Mark/Space updates The Missing Sync: this is HUGE news!

Mark/Space has announced a completely rewritten, and substantially more powerful version of The Missing Sync for Palm OS - version 5:

Paraphrased from the feature list:

b Support for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger Sync Services

The Missing Sync includes three conduits: Mark/Space Contacts, Mark/Space Events and Mark/Space Tasks. These synchronize
i directly with
Mac OS X 10.4 Address Book and iCal applications.
i Neither the iSync application nor the iSync Palm Conduit are necessary for syncing your Palm OS device with Tiger.

b Syncronizes Address Book
i groups
b and iCal
i calendars
b with Palm
i categories

The Missing Sync includes three conduits: Mark/Space Contacts, Mark/Space Events and Mark/Space Tasks. These synchronize directly with Tiger's central database for Address Book and iCal.
i iSync is no longer required or used.
Additionally, as more developers take advantage of Sync Services, you'll be able to sync more applications with your Palm OS device.

b Support for multiple addresses and other Palm database fields

Unlike Apple's conduit for iSync, which only syncs a single address (the home address) for each contact, The Missing Sync is capable of synchronizing multiple addresses to and from newer Palm devices. The Birthday, IM and URL fields are also synchronized.

In addition, there is support for:

* contact photo synchronization
* iPhoto albums
* iTunes playlists
* selected folder synchronization

The application includes many interface enhancements and feature updates. If you synchronize a Palm device and don't own it now, you soon will!

Details are available here:
] http://www.markspace.com/missingsync_palmos.php

This really is HUGE news!

Posted on Nov 1, 2005 11:47 PM

36 replies

Jan 5, 2006 7:31 PM in response to The Zach

That's truly amazing. I tried diligently to observe or reproduce your errors and inconsistencies, but I was unable to.

I've never seen the home/work label switch issue, and have only seen one kind of data purged during a synchronization that was unintended, and that was data entered in one or more of the four custom Palm data fields in the contact application on my Treo 600. That issue was address earlier in an interim update, as I recall, but was present in the initial 5.0.1 release.

I synchronize very few task or to do reminders, but those I do have never exhibited the behavior you describe. I duplicated your test record exactly, and it appeared in iCal as Test, assigned a Very important priority and the test note did appear as expected. Like you, however, I found that the due date information was not transfered. This is pretty clearly a reproducable bug, based upon a couple of cursory tests.

I haven't seen the subscribed calendar update problem, and couldn't reproduce it. I do subscribe to one calendar like that, but it does not often change and I have never noted a problem with it.

I haven't performed a hard reset since I updated the firmware on my unlocked GSM Treo 600, which I use on the US T-Mobile network.

I'm curious - did you perform the Macintosh overwrites handheld synchronization the first time as Mark/Space recommends? I hope their technical support staff is able to help you resolve these issues.

Jan 5, 2006 7:41 PM in response to Michael Lafferty

The Missing Sync folks are aware of the duplicate events in subscribed calendars. This does NOT happen with all subscribed calendars; it is a problem with the calendar. They have been working on solutions, but would probably appreciate receiving the link to the problem calendar.

As a matter of course, I do a "desktop overwrites handheld" whenever I upgrade to a new version of M/S, release or beta and have not had the problems you describe. There were problems with the first release of M/S 5, but the issues were fixed by 5.02. I haven't tried the 5.03betas since the problems they fix I haven't experienced. Also, it's worth noting that many of the issues folks had, especially with the first v5 release were caused by bugs with Apple's sync services; M/S had to fix Apples mistakes!

Jan 6, 2006 3:30 PM in response to The Zach

Just a quick update regarding the issue you raised with To Do synchronization…

Mark/Space has corrected this problem [identified as issue 3214] in the latest beta release of the Missing Sync for Palm OS: version 5.0.3 b6 (104). You may well not want to complicate the challenges you are already facing, but if you want to install the beta release, it's available here:

http://www.markspace.com/testing

You should likely check with your Mark/Space technical support contact before doing so, since you already have one or more open issues, and a wholesale release change is very likely to impact not only your issues but also their resolution.

I repeatedly tested this release using your example and others like it - in both directions - and could not reproduce the failure which you identified in the 5.0.2 release version.

rectorb

Level 1

0 points

Jan 7, 2006 2:17 PM in response to Michael Lafferty

I don't know, Michael...I purchased and even with their email support could never get my iBook running Tiger to sync properly to my Treo 600.

The Zach

Level 2

434 points

Jan 7, 2006 2:21 PM in response to Michael Lafferty

The To Do problem didn't happen immediately after I upgraded; that feature worked fine for a few weeks.

Yes, the Mark/Space rep told me about the beta release, but I'm going to hold off on upgrading until it is final. The whole reason I use my Treo is to simply my life; beta testing would just make my Treo have more problems.

Jan 7, 2006 3:17 PM in response to The Zach

That certainly makes sense. I've developed the dangerous habit of beta testing selected products using synchronization technology live on my 'production' machine, instead of using an isolated test environment. I know better, having moved from the mainframe world to personal computing about two decades ago, but I need to be able to replicate real-world use, and so I live with the vastly heightened risk to my data, and take specific steps to try to minimize that risk.

As a general rule, it is far better to do what you have decided to do - wait for the next official release. I just wanted you to know that your issue had been identified and resolved by their programming team.

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Mark/Space updates The Missing Sync: this is HUGE news!