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Why is this Mac specific? This is exactly the sort of feature that must be cross platform. Does Apple really think it will have a monopoly in the years ahead?
Huh? What does that have to do with this at all?
Why is this Mac specific? This is exactly the sort of feature that must be cross platform. Does Apple really think it will have a monopoly in the years ahead?
I don't agree that cross-platform is a requirement. For example, I haven't touched a Windows-only PC in years. Also, Dropbox can't sort out access control precisely because it is cross-platform. That's just one example of many downsides of supporting all major platforms.
If you make it cross platform, you make it easier to be a lingua franca of sharing between loosely connected people. Dropbox is handy for sharing project files between consultants and clients, for example.
OTOH, if you make it platform-specific, you can make it a better experience for people who use it to synchronize their own files or between closely connected people such as colleagues on a team that have a single standard OS.
The whole thing seems analogous to Apple’s strategy for integrating hardware and software. It sacrifices “interoperability” for just being better. I suspect a lot of the same arguments apply here.
I thought this was a, like standard feature of iCloud. I mean, the slogan is: "Your content. On all your devices.".
I think the reason for confusion is just... so few apps support it yet. Not even iWork on the Mac supports it yet, I don't think.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't agree that cross-platform is a requirement. For example, I haven't touched a Windows-only PC in years. Also, Dropbox can't sort out access control precisely because it is cross-platform. That's just one example of many downsides of supporting all major platforms.
This is one of those classic forks in the road. If you make it cross platform, you make it easier to be a lingua franca of sharing between loosely connected people. Dropbox is handy for sharing project files between consultants and clients, for example. OTOH, if you make it platform-specific, you can make it a better experience for people who use it to synchronize their own files or between closely connected people s…
Then it becomes an issue of trust – who is putting more skin in the game to protect my assets? Dropbox has always had a problem establishing trust for users like me who absolutely cannot afford any negligent gaffes like leaving my account open to accept any password for a few hours. On the other hand, Apple has a very short track-record as a manager of a big, shared data repository open to the general public.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't agree that cross-platform is a requirement. For example, I haven't touched a Windows-only PC in years. Also, Dropbox can't sort out access control precisely because it is cross-platform. That's just one example of many downsides of supporting all major platforms.
This is one of those classic forks in the road. If you make it cross platform, you make it easier to be a lingua franca of sharing between loosely connected people. Dropbox is handy for sharing project files between consultants and clients, for example. OTOH, if you make it platform-specific, you can make it a better experience for people who use it to synchronize their own files or between closely connected people s…
Or an incentive to stick with Dropbox if you think you might want a heterodox solution.
I thought this was a, like standard feature of iCloud. I mean, the slogan is: "Your content. On all your devices.".
It is. And "Documents and Data" is just a wrapper term to mean "App Store apps have APIs to sync data with iCloud", whether it's a Mac or iOS app. It doesn't mean "Just iWork documents". I think the reason for confusion is just... so few apps support it yet. Not even iWork on the Mac supports it yet, I don't think.
Nice that it works, though.
Why is this Mac specific? This is exactly the sort of feature that must be cross platform. Does Apple really think it will have a monopoly in the years ahead?
Apple mostly produces software/services for their own hardware but they do have iCloud syncing for Windows as well.
I hope they find a way around having to ask the user what to do during a version conflict.
I nevertheless believe that it’s possible to find some heuristics that do the right thing most of the time – without ever having to annoy the user with dialogs. Easy to use versioning (where all conflicting versions are still available as versions) covers all other times.
Why is this Mac specific? This is exactly the sort of feature that must be cross platform. Does Apple really think it will have a monopoly in the years ahead?
I don't agree that cross-platform is a requirement. For example, I haven't touched a Windows-only PC in years. Also, Dropbox can't sort out access control precisely because it is cross-platform. That's just one example of many downsides of supporting all major platforms.