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Automatic document synchronization? Dropbox integration? Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
DropDAV now costs. Omni, now is the time to get DropBox support at it's basic level into your apps. You can no longer point to DropDAV as a solution without a cost involved. Thousands of productivity apps support DropBox with no synching. Why premium price products like OO and OG do not support DropBox is a question that is now critical.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by joelande View Post

[Really, I don't get why Apple, who is so successful at so many things, and has total control over the OS, can't make iDisk — a paid service (and not cheap!) — work as good as, if not better than DropBox...it seems they do far more complicated things far more elegantly... But I have tried and tried and tried, and it just fails miserably in comparison]
Apple just built a billion dollar data center in NC. My bet is we see this change pretty quickly. They, of all companies, get the cloud and post PC thing.

On sync -

Fortunately Omni has done this well as evidenced by the OF experience with seamless syncing at the record level on multiple platforms. We need to do the same thing on OO - especially on OO - which has the potential to be even more of a collaboration tool than others. I'd also like to see it integrate to some degree with OF. For example, select a cell in OO and have it turned into an action in OF.

J.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by joelande View Post
[Really, I don't get why Apple, who is so successful at so many things, and has total control over the OS, can't make iDisk — a paid service (and not cheap!) — work as good as, if not better than DropBox...it seems they do far more complicated things far more elegantly... But I have tried and tried and tried, and it just fails miserably in comparison]
It's not their core thing, it's not the ONLY thing they do day in and day out and it's not key to their business model, however who knows what's coming over the hill with 10.7
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnJ80 View Post
Apple just built a billion dollar data center in NC.
<sarcasm>
Yes, and according to the "press", wait I mean people who have access to web publishing (and because we all know what Apple is going to do), it is going to solve all problems that Apple has for ever and ever:

The NC data center is going to magically make MobileMe not suck, and everything will be free, and it have a new online app suite that beats Google Docs, and it is going to provide free 5G wireless service to everybody nationwide (why offer 4 when 5 is so much better). Additionally by year's end, the new NC data center is even going to turn all of our iPad 2 displays into retina display iPads. The Apple NC data center will also, for the first time in the company's history, allow Apple to stream every single movie and TV show ever produced in the history of all time.

Because the NC data center is cool, Apple has found a way to offer all of these great and innovative services at no cost to end users.

The NC data center solves all
</sarcasm>

Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnJ80 View Post
They, of all companies, get the cloud ...EDIT... thing.
That has certainly not been my experience and observation. If anything, I think "cloud services" is the one thing Apple has never really understood or executed well.

Last edited by joelande; 2011-05-20 at 08:16 AM..
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by joelande View Post
That has certainly not been my experience and observation. If anything, I think "cloud services" is the one thing Apple has never really understood or executed well.
The implementation has not been seamless but neither has it been anywhere else. There is not a dominant standard for this yet and there needs to be.

Apple does get the importance and impact of the cloud over pretty much anyone else. That's why I think they will address this - they have to. No one else has even remotely come close to solving it on a soup to nuts basis either.

J.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnJ80 View Post
There is not a dominant standard for this yet and there needs to be.
Well DropBox is pretty close when it comes to accessing documents and building an ecosystem that third parties can tie into.

And Google Docs, Mail, Calendaring is fairly ubiquitous in those areas.


Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnJ80 View Post
Apple does get the importance and impact of the cloud over pretty much anyone else.
I think they are just starting to, although I don't think I agree the statement more than anyone else.

I think the iOS ecosystem (and even the popularity of Google services) has influenced this, but I think this is a relatively recent revelation/change.

And I don't think that anyone can argue that this has always been Google's vision (everything in the cloud).

Amazon is a solid performer here as well, and not just with their recent music locker, and android store, or their Kindle service, or the rumored Andoid tablet that is making the headlines these days.

The online store itself is the start of this vision, and many of the items I purchase at the online store are available in a digital locker as well (and have been for years).

But they have had an even bigger (but most people don't know about) S3 service that drives many of the popular online services we use today, such as InstaPaper.

Not saying that those are necessarily the types of services to compare to MobileMe/DropBox, but as far as companies understanding "the impact of the cloud", I don't think Apple has been a forerunner in this area.


Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnJ80 View Post
That's why I think they will address this - they have to.
Don't get me wrong, I want them to address this. I hope they will address this. There are some indications that they will address this. It seems obvious, from so many angles...

All I am saying is:
1) given their track record, I will believe it when I see it
2) I don't understand, given how well they do everything else, how poor MobileMe sync (in general, and iDisk in particular) is...and its been that way for a long time. And you pay for it! [again, compared to DropBox]


I sure hope iOS 5 and/or Lion and/or iCloud.com and/or the NC data center bring great things to document and management soon.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by joelande View Post
Well DropBox is pretty close when it comes to accessing documents and building an ecosystem that third parties can tie into.

And Google Docs, Mail, Calendaring is fairly ubiquitous in those areas.
uh, no.

Every app has their own way of doing this. The majority of them that use Dropbox just create a folder at the main root level and that's it. No say on the user's part. Don't move it or else. Besides that, it's in a place I don't want to be. Heaven help me if I inadvertently move it on my desktop system.

I can't tell you how many times I've tried to get one app's data to another and come up against a road block. The whole thing is ridiculous in the extreme.

yeah, there are some players out there but nothing is even close to ubiquitous. That's the whole problem. Now I have files scatted over at least three different file storage system - Dropbox, Google Docs and MobileMe. To put a point on it, it's a cluster.

What it needs to be is something like a device wide file system that knows how to talk to a cloud based (industry standard) service. One Single Service of my choosing. Something that works on a file system basis as seamlessly as OF's syncing does cross platform.

Dropbox is a one of the players, but don't kid yourself that they are the end all/be all. They are not. All they are is a file storage site and are basically pretty iffy when it comes to app support in general. Yes, you can find apps that have Dropbox support, but that whole thing is pretty clunky - I have yet to see one that isn't to be truthful.

I use Dropbox and thought it pretty neat at the start - a stage I'd call "Dropbox Euphoria" but that has faded. Now, it's pretty much the same PITA the rest of them are.

J.
 
I have a Dropbox account - it's a great service and yes, handles file transfer better than the MobileMe account I also pay for. The Dropbox API being the best way to get at those files makes total sense. But I can't think of a reason (that serves their customers) for it being the only way that they provide.

Making those files accessible in third party apps is a two way street. And as we were reminded recently, when you upload files to any service you don't own, you don't know (and may not like) what they do with them tomorrow. Example: the recent changes to the Twitpic terms of service that asserted commercial rights over the content their customers uploaded. Folks have also raised privacy concerns regarding files stored on Dropbox.

Which is not to dismiss any of the concerns in this thread. I like Dropbox, I use it, and I can see why folks want it in our apps. I just hope that the folks here are also filing feature requests with Dropbox to make their files accessible through generic technologies. Support in our apps or no, it seems better for their customers.
 
Good points Brian.

And personally, I would love to not have to pay for and use DropBox anymore.

The only reason I do is because iDisk had such terribly slow and consistently unreliable performance, and I could no longer work effectively or efficiently.

At the same time, I don't see myself not paying for MobileMe, because of the other sync features it offers throughout the Apple Eco system.

So, here's to hoping that iOS 5 and improvements to Apple's cloud services offers some relief soon.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Case View Post
We’re exploring Dropbox integration, but just adding Dropbox to our existing “Import/Export” functionality probably isn’t what people are looking for—at least, I know it’s not what I’m looking for. What I really want is automatic syncing of edited documents, and Dropbox doesn’t make that easier or harder, it’s just another place in the cloud to sync to.

In other words, my priority is to get automatic syncing working (in all our apps), so it works with iDisk, Omni Sync Server, and other WebDAV servers. (And possibly also Dropbox.)
I use DropBox and OmniSync, in different situations. OmniSync is a great service for syncing my OmniFocus clients, so its continued development is importanty to me.
On the iPad I use GoodReader extensively as my work reference and 'Ready Use Locker'. It has the advantage of interfacing well with most iPad Apps and providing 'Links' that can be pasted into other Apps. It also syncs my OmniSync WebDav so all my files are available. On my Mac I mount the OmniSync Server so I have access to my data as well. As and added benefit my iWork docs can also be transferred/accessed on my OmniSync WebDav!

While syncing to DropBox would be great, a first step of syncing (vice upload/download) to OmniSync would be a great step forward for version control!

The current fly in the ointment is the formats that iPad OmniOutliner will accept (I can export simple HTML for transfer to word outlines, but not re-import them).

Love the App and using it extensively:)
 
 


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