Longing for a break

Microsoft have begun testing their entry into ‘Cloud Computing’, Windows Live Mesh, for which I was just granted access as a part of the public beta.  It’s quite a simple technology by the looks of things, essentially joining multiple devices (even Mac is going to be supported) to an online file store.  Windows Live Mesh, and devices you choose to add to it, automatically synchronise their files when you store something within a Live Mesh folder.

My first thoughts are these:

• Easily understood concept of folders with Vista’s Aero interface (sorry, no Aero Glass)
• I can add a folder quite easily.  My first go at this was to drag my training program work folders over the new live mesh folder in Vista.  For some reason the .docx word document created a folder rather than uploading the .docx file itself.
• Can’t currently drag-n-drop.  You really need to make sure things go up as you want them as if you want to drag something from one folder to another the whole upload needs to happen again.  Even on a broadband connection that can take time if you’re uploading anything other than small files.
• For some reason I couldn’t view my laptop via a remote desktop, I am wondering if that’s coz I was accessing via the laptop, or whether there’s just a problem there?  Beta?

I played the other day with another sort of online storage, this was far easier to use.  With the other one I uploaded a file, but I had not visual feedback as to the progress of that upload.  With Windows Live Mesh there is a sidebar that tells you that you have uploaded 20.1MB of 23MB, no progress bar mind you.

So my first impressions are that this shows some promise, but I think some work still needs to occur to make this a truly usable experience.  Drag-n-drop needs to be more intelligent, you shouldn’t need to upload another copy of something just because it moves folders, it should have some mechanism for saying that this file has moved folders, do so at the other end.  But it is beta, so anything is possible yet.  Wonder if it will be a perpetual beta as seems to be flavour of the decade?