Foldershare (now called Live Sync) and Live Mesh. These two Microsoft products seem to do the same thing.
What are the differences between them?
Which one do you use and why?
Does anybody know if Microsoft will keep supporting boths or if one of them is more "strategic" then the other?
Live Sync only lets you transfer files directly from one computer to another (the computer you're transferring from has to be running for this to happen). Live Mesh synchronises your files to a server, so you can access them via a web "desktop" and from other computers even when the computer they were transferred from is not running.
I tried both out as a way to sync files between my Windows 7 and OS X partitions. Live Sync was not suitable for the reason stated above. Live Mesh worked, but was overkill for my needs.
I see no reason why Microsoft should stop supporting either. Live Mesh may be more "strategic" because of the web/cloud based desktop it offers (although it is far from an OS).
Live Mesh has now absorbed Live Sync, so there is no comparison anymore.
Frankly, Live Sync offered better control over configuration and a way to see what was really going on during file transfers.
I miss both of those features, and I really don't want all the overhead of an integrated software package, since the remote desktop access is a joke. I get horrible performance with Live Mesh (refresh rates of up to 15 seconds) when both computers are on very high speed connections (15Mb down / 5Mb up). Logmein Free is far superior in my humble opinion.
It looks like Foldershare / Live Sync is a fully released product that allows you to share files between multiple computers and places.
Mesh on the other hand (remember it is in beta) looks like the next version of Live sync, basically it does the same thing, but with the addition of your online desktop and the fact that you can share folders with other people.
Basically, my guess is that when mesh comes out, they will either migrate people over, or just retired live sync.
