Hook's next cloud experiment-- Google redux. Questions.

[jigwashere]

Sorry for Shameless OSX plug but I had to get it in.

Shameful!

[Hook]

great that it works so seamlessly for iThings™ -- but, for better or worse, this isn't an all-Apple world. imho, and this is just me (although it's possible others will agree), I've got a fair chunk of change already invested in my current hardware (and software!), and am not anxious to have to re-purchase for the sake of info anywhere. I'm not knocking it, but personally (and I may indeed be an atypical user), being able to sync my 'bright' phone with my TX would be enough, and I don't even do that (thank-you, Verizon).

I do think it is encouraging that there are solutions - well, a solution - to the problem, but at the same time I find it discouraging that there is only one vendor, and platform (broadly speaking) offering the solution. I'll keep watching too, and we'll see what we see, eh?

I agree with you. The problem from my perpective is that the move to the cloud is just that. We'll set up a cloud and that's all you need. We don't have to worry about terrestrial computing and data anymore. Less moving parts. It will be wonderful. And of course a lot of people go without asking any questions.

Well, for me this has made it very simple. I don't need the cloud, I never did. There are some that do, but I don't. I found some useful potential for it, and I wanted to learn about it and I have. I have found out (at least short of having an all Apple setup) that it is not for me.

So I am grounding myself. I won't even be using Ovi for backup, which also manages to bugger my system in ways Outlook never does. I am out of the cloud. I will sync by wire and will never touch a handheld that forces me to do otherwise. Nokia doesn't yet-- if they do, I move on.

[JRakes]

Ditto what Rick and Hook said. I will NOT, EVER, enslave myself to a particular brand / platform simply because they happen to offer something I don't need or want or that I have no use for. I left Palm for that reason. And I'll drop anybody else without a second thought if they don't provide what I want, when I want, how I want, period. Anything less is enslaving myself to somebody else's concept. Not to sound rude, but I honestly don't give a d@mn about anybody else's concept if it doesn't suit my own life. And I'm certainly not in a mood to spend $5-grand up-front plus $150/mo in perpetuity to have it.

And even IF I had a need or use for this type of OTA syncing stuff, I ruled out the iThings long ago for their usefulness in meeting my wants and needs. If the basic functionality doesn't do what I need, no other advantages matter.

So smile away, AW. I am, as well. With each article I read, I become more and more convinced that not only does the current technology not work well, it doesn't really even exist outside of an extremely narrow, extremely limited, overbearing thin line.

[Antoine Wright]

Oh it exists; its just not out there where its as attainable. Such is the fun for panning for gold, sometimes, things really are under the last stone you see.

[Drillbit]

Wake me up when I can pick any device "A", and any device "B", tell 'em each other's names, then say "Talk" and it's all synced. Perfectly. Every time. Without fail for any reason. With NO further intervention or oversight on my part. THAT is technology working for me. Anything else is a failure.

Already doing that with my Android, my Blackberry with Google Sync and my iPod Touch with Mail for Exchange + Google Sync.

Except for the talk part, since I don't even need the talking. They just do it by themselves.

[JRakes]

And how many disparate pieces does that end up being? This with that and the other with something else and yet another bandage to tie something else together...

Oh it exists; its just not out there where its as attainable. Such is the fun for panning for gold, sometimes, things really are under the last stone you see.

Why should I want or need to pan for gold? Once I plunk down my already-earned money, I'm done. The gold, all finished and polished, had better be in my hands. I'm not paying for a jungle hunt - I'm paying for a functional tool. If it's not there, out of the box, it might as well not exist for those of us who actually have real day-to-day lives to keep up with. In this regard, getting there is NOT half the fun. For all of the entertainment factor on the big screen, a "Vacation" (movie) style trip IRL doesn't make for much of a vacation. It makes for an expensive frustration, leaving one wondering why they didn't just stay at home.

[Hook]

Already doing that with my Android, my Blackberry with Google Sync and my iPod Touch with Mail for Exchange + Google Sync.

How nice for you. I find one mobile restricting enough. Having multiple mobiles is not a solution I'm looking for.

Oh it exists; its just not out there where its as attainable. Such is the fun for panning for gold, sometimes, things really are under the last stone you see.

Yeah, I'm basically with Joe on this one. I don't resent the experiments, I do them to learn. But I am a little tired of the theme of what I'm learning. In 7 years I've never had a reliability issue with a USB cable. Maybe I'm just lucky because this forum is full of old posts of people who have. However results matter and that colors my expectation.

I'm done panning for gold. As long as my handheld can be a PDA, we're good.Maybe when I have a Apple ecosystem I'll re-look things.

[JRakes]

And that's the whole thing: It's great to keep pushing and developing. But until it's a ubiquitous, trouble-free system, it simply doesn't exist for me. It's a "what if" at "some point in the future," at best. It's not a tool for the here and now, which is where I happen to live.

I barely find time to eat some days. I certainly don't have time to constantly babysit, manage, and continuously verify data transfers or continuously tweak the pipes that move that "commodity." That's why, from my perspective (and I suspect that of the "typical" user,) the capability simply doesn't exist, at least in an accessible / usable form.

The conrete proof of that, IMHO, is seeing so many folks who have applauded "convergence" in the past now diverging - Toting around multiple devices because this one does such-and-such so well but that one sucks at the-other-thing and this one is better for that, then tying each into a different pipe and valve system just to kludge together some sort of "system."

All of this, of course, is just the capability of using the "cloud." Factor in actual usefulness for some of us, security concerns, and general reliability factors (if you can't get a signal, the best system in the world is useless,) and you can hopefully understand why some users are currently averse to the cloud concept. Does it offer promise or potential? Probably. But so does my PowerBall ticket for Wed night.

[Drillbit]

I'm pretty okay with the Cloud system, for the same reasons why I:

1. Rely on my power company for power instead of running backyard generators to supply power to my home.

2. Rely on my water company for water instead of running a private well for water.

3. Rely on my bank to deposit and keep my savings safely instead of putting the money under the bed or hidden safe somewhere in the house.

4. Rely on my cable provider for TV programs instead of renting all the programs I want and taking them home to watch on my player.

5. Get food from the grocery instead of raising vegetables on my private farm or greenhouse.

6. Listening music on the radio instead of buying CDs all the time.

7. Rely on the town police force instead of hiring private bodyguards for my protection.

The only reason why I tote multiple devices is that one device is more than enough, and the other one is just for the fun of it. And mainly to compare the performance of different platforms in real life situations.

[JRakes]

From my perspective, though, it seems trying to manage all the bits and pieces of churning my data through the various cloud pipes is more like maintaining one's own generators, growing one's own food, hand-pumping one's own water, etc. Besides being much, much simpler and more convenient, my single (local) source USB cable-to-local sync has been FAR more reliable than any of those things.