What's the point of iCloud

It just pushes stuff between your devices?

Yes. It is not permanent online storage; i.e. photos will be updated after 30 days (and there is a maximum of 1000 photos). And, yes, you'd need the iOS version of iWork to work on your iOS devices.

have to buy iWork for my iPhone (even though I already have it on my Mac)

Keep in mind you can't run apps optimized for an iPhone on a Mac. You're dealing with two differenct operating systems. One, Mac OS X, the other iOS 5.

I have to pay

You get 5GB of storage space for free. You only pay if you need more.

What is the point of iCloud?

If you update a document on your Mac, it would automatically update the same document on an iOS device and vice versa. Same with Calendars, Mail, Photos, Contacts, and Bookmarks.

If you purchase music on your Mac, it will automatically sync to your iPhone.

Apple - iCloud - Learn how to set up iCloud on all your devices

leappod wrote:

I thought it would be a great way to free up space on my hard drive; I could just store my documents and music in the cloud.

You'd be mad to keep your documents and music only on a server: though the probability isn't high, it's not completely unknown for something to go wrong and everything be lost. You should always have backups - at least two for safety. Running backups is a bore, and looks like paranoia... but one day...

> I feel like Apple is nickling and diming its loyal customers.

Here we go... Yet another 'loyal' Apple customer who seems to think that because they've bought one Apple product, Apple should forever let them have new products and services for free.

The base iCloud service IS free. Certain features require the use of certain paid apps which you may or may not already have. If you don't want to buy those apps, you don't have to use that part of the free service. Extra space above the 5gb you have been given for free is optional. If you want more space, you pay for it. This applies to every online storage service I can think of.

What is it with people these days that they expect everything to be free?

Julian Wright wrote:

> I feel like Apple is nickling and diming its loyal customers.

Here we go... Yet another 'loyal' Apple customer who seems to think that because they've bought one Apple product, Apple should forever let them have new products and services for free.

The base iCloud service IS free. Certain features require the use of certain paid apps which you may or may not already have. If you don't want to buy those apps, you don't have to use that part of the free service. Extra space above the 5gb you have been given for free is optional. If you want more space, you pay for it. This applies to every online storage service I can think of.

What is it with people these days that they expect everything to be free?

So true. Not being a martyr to the cause, but I have updated my old 2007 Macbook Pro 2.1ghz and 3GB RAM to Lion without a hiccup, updated my iPhone to ISO 5.0.1 but have simply chosen, at the moment, not to turn on iCloud. I don't know enough about it yet, but at some stage no doubt I will start using it. It will be a service, a decent starter amount of space and then reasonable costs after that. In the meantime I'll continue on with a flash drive and a note pad and my old faithful iPod Classic. I have some great software on all devices, but I had to pay for the really good applications. That is life. You can buy inferior applications or get them for free, but don't complain afterwards. Apple didn't get as successful as they are by giving everything away free.

End Rant. Happy Computing

Another function of iCloud that useful is it backup ALL your idevice app data and settings so you don't have to worry about to play again those games levels. So it's useful.

Julian Wright wrote:

Here we go... Yet another 'loyal' Apple customer who seems to think that because they've bought one Apple product, Apple should forever let them have new products and services for free.

The real problem here is that Apple has no long-term commitment to support anything it makes. It wasn't that long ago that MobileMe (which was not free) came into existence and now it is already being dumped in favor of iCloud, which lacks the iDisk, remote access to Time Capsules and personal websites. It's a step backwards and a disservice to those of us who were using some or all of those MobileMe features.

Apple's product cycles, both hardware and software, are too short to be of use to anyone but those who like to play. Forget about trying to run a business from Apple products these days.

capaho wrote:

Julian Wright wrote:

Here we go... Yet another 'loyal' Apple customer who seems to think that because they've bought one Apple product, Apple should forever let them have new products and services for free.

The real problem here is that Apple has no long-term commitment to support anything it makes. It wasn't that long ago that MobileMe (which was not free) came into existence and now it is already being dumped in favor of iCloud, which lacks the iDisk, remote access to Time Capsules and personal websites. It's a step backwards and a disservice to those of us who were using some or all of those MobileMe features.

Apple's product cycles, both hardware and software, are too short to be of use to anyone but those who like to play. Forget about trying to run a business from Apple products these days.

That is exactly right.

In my own small home network we 7 Macs all being synced through MobileMe. Only two of these Macs can run Lion and doing so would mean no longer being able to use applications that our clients still use so it would mean loss of these clients. Not to mention the cost of replacing at least 5 of or Macs.

Then there are businesses that have dozens of Macs or sometimes even hundreds of Macs along with gigs and gigs of data that Macs running Lion can't access. So even ignoring the huge cost of replacing al these Macs with newer Macs there is still the issue of Macs running Lion not being able to run needed applications.

With MobileMe one could buy a newer Mac running Lion and it would still be able to sync with older Macs but now it is all or nothing.

At least one design shop that I do work for is now replacing their Macs with Windows machines since these computers can run older software and also be able to sync with iOS devices using iCloud. At least a dozen other places that I do business are considering doing the same thing.

capaho wrote:

Julian Wright wrote:

Here we go... Yet another 'loyal' Apple customer who seems to think that because they've bought one Apple product, Apple should forever let them have new products and services for free.

The real problem here is that Apple has no long-term commitment to support anything it makes. It wasn't that long ago that MobileMe (which was not free) came into existence and now it is already being dumped in favor of iCloud, which lacks the iDisk, remote access to Time Capsules and personal websites. It's a step backwards and a disservice to those of us who were using some or all of those MobileMe features.

Apple's product cycles, both hardware and software, are too short to be of use to anyone but those who like to play. Forget about trying to run a business from Apple products these days.

Mobileme (formerly dotmac, formerly iTools) launched on Jan 5, 2000, 11 years ago.

Csound1 wrote:

capaho wrote:

Julian Wright wrote:

Here we go... Yet another 'loyal' Apple customer who seems to think that because they've bought one Apple product, Apple should forever let them have new products and services for free.

The real problem here is that Apple has no long-term commitment to support anything it makes. It wasn't that long ago that MobileMe (which was not free) came into existence and now it is already being dumped in favor of iCloud, which lacks the iDisk, remote access to Time Capsules and personal websites. It's a step backwards and a disservice to those of us who were using some or all of those MobileMe features.

Apple's product cycles, both hardware and software, are too short to be of use to anyone but those who like to play. Forget about trying to run a business from Apple products these days.

Mobileme (formerly dotmac, formerly iTools) launched on Jan 5, 2000, 11 years ago.

So you see nothing wrong with Apple throwing away a system that has built over 11 years and that people have become dependent on?

TZ wrote:

So you see nothing wrong with Apple throwing away a system that has built over 11 years and that people have become dependent on?

No, change is normal, remember the VCR, the horse and cart etc

But I do hate it when someone posts "It wasn't that long ago that MobileMe (which was not free) came into existence"

Another function of iCloud that useful is it backup ALL your idevice app data and settings so you don't have to worry about to play again those games levels. So it's useful.

A lot of people would be far more concerned about work related or other important data rather than just remembering levels or settings in games. Really.

babowa wrote:

Another function of iCloud that useful is it backup ALL your idevice app data and settings so you don't have to worry about to play again those games levels. So it's useful.

A lot of people would be far more concerned about work related or other important data rather than just remembering levels or settings in games. Really.

I think one of the big problems is Apple is trying to do a one size fits all solution,

Personally I have zero games on any of my Macs or iOS devices. This is also true for most of the people that I know that use their computers for work.

Besides the loss of Rosetta in Lion it looks like something that should be on a Fisher Price toy. Don't even get me started about its address book and calender.

Apple's product cycles, both hardware and software, are too short to be of use to anyone but those who like to play. Forget about trying to run a business from Apple products these days.

That's not true - you don't need the latest and greatest of everything to run a business. In my day job we still use PowerPC based Macs running Leopard. Those Macs still do everything they did the day they were bought (more actually). No, we can't run the latest software and OS updates but the Macs still do the job they were bought for, and run the same software 5 years later.

The vast majority of our clients who are Windows-based are still running Windows XP. They seem to run their businesses just fine using old software.

I've been working with PC's since the late 60's and have seen a lot com and go.

I built the last 3 ro 4 PC's we've had and the hardware worked fine. The only issues being software related. The increasing number of upgrades and hardware mandates in working with MS made me convert to the Apple line of porducts. And it was a good move. Initially.

Working with the iCloud debacle, it appears that Apple may be be heading downt he same road MS was/is. Pity if they do.