Comments on: Free-Syncing Liberals http://alokastudio.com/useit/2007/03/free-syncing-liberals/ A blog about simple, humane technology Mon, 11 Jan 2010 22:51:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Carl http://alokastudio.com/useit/2007/03/free-syncing-liberals/comment-page-1/#comment-14 Carl Tue, 28 Aug 2007 21:07:40 +0000 http://alokastudio.com/useit/2007/03/free-syncing-liberals/#comment-14 Sure. I think there are a few differences: The biggest one is that syncing, in my view, should happen without any action on my part. I set my phone down next to my computer and they sync in the background. Most possible conflicts can be handled if the phone and computer had fine-grained detail about when I edited which fields in an entry. So if I change someone's phone number on my phone at t=1, and someone's address on my Mac at t=2, and I change their phone number again on some other device at t=3, the systems should know how to deal with that, with no effort on my part. This is what computers are for, isn't it? It's not even a hard problem, per se, but it does require more cooperation between these systems than vCards will allow, and that's the hard part. Second, my contacts need to stay separate somehow. Highrise's benefit seems to come from letting a group of people manage shared contacts and interactions. If I upload some vCards, and then you upload some vCards, and then I export, do I get both of our vCards, or only the ones I've added? (I haven't used Highrise since it first came out.. maybe my model is wrong) And third, imports need to merge. If I update one of my contacts on Mac OS X and then import it into Highrise, if Highrise's version always wins, that's not a merge. (again, maybe this isn't the case anymore?) I hope this is helpful. Sure. I think there are a few differences:
The biggest one is that syncing, in my view, should happen without any action on my part. I set my phone down next to my computer and they sync in the background. Most possible conflicts can be handled if the phone and computer had fine-grained detail about when I edited which fields in an entry. So if I change someone’s phone number on my phone at t=1, and someone’s address on my Mac at t=2, and I change their phone number again on some other device at t=3, the systems should know how to deal with that, with no effort on my part. This is what computers are for, isn’t it? It’s not even a hard problem, per se, but it does require more cooperation between these systems than vCards will allow, and that’s the hard part.
Second, my contacts need to stay separate somehow. Highrise’s benefit seems to come from letting a group of people manage shared contacts and interactions. If I upload some vCards, and then you upload some vCards, and then I export, do I get both of our vCards, or only the ones I’ve added? (I haven’t used Highrise since it first came out.. maybe my model is wrong)
And third, imports need to merge. If I update one of my contacts on Mac OS X and then import it into Highrise, if Highrise’s version always wins, that’s not a merge. (again, maybe this isn’t the case anymore?)
I hope this is helpful.

]]> By: RS http://alokastudio.com/useit/2007/03/free-syncing-liberals/comment-page-1/#comment-13 RS Tue, 28 Aug 2007 20:22:40 +0000 http://alokastudio.com/useit/2007/03/free-syncing-liberals/#comment-13 ... about "how" real synching would be different, that is. … about “how” real synching would be different, that is.

]]> By: RS http://alokastudio.com/useit/2007/03/free-syncing-liberals/comment-page-1/#comment-12 RS Tue, 28 Aug 2007 20:21:10 +0000 http://alokastudio.com/useit/2007/03/free-syncing-liberals/#comment-12 <blockquote>Highrise offers import/export options for vCards. To their credit, they do delete obvious duplicates when you re-import set of vCards. But that’s not syncing, it’s just dupe detection, and it still assumes that Highrise’s copy of the contacts is authoritative (their copy always “wins” on an import).</blockquote> If this is not synching, can you say something about real synching would be different from this behavior in your view?

Highrise offers import/export options for vCards. To their credit, they do delete obvious duplicates when you re-import set of vCards. But that’s not syncing, it’s just dupe detection, and it still assumes that Highrise’s copy of the contacts is authoritative (their copy always “wins” on an import).

If this is not synching, can you say something about real synching would be different from this behavior in your view?

]]> By: random8r http://alokastudio.com/useit/2007/03/free-syncing-liberals/comment-page-1/#comment-11 random8r Tue, 28 Aug 2007 18:29:25 +0000 http://alokastudio.com/useit/2007/03/free-syncing-liberals/#comment-11 Ummm... Apple *have* opened up sync services... Ummm… Apple *have* opened up sync services…

]]>