Is iCloud totally worthless?

Julian Wright wrote:

How can you put a value on something that is free?

I place great value on air, yet I pay nothing for it. But iCloud is not "free" it is integrated into the cost of the hardware and the supporting accessories and software Apple sells.

iCloud may not be quite the fiasco that Final Cut Pro X has been, but it is sure not going to win kudos among Mac users; and I've never been a fan of the idea that a buggy, unfinished product officially released is merely a work in progress, immune to criticism.

As I have said (in this thread or another), it appears that Apple is marginalizing the Mac and pushing consumers toward the iOS environment it more tightly controls. The example I have given is that Mac cannot mirror content to Apple TV, while all recent iOS devices can. This is not a technical deficiency, it is a business tactic.

Julian Wright wrote:

Julian, I wouldn't be so sure.
62 things you can do with Dropbox

Exactly as I said. Not one of those 62 things involves syncing contacts, calendars, reminders, bookmarks, tasks, emails etc with the native iOS apps.

I dunno, not using iOS devices. Maybe this works only for Macs:

10 Synchronize Address Book contacts by moving the ~/Library/Application Support/Address Book folder to Dropbox and then creating a symbolic link from its old location to its new one.

Maybe iCloud is a wonderful solution for iOS users, but this discussion section is about iCloud on Macs, where it seems to have few enthusiasts early in its life.

Do you imagine that it is through a mere oversight that Apple has provided no substantive information on the use of iCloud on Macs?

Maybe this works only for Macs:

Exactly. You have no access to the file system of iOS devices.

Certainly the Mac file syncing aspect of iCloud is severely lacking at this point. I'm surprised Apple hasn't released Mac iWork updates that integrate file syncing directly within the application. I'd be even more surprised if they don't do exactly that shortly. Maybe iWork updates just weren't ready in time for the release of iCloud which they wanted to coincide with the release of iOS5 which they wanted to release with the iPhone 4S.

Do you imagine that it is through a mere oversight that Apple has provided no substantive information on the use of iCloud on Macs?

Apple generally doesn't provide substantive information on anything until it is actually released. The iCloud file sync API's have been documented for developers, so it's probably just a matter of time before Mac applications are updated to use iCloud file storage. (For example, see 1Password's blog)

At least, that's what I'm hoping...

Satchmo wrote:

Julian Wright wrote:

Julian, I wouldn't be so sure.
62 things you can do with Dropbox

Exactly as I said. Not one of those 62 things involves syncing contacts, calendars, reminders, bookmarks, tasks, emails etc with the native iOS apps.

I dunno, not using iOS devices. Maybe this works only for Macs:

10 Synchronize Address Book contacts by moving the ~/Library/Application Support/Address Book folder to Dropbox and then creating a symbolic link from its old location to its new one.

Maybe iCloud is a wonderful solution for iOS users, but this discussion section is about iCloud on Macs, where it seems to have few enthusiasts early in its life.

Do you imagine that it is through a mere oversight that Apple has provided no substantive information on the use of iCloud on Macs?

There is no need to sync an iCloud address book, it's a subscription, just like the calendar, so none of that is necessary

After my many hour ordeal to get iCloud set up, I have to say that it is nearly worthless and far inferior to MobileMe.

MobileMe had the ability to sync contacts, calanders, email while also providing an iDisk for ANY dosuments that could sync to the cloud and any of the Mac products that the user used. MobileMe also provided hosting for websites, and a photo galley. The loss of these features and the hastle of the whole iCloud experience makes me sad that Apple has abolished a graet service and replaced it with a nearly useless and inept product.

Sad that Apple is losing its touch with its customers.

Is Apple censoring this thread? I can't see posts after my most recent one until I post again. When I try to see them I find the message:

THERE ARE NO VISIBLE MESSAGES IN THIS DISCUSSION. THIS CAN HAPPEN IF MESSAGES HAVE BEEN HIDDEN BY A MODERATOR, OR HAVE BEEN REPORTED AS ABUSIVE.

Satchmo, something else I am seeing across all different

communities here is that when scanning the topics there will

be say 5 posts listed, but once entering that topic I only see

the OP's message and that is all. Not even the message

you speak of. I guess maybe the servers are just so over

loaded with everything that is going on that they can't

keep up or are just plain losing data (scary thought for iCloud).

Maybe with all the activities on these forums with all this stuff

released at once has uncovered some bug in the forum system

that it keeping it from being up to date.

thanks for this. What we need is sync for all the files from Word, InDesign, graphics programs, financial programs, etc. etc. that we actually use every day. Instead we are utterly limited by iOS5 and the iPad/iPhone. What we need is integration of iOS and OSX, not the limitations of iOS forced on OSX. The lack of a file system in iOS is NOT A BREAKTHROUGH new idea, no matter what anyone at Apple thinks. Basically, iCloud is a TOY at the moment. I am hoping the good people at Apple will put shoulders to the wheel and develop it quickly into a useful and productive TOOL for all of us who need more than our contacts and bookmarks synced. At the end of the day--and this is maybe just me--syncing my calendar, my bookmarks, my contacts, and my pix isn't the end all and be all of my needs. Isn't really that important in the larger scheme of my computer use,

iCloud, a repackaging of MobileMe

iCloud looks like a repackaging of MobileMe. The latter was better IMHO. Except that once you move from MM to iC, you can't go back, it seems. MM was a paid service and I prefer that. When a service is free (like Gmail or iCloud, or Facebook), you have to ask yourself "what are they getting from me?" There is absolutely no free lunch on this Planet.

Okay, now that I've said this, how to I go back to MobileMe, until the end of June 2012 at least and until I learn how to use DropBox efficiently? When I LogOut of iCloud and try to SignIn to MM, the message states that I have moved to iCloud. Am I stuck in the cloud?

It's difficult to not be rude here, but comparing iCloud to MobileMe is rather pointless. To say the former doesn't offer the same facilities as the latter is quite frankly just silly. iCloud is FREE and MobileMe was a PAID FOR service and quite frankly most people seemed to complain about that with endless criticism over the slothful performance and lack of speed of iDisk. Now suddenly it's paradise lost. Come on, get real. IMO the stuff that's been lost from MobileMe is trivial. It's either not worth worrying about or you can get the same facility elsewhere. Dropbox seems popular for FILE syncing although I've never used it. I didn't realise it was free. Good for them. Stop moaning that iCloud cannot sync files and just use Dropbox. No point Apple trying to duplicate something anyone else can provide elsewhere. Makes more sense for Apple to concentrate on stuff that no-one else can do, hence iCloud.

Let's put one thing to bed right now. iCloud DOES sync Contacts, Calendars and Mail (although any IMAP account does that) and a few other things. It has done so simply and effortlessly since I set it up, ensuring my 2 Macs and 2 iOS devices are in sync. To say it doesn't do these things is inaccurate and misleading. A lie in fact.

It also provides a lot more functionality with regard to music. Again, something that cannot be done by others and certainly not previously available through MobileMe. So, something worthwhile for nothing that you couldn't even get previously by paying. What's not to like about that and as suggested elsewhere, it's almost bound to get better.

The biggest problem so far with iCloud has been the massive rush by everyone to get started immediately it was released AND downloading their large iOS 5 and OSX updates at the same time. No wonder this caused a few problems with Apple's servers, but it was only temporary and they now seem to be behaving themselves. To throw your rattle out of the pram already would be inadvisably premature.

If Apple was handing out cash on street corners, some people would find a way to moan about it.

For me iCloud is working spiffily with the exception of:

• Not being able to delete individual photos from Photo Stream unless I choose to decimate the whole thing
• Not having any iWork sync on the Mac

Each of those is big, honestly (gorilla-playing-bongos-on-your-head big), but there are still a lot of good parts to iCloud.

You are right in one aspect; iCloud works well with what it works with and very well, too - and it is free. But the question is not that for me, at least, but the fact that I and many with me, were led to believe that we would have just as seamless syncing with iWork on ALL devices, included the Macs. If I would have to pay for that, I gladly would.

Dropbox and all other solutions are fine, but they lack this kind of smooth syncing as we now have between iOS-devices.There is no need to save documents to certain folders or to set up anything. Every change you do is synced. Just like that.

I have been looking for other solutions which would work like that - with iWork - but I haven't found exactly what I was hoping for yet.

It is good that people complain - although I agree that it is going too far to say that iCloud is worthless, especially since it is free - but when people do complain, sometimes Apple do listen.

And again, I would gladly pay to have this ability on my Mac OS X-devices as well...

same - also lost most of my contacts from mobileme !

Yes.....

You can stuff iCloud, I've just turned it off on all systems....

I have 2 iPhones, an iPad, 3 MacBook Pros and an IMac - trying to set that up for 4 seperate users is a complete nightmare.

Apple - you now have a dozen or so appleid's you can scratch.... except you can't even do that....

I'll keep Dropcopy & CCC thanks....

Regards,

Shawn