The required update we mentioned before, has now begun. Please accept the upgrade when prompted! During the upgrade process Live Mesh will be unavailable (yep, my Notifier has gone gray too). This update contains a number of fixes, and adds quite a few new features:

Version numbers

– Live Mesh software: 0.9.3424.5
– Live Desktop: 0.9.3424.2

Fixes

– The Live Mesh software’s conflict resolution dialog has been updated to be easier to use.
– Improved reliability and performance for peer-to-peer (P2P) sync, including fixes for a number of bugs that previously blocked P2P sync.
– The screen on a remote desktop is now hidden by default when you start a Live Mesh Remote Desktop session.
– The Live Mesh bar that appears alongside folders is now minimized by default, and will also remember the last state it was in (minimized vs. maximized) for each Live Mesh folder and show that state the next time you open the folder.
– Collection and presentation of Live Mesh news is improved.

Features

– “Get started” feature for new users. Quick tips on how to start using Live Mesh appear on the Live Desktop and when new users install the Live Mesh software. Great for friends and family you invite!
– Support for two-factor authentication (both domain password and smart card) with Live Mesh Remote Desktop. Customers can choose to enable authentication for Live Mesh Remote Desktop sessions on their network (which can also be managed via a global policy), or choose to disable the Live Mesh Remote Desktop functionality altogether.
– Better support for large monitors when connecting to remote computer. New “superpan” feature aids Live Mesh Remote Desktop users with super-sized and multiple-monitor setups.
– Permission levels for shared folders. You can now set permission levels for members of a shared folder. Permission levels include: creator, owner, contributor, and reader.
– P2P sync can be turned on from local device. It’s now possible to choose to sync a Live Mesh folder P2P (excluding the Live Desktop) from the local device.
– Better conflict resolution UI. You’ll see the same conflict resolution UI on your device that you see on the Live Desktop. Also, when resolving a conflict, you can now choose to keep either version of a file or all versions.
– Drag and drop for Live Desktop. You can drag and drop files between your Live Desktop and a local device. Note that this feature requires a Windows PC and Internet Explorer 6 or later.
– Multiple file upload to Live Desktop. You can now select and upload multiple files at the same time.
– New synchronization status indicators—both an icon in the notification area of the taskbar and a progress bar.
– Mac and Mobile. The technology preview versions of the Live Mesh software for Mac and Mobile have been released (see the Live Mesh blog for details).
– Auto-update for the Live Mesh software.

For a more detailed report on this upgrade read Service update: Beta and required client upgrade. An excerpt:

New features:

· New devices supported. We are delighted to release our client software for Mac OS X (10.5.1 or higher) and Windows Mobile (6.0 and 6.1). Because these are both significant new software investments for us, we’re going to only provide them on a limited basis for now (and mobile is restricted to only US or UK to start.) If you get a message saying that we’re at full capacity for these clients, keep an eye on the blog here. We’ll post updates as we increase availability over the coming months.

· To get access to the Mac client, sign in to www.mesh.com, click Add Device, and then click the “Limited Mac Tech Preview now available” link underneath the Install button. If we haven’t exceeded the limit for Mac clients, you’ll get a confirmation dialog, and then Mac will show up under the available list of devices when you choose Add Device from the ring.

· To get access to the Windows Mobile 6.x client, click on one of the following links (US residents, UK residents). Sign in with your LiveID, and you’ll be redirected to the device ring where you’ll see a link to “Use Live Mesh for mobile devices.” Alternately, once you’ve signed in this way, the mobile client should be available for download by pointing your phone’s browser to http://m.mesh.com

· Worldwide availability. We’ve removed the limits on what countries are able to sign up to use Live Mesh. We previously had limitations in place so that we could complete our testing with various language and locale settings, and now that work is indeed complete (with the caveat of course that for now the mobile client, as mentioned above, is not actually available worldwide).

· WAP access. Some of you already discovered that browsing http://m.mesh.com from your WAP-enabled phone gives you a lightweight way to view Mesh content (and, on phones that support it, upload new files.) We’re now making WAP an officially supported feature.

and more……

Feedback can be left as usual, through the online form, via Connect or on the Forums.

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Live Mesh: Required Update To Live Mesh Coming Next Week
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