revenue away from potential partners while not improving the lives of its users. Mesh, however, offers a variety of unique features that even Microsoft admits it will take at least two different software packages to replace (or three such as cubby, logmein, and skydrive if you want P2P, remote desktop, and the ability to access your files on Windows RT). The ease of use and stability of Mesh makes it great for productivity and group work and, if properly marketed, would probably be a boon to enterprise, businesses, and students alike. Finally, keeping Mesh would push companies like Dropbox and Box to improve their feature sets and lead to innovations that would really improve everyone's Windows cloud experience.

I have used Mesh to sync files with my family. F.eks. helping my older parents with different computer works and files, I just added it in a folder on my computer that would sync with Mesh to a folder on their desktop. So they easy could get to them. And if they wanted to send my anything the just put it in that folder.

Now, i tried to share a folder with my parents, on Skydrive. They got a nice email with a link, but gould not get a my folder localy, the need to log into skydrive.com to view it, and download it as a .zip file, if the want the whole thing, or download one and one file... This is not easy for older people that is not used to understand computers and all the new changes. It was much easyer when it was only one folder on their Desktop, with their name on it.

I could also remote help them, without using thirdparty apps, like teamviewer og logmein.

The ability to sync directly, and not use my storege in Skydrive, is also a great thing. Many files I have, I do not need to be in the cloud, but only localy on my computer, in the right folder... not only in the Skydrive folder.

I hope you (Microsoft) befor Mesh will be officially retired on February 13, 2013, will make Skydrive the best colud service there is. With the features of Mesh!! All my computers and devices are Microsoft... Have liked the idea about one ecosystem. My new Nokia 920 is great!! But it would be greater if it had some of the Mesh features also in the Skydrive app. Please make Skydrive better with the things we have commented on this page.

Nooooo... I use Mesh everyday to sync my desktop and tons of other random application workspace directories, Office and IE settings outside my skydrive folder. I don't need these on the cloud because

-I don't need application specific workspace files

-I don't need my desktop files

on computers that I don't own. They don't have the same applications installed. This is a WASTE of my cloud quota.

Also with Mesh there was no need to mess around with routers and install logmein which is just another nuisance.

*obviously I care enough about mesh to join this blog just to post this.*

I use SkyDrive for cloud file storage (for my Windows Phone and Surface RT mainly) but keep Mesh for remote desktop.

Does Microsoft really have no plan to add the remote desktop functionality to SkyDrive?

LogMeIn Free supports neither full-resolution access nor clipboard / file transfers (as Mesh does).  The SkyDrive remote file access bit is neat, but often I use the Mesh remote desktop to process files on a more powerful desktop before transferring them (e.g. resize photos or recode videos before transferring).  That would require LogMeIn Pro, which is $70 per computer per year, whereas Mesh lets me access all my PCs at no cost.

Windows' built-in RDP essentially doesn't work across the internet (NAT boundaries etc.), so that's fairly useless.

For syncing favorites with SkyDrive, how about the steps mentioned here: answers.microsoft.com/.../3c23fb8f-7f61-4857-8352-06b081a403ce

- Install SkyDrive desktop app (http://apps.live.com)

- Make a folder "Favorites" in SkyDrive.

- Open C:\Users\ in File Explorer (formerly known as Windows Explorer)

- Right click Favorites folder and click Properties.

- In location tab, type C:\Users\\SkyDrive\Favorites  and click Move.

(presuming both Windows 8 and SkyDrive app are installed in C drive. Otherwise change the drive letter accordingly.)

Follow these steps for Windows 8:

- Install SkyDrive desktop app (http://apps.live.com)

- Make a folder "Favorites" in SkyDrive.

- Open "C:\Users\{Your username}\" in File Explorer (formerly known as Windows Explorer)

- Right click Favorites folder and click Properties.

- In location tab, type "C:\Users\{Your username}\SkyDrive\Favorites"  and click Move.

presuming both Windows 8 and SkyDrive app are installed in C drive. Otherwise change the drive letter accordingly.

Wow...clearly poor marketing and a missed opportunity.  I'm ready to pay for it with my sky drive storage, but without the feature set, I'm probably moving.

Hello David,

I just wanted to make sure that I had put in writing my disappointment with this decision to shut down mesh. Many years ago now, I took part in numerous direct consultations which what used to be the 'Cloud Computing' team in MS Corp. Strategy, and had access to several early pre-release versions of mesh. Through the years I had, with great satisfaction, seen Mesh develop into the vision we had back then discussed. Skydrive is a wonderful product too, and I had great hopes that the merging of Mesh and SD would bring the best of both worlds.

As others have mentioned though, many Mesh features will be missed, but for me notably the syncing of any folder. This was the killer feature of Mesh, and having thing in one Skydrive folder just does not work. Furthermore, the data I kept in sync with Mesh crushed the disk space online.

You have helpfully suggested Cubby, which I will now investigate to replace Mesh, with great disappointment; I sincerely hope this decision will be reviewed until all the features of Mesh are included in SD. Sadly, I realistically don't hold hope any for this happening.

If there are additional ways in which it would be useful to express our concerns with regards to this issue, please do let us know, I would be more than happy to push these concerns further. Thanks.

I stay with ALL other users.

Please, I need a combination of Mesh and SD. Why change what works well?

I don't want to hack in a "DOS" windows to sync other folders in SD. It's so old and puzzling.

Please. I'm a Microsoft user. I care.

For P2P file synchronisation try Cubby (www.cubby.com) - work very much like the live mesh. Some cloud storage is included but I only use the P2P - currently free

Logmein Basic is free and works well. I've been using it for years to connect to my home PC from work as our firewall blocks RDP to remote sites. Pro has nice extra features but standard is enough for me.

Dear David,

This is extremely disappointing. I use remote desktop feature of Live Mesh exclusively. Where I am supposed to remote desktop to now when I want to access my home desktop? I cannot connect to work from outside without Live Mesh because the remote desktop is disabled by university network people. Why killing such a good thing - such a GREAT thing? I don't see any value in skydrive. Dropbox is till much more convinient to use.

@David

First, thank you for communicating with your users. I started using Mesh when is beta  as Windows Live Mesh. It was a really slick program and had a really nice web interface! I continued using with the transition to Live Mesh and the “SkyDrive Synced Storage”. I do agree that it is a good idea to combine functionality into a single program. I did like the remote desktop functionality but can find other solutions to replace that functionality. The addition of remote file access is a worthy trade-off for losing remote desktop support. Thank you for adding selective folder synchronization! These are a great start but there is still missing functionality versus the Mesh client. With Live Mesh is being discontinued, please bring some of the functionality from it into the SkyDrive client.

Features still needed:

- Peer-to-peer (not in SkyDrive) syncing of folders

  - Very useful for local sharing and synchronizing of large content within a household or network where bandwidth utilization and speed of synchronization does not fit within the current SkyDrive client usage model.

- Arbitrary synced folder location

   - Desired functionality would be to choose any current folder on a computer and synchronize to SkyDrive or (an)other computer(s). This would also allow you to select where on the computer you would like to synchronize a current SkyDrive (sub)folder.

- Sync shared folders

   - The desktop client should be able to synchronize with folders shared with you by others (either through the cloud or peer-to-peer)

   - This is a must for collaboration using SkyDrive

SkyDrive seems to be going in the right direction but does need the functionality of that Mesh and other services have. Unless some of these features are added to SkyDrive client, I’m afraid there will be people switching to SugarSync, Cubby, or other services.

Thanks

Jared Pickerell

David, "2)  Many seem to like Cubby for Peer to Peer syncing as well.  The DirectSync feature is very similar to that of Mesh’s so you do not have to sync to the cloud and can share as much information between PCs as you would like."

...direct peer to peer syncing has now been removed from the free version of Cubby!! ....so not a viable alternative to Mesh I'm afraid! ...any other suggestions?!

No, Greatmarko, directsync is still running in cubby, at least as I read before the installation. No later than yesterday.

What is the Solution for sync Outlook Sig and IE Fav? - I enjoy this in Mesh regarding Win7 - So what do I use now, without using Win 8.

@ilgrillo Cubby's pricing page now lists its P2P feature, DirectSync, as only available in the Pro version. I'm not spending $84/yr on Cubby for P2P sync. Maybe the feature is still available for free, but I'm not going to take the time to switch to a sync app that wants to charge me a premium to use my own storage.

Fail! Thanks for the "not invented here" mentality Windows Team!  Let's make something different and phase out the features people actually need.  

1. PC to PC syncing

2. easy RDP work to home and vice versa

Didn't Live Sync get replaced by Live Mesh?  Now SkyDrive replaces Live Mesh?  Can we finally settle on a single technology and naming.  I know let's replace it with Skype Drive in a couple years.

Sheesh.

For me, Skydrive fails to deliver in some important points:

1. Syncing ANY folder i want, not only the "skydrive" labeled folder on my pc and subfolders - LiveMesh does that

2. Syncing Pc to Pc without having everything in the cloud - LiveMesh does that

(And due to that a information which device syncs which folders - LiveMesh does that)

3. Managing the folders I share with others without a web-browse - something LiveMesh didn´t do too

The RemoteDesktop functionality from LiveMesh is nice but not necesarry for me.

Syncing Internet Explorer favorites and Office settings as LiveMesh does is something that i would have expected to be done natively on Windows 8.

Since most of the features requested by the majority here have already been available with LiveMesh, I really hope that they will be ported to skydrive and finally make it a satisfying synchronization solution.

New users who don´t know what they could have had with LiveMesh may be sattified with skydrive as it is but - I think - to keep us former LiveMesh users skydrive needs to improve!

@jimjmc: Thanks, I've read it now. You're right about Cubby's pricing.

It's hard to accept that there are only 25.000 users for Live Mesh. I personally manage 7 accounts. The feature of synchronizing folders without using Cloud Storage is the best feature. This helps protect data in case of stolen laptop.

Why are you killing this project and let Cubby replace your product?

Please keep Live Mesh alive!! (or change the name to Dead Mesh)

Well, this is deeply disappointing.  Live Mesh was M$'s killer app for me.  And this is a move that defies all logic and shows M$ has no interest in how their customers actually use their computers anymore.  Microsoft has apparently decided to try and become Apple: a total loss for end users.

Your users have been telling you for months that we need peer to peer sync, that Mesh was the best in class of all the cloud sync services.  But what do you decide to do?  Neuter the service and give it a childish interface.

Sure, I'll keep my Skydrive account for some backup, but I won't have the app wasting cpu cycles on my machine.

I guess I should say thanks for all the years you provided a truly superior and useful product, but this is so disheartening, so obviously counter to your users very vocal feedback, it's difficult to have anything nice to say to M$ at this time.  So instead I'll just congratulate you on a job well done driving customers away and providing even more reason for power users and admins to speak ill of you.

This is a massive step backwards.  I use both, SkyDrive mainly for photos packup, and Mesh for all of my confidential work files between 3 computers that I do not want in the cloud.  SkyDrive does not suit all my requirements.  I would be very disappointed to see the peer to peer functionality removed.   This seems like Microsoft are forcing me to put all my files in one folder (SkyDrive) and purchase more skydrive space that I don't actually need.  

I simply can not believe that there are only 25,000 Mesh users.  If Mesh had had the same marketing as SkyDrive,  I'm sure there would be many millions of Mesh users.  

I know that MS thinks that they know what is best for the customer, but I find it very frustrating and annoying that an excellent program that I use to provide non-cloud data redundancy between 6 computers has been "replaced" with a less than capable option.  I think Skydrive is cool for what it does, but overall useless to me for what it does not do.  P2P sync in place is THE feature I need.  I even bothered to create an account just to get my frustration heard. MS-SNAFU.  

-Shawn in Alaska

Live Mesh was much much better than Skydrive:

-EASY Remote Desktop - you just click and you're in so long as the app is installed on 2 PCs.  Now?  I have utterly no idea how to get my Surface Tablet to use the Remote Desktop app to log in to my PC.  No clue.  Live Mesh - one click and you're in.  Surface / Windows 8? No clue at all.  And that's being kind.

-Synchronize files between 2 PCs through the cloud, not IN the cloud.  That difference made all the difference.  If I synchronized a folder of pictures, I knew it was completely available at my home PC and on my laptop, so that if I had no internet connection, which is still often the case, those pictures would be there when I needed them.  Now with Skydrive? That's not the case.

-Skydrive itself has no method to reliably geotag pictures, which has nothing to do with Live Mesh, but still, it's a frustrating limitation for those of us who want to know the exact location a picture was taken (The Friendly's on International Drive parking lot in Orlando, NOT just "Orlando, FL" as we are limited to in Live Photo Gallery, and there's utterly no ability to do anything on Surface's Photo app).

Until I see EASY Remote Desktop - as in, 1-click and I'm in, and offline file replication, and detailed geotagging, I'm not moving to Windows 8 or utilizing Skydrive for much of anything.  Those are dealbreakers.

Like many others here, I think Microsoft is removing some much-needed functionality here.  The Remote Desktop function of Mesh allowed users to connect to remote machines without having to mess with firewalls, or having problems with NAT aaddresses.  It allowed me to help people across town or half-way around the world.  It also gave back functionality that had been removed from the most common versions of Windows.  You mention Remote Desktop as an alternative, but most OEMs shipped with home versions of Windows that didn't have this option, so Mesh was the way to go.  Now, we'll have no way to connect to these machines.  Many others have also noted the ability to sync anything across multiple machines without the need to pay for cloud storage, or to move the data to a special folder.  I really hope Microsoft finds a way to keep these things before retiring Mesh.  IMHO, to do otherwise would be a step backward.

Derek

Super sad about this. I Need to sync folders between users on multiple computers, downloading / uploading zips through a web-browser is super-annoying. I cannot express my rage at this moment! why would you throw away a good product that is loved by 25,000+ people?

So basically it's "We are excited to announce that we're replacing an old product that everyone liked with a new one that does vastly less but will be heavily promoted."  

LogMeIn just announced a cloud storage service that seems to do what Mesh did.  MS is now so far behind in this market that it may be too late.  How long will people wait to see if anything happens with SkyDrive, especially since MS has nothing to say?

I'm so disappointed with Microsoft.  I bought into a franchise and Microsoft is not sticking up to their end of the bargain.   I have even bought into Surface RT, and this change will kill the platform for me.  

The crazy thing is Microsoft is featuring Skydrive.  The new Skydrive isn’t even as powerful as Dropbox.  

Microsoft is to 2013 as IBM is to 1981.

I’m returning the Surface and going to pick up an iPad, at least you can get the software you need.

Hi David,

Call me cynical but i feel the only reason to move to cloud storage as default is financial.  Like many others, I sync large amounts of data between PCs using Mesh.  However, if I were to use skydrive, I would have to pay a large premium for access to that amount of online storage space.  By removing Mesh, you force people into using and PAYING for skydrive.  However, it seems you have made a pretty significant oversight - skydrive just isn't as easy to use or accessible as dropbox.  Its clumsy and feature poor.

So I predict, all you will achieve is the retirement of one product with a signifcant proportion of users moving to your rivals products.  I hope I am proved wrong, but for a large company to treat its users with such contempt, I hope I am correct in my prediction.

I also have real issues with storing some of my personal data online.  There are constantly reports of large companies losing users personal data, and i'm sure Microsoft isn't immune to this.  By forcing cloud storage, you are once again dictating how a user should use a service.  I should not be placed in a position where I have to put all of my data online to access it on another PC - I should be able to choose which files I want Microsoft to 'look after' for me.

Corporations become too large to succeed when they feel they can dictate what a user wants from a product.  Innovation should always be led by what customers want - anything else and you will alienate the very people you require to succeed.  Poorly written statements from Microsoft attempting to justify this change only make the situation worse - honesty may actually be the way forward here..."Dear users, we have conducted a strategic review and are retiring Mesh as we can make more money from charging you to buy storage space on Skydrive (but please don't switch to dropbox)"

And here's my final tip for you(!) - maybe you should integrate Mesh into the skydrive package, if only to set it above rivals such as dropbox, who have a far superior and professional product, and to provide a feature that is actually difficult to find in many other products.

Rant over.

I don't need everything that was in Mesh.  We've already gotten 'selective sync'.  The one thing that is absolutely not gonna fly is the requirement that everything be in the SkyDrive folder - that's a complete deal-breaker and makes SkyDrive useless for serious backup.  

If Microsoft would just announce whether they intend to add synchronization of arbitrary folders and drives, I could decide whether to wait, or move on to a competing product.  All I'd need is a statement of intent.  Not even a promised date. Just a simple statement - is SkyDrive going to become a backup service, or remain just a way to share Office documents?

David Kornfield , it seems like there's a small but dedicated contigent of Mesh users hear who are very interested in the product's future. Is there any way you can put us in touch with someone on the Sky Drive or Mesh teams so that we can directly express our concerns?

Hello David,

I use 2 mesh accounts simultaneously to sync folders on 5 computers.  One account to sync a folder with others  that I collaborate with and another another account to sync personal folders.  I enjoy the fact that synced folders and sub folders remain at their current place with no need to move them for example as SkyDrive.  Peer to peer syncing is what I need because these are large files.  I do not feel comfortable having certain files stored on a cloud but need to access them on each of my computers.  I also use remote desktop and remote to my computer at work when I am away.  I've been using microsoft products on all of my computers at home and at my business.  All of the features and reliability of Windows Live Mesh has made my life much easier.  Now that Microsoft is deciding to pull the plug, it has got me scrambling to find another product that is suitable before it goes out.  

Why would Microsoft offer a product that people has been using for years and then pull the plug, replace it with another product that is of no comparison, and leave its users to hang out in the cold.  It would be understandable to replace a product with another one that can perform the same functions plus additional features but to replace it with one that is deficient is beyond me.  Does Microsoft not know of all the troubles and inconveniences that its current users will begin to experience at the cut off date?  If SkyDrive is unable to do what Windows Live Mesh can then PLEASE leave Mesh alone.  I hope that Microsoft shows that they really do care about their customers and that it's not about all the money that they will be making off of SkyDrive that would make them be willing to leave their customers hanging with an inferior product.  I'm extremely disappointed and will be thinking carefully about obtaining and products from Microsoft in the future if Mesh is unplugged without a comparable or better product.  Please, please, please leave Mesh alone.  Thank you.

Until SkyDrive supports PC sync of SHARED folders, it's effectively useless for me. It's a real shame, I've stuck with mesh for years and now it's being killed by an inferior "product."

Looks like I'll have to move to Google Drive or Cubby for file sync and TeamViewer for remote control.

Microsoft retired Live Mesh and didn't replace the most brilliant feature of it. Remote desktop. The solution was awesome to help relatives living about 8,000km away from me (in a different country).

It was brilliant, because had the client app, where once configured, it was easy to connect to help them fixing something in the computer. The folder sync was very useful as well, since we used to share pictures, but this feature I have many options available (box, dropbox, etc), but the only option to replace is Logmein, but logmein doesn't work as a windows remote desktop. It has a horrible resolution, and when working with multiple monitors is not easy/straight forward as with Live Mesh.

I REALLY hope that Microsoft add the remote desktop feature to Live Essentials, because they are killing an unique product.

Ah! Yes, I know that I could use the real remote desktop (mstsc.exe), but the challenges to configure the network is so big, that is quite impossible to do it when you are thousands of kilometers away... Also, I don't think that it works with their home edition.

I don't know if Microsoft monitor these comments. If does, please listen to what people are saying.

Sweet baby Jesus, can you please bring back the computer syncing abilities and remote desktop abilities of Windows Live Mesh?  

I honestly don't give a flip about SkyDrive's cloud storage.  All the students at my university use Dropbox.  Now we've moved on to Mega.  We don't need yet-another-cloud.  

How on earth can MS be so oblivious to these problems?  You have a perfectly working program that does exactly what users want, and you are taking it away??  WHY????  Skydrive is *NOT* a replacement of live mesh.  David, please tell us what's going on.  Is it that much to ask for you to leave Live Mesh running?  It doesn't require further upgrades or support, but let us live with it as it is.

I agree with the other comments. MS is indeed taking a step back and providing a crippled service. Very disappointing. Shame on MS

I agree that I was a little disappointed with the change. I am not against using SkyDrive, in face I support the change. But I am unhappy that the items I link together do not automatically sync their update when I am connected to the internet. I loved being able to work on my laptop and when I was finished, save. shut down, go home, and the update was already there.  No manual moving around.