iCloud’s Real Purpose is to Kill Windows • Hacker News Board

Re: iCloud’s Real Purpose is to Kill Windows

#21

Post by hnsmurf » Tue, Jun 07, 2011, 5:36 PM UTC

I don't get it. Most of what iCloud does is already being done on smartphones for free. Gmail and Exchange Server both already sync contacts, calendars, and email quite nicely across devices. I haven't had to manually transfer any of that to a new smartphone since long before there was an iPhone.

The music thing is nice too, but it's either a paid solution or an incomplete one. Apple once released a stat that only 10% of the music on iPods comes from iTunes (most of the rest is either pirated or ripped CDs).

Re: iCloud’s Real Purpose is to Kill Windows

#22

Post by Pewpewarrows » Tue, Jun 07, 2011, 5:40 PM UTC

dagar wrote: post #14

"Having been shown the way by Apple, I expect Google to shortly do the same thing, adding automated backup, synchronization and migration to Android and Chrome." Doesn't my android phone already do this?

Yes. But you forgot that WWDC is the time of year that Apple takes old technology and calls it new and magical when then release it on their ecosystem of products.

Re: iCloud’s Real Purpose is to Kill Windows

#23

Post by mdwrigh2 » Tue, Jun 07, 2011, 5:45 PM UTC

dagar wrote: post #14

"Having been shown the way by Apple, I expect Google to shortly do the same thing, adding automated backup, synchronization and migration to Android and Chrome." Doesn't my android phone already do this?

Yeah, and so does chrome (well, it can sync passwords, bookmarks, etc.)

I'm not sure what else the author wants Android and Chrome to sync. Application data? That's up to the authors of the application, just the same as it is with iCloud.

Re: iCloud’s Real Purpose is to Kill Windows

#24

Post by evilduck » Tue, Jun 07, 2011, 5:47 PM UTC

SoftwareMaven wrote: post #12

Total_Meltdown wrote: post #2

I think we need to realize that PCs (laptops or desktops) and mobile devices (tablets and mobile phones) are good at different things, and going forward will be used for different things. For example, I'm sure everyone (especially on this site) has noticed that software development is kind of a big thing. I don't see any indication that I'll be developing any software on a mobile device any time soon (especially not…

I mean, what do you use on a Mac to compose documents? Word. No. I use Pages (part of Apple's iWork) for almost everything. If I need Word comparability, I open LibreOffice. Given how seamless the iWork experience is becoming between iDevices (which will be including Macs), how much cheaper iWork is, and how much better the iWork user experience is (they don't have 20 years of feature-cruft littering the interface),…

Google Docs for me on OSX. The no-hassle availability anywhere without an install covers 95% of my document creation needs, the fact that everything's autosaved to the cloud and can be collaborated on, versioned, and exported keeps me coming back, and I don't have to worry about software version compatibility with anyone I share with which is a killer feature.

Anything that requires style or aesthetics gets drafted in Google Docs and then imported into Pages or Keynote for finishing touches, both of which are lightyears ahead of Word or Powerpoint in that regard (at least for 2007/Win 2008/OSX MS Office releases).

Re: iCloud’s Real Purpose is to Kill Windows

#25

Post by eropple » Tue, Jun 07, 2011, 5:47 PM UTC

SoftwareMaven wrote: post #12

Total_Meltdown wrote: post #2

I think we need to realize that PCs (laptops or desktops) and mobile devices (tablets and mobile phones) are good at different things, and going forward will be used for different things. For example, I'm sure everyone (especially on this site) has noticed that software development is kind of a big thing. I don't see any indication that I'll be developing any software on a mobile device any time soon (especially not…

I mean, what do you use on a Mac to compose documents? Word. No. I use Pages (part of Apple's iWork) for almost everything. If I need Word comparability, I open LibreOffice. Given how seamless the iWork experience is becoming between iDevices (which will be including Macs), how much cheaper iWork is, and how much better the iWork user experience is (they don't have 20 years of feature-cruft littering the interface),…

No. I use Pages (part of Apple's iWork) for almost everything. If I need Word comparability, I open LibreOffice.

And if you need to do something remotely complex, neither works. Pages is decent for the very baseline word processing; OpenOffice is good for very little of anything.

The overwhelming majority of people use Office because what you call "cruft" is what other people call "important".

Re: iCloud’s Real Purpose is to Kill Windows

#26

Post by tomelders » Tue, Jun 07, 2011, 5:48 PM UTC

This article is the ramblings of a mad man.

Re: iCloud’s Real Purpose is to Kill Windows

#27

Post by DanI-S » Tue, Jun 07, 2011, 5:49 PM UTC

zipdog wrote: post #18

I question whether owning someone's data is really as valuable to cloud providers as the article assumes. Not that data isn't valuable, but if it becomes critically valuable and the companies refused to allow users to reclaim it to move to another service, I imagine a law would fix the problem. Facebook has recognised that it isn't the data per-se that is so valuable, but the connections and relationships that are be…

This definitely seems true - which is interesting, since Apple and Google have both been floundering around unsuccessfully trying to create their own community experiences.

Facebook & co are really the prize here - whichever OS company can integrate the most deeply with existing social networks is going to come out on top. If either one of them can let go of the dream of having their own social network, they'll be able to move faster and get the edge.

I suspect that Google are more attached to that dream than Apple. However, they're arguably more capable of pulling it off.

Re: iCloud’s Real Purpose is to Kill Windows

#28

Post by georgieporgie » Tue, Jun 07, 2011, 5:51 PM UTC

What a load of inflammatory hogwash. iPhone/iPod/iPad + 'Cloud' is so far removed from Microsoft's core market, I can't even imagine how one would come to this conclusion.

As for consumer trends leading corporate trends, I guess that means that in five years we'll all be employed as {whatever}ville click-slaves on Facebook.

Re: iCloud’s Real Purpose is to Kill Windows

#29

Post by MatthewPhillips » Tue, Jun 07, 2011, 5:52 PM UTC

mdwrigh2 wrote: post #23

dagar wrote: post #14

"Having been shown the way by Apple, I expect Google to shortly do the same thing, adding automated backup, synchronization and migration to Android and Chrome." Doesn't my android phone already do this?

Yeah, and so does chrome (well, it can sync passwords, bookmarks, etc.) I'm not sure what else the author wants Android and Chrome to sync. Application data? That's up to the authors of the application, just the same as it is with iCloud.

I want to meet the web developer that isn't already "syncing" data on the server vs. the client.

Re: iCloud’s Real Purpose is to Kill Windows

#30

Post by cwp » Tue, Jun 07, 2011, 5:52 PM UTC

georgieporgie wrote: post #28

What a load of inflammatory hogwash. iPhone/iPod/iPad + 'Cloud' is so far removed from Microsoft's core market, I can't even imagine how one would come to this conclusion. As for consumer trends leading corporate trends, I guess that means that in five years we'll all be employed as {whatever}ville click-slaves on Facebook.

Speaking of inflammatory hogwash...