First off, I’d like to say that I’m incredibly pleased and surprised that Portal has made it this far. Back in August when I submitted my idea, I just did it because I thought it would be cool to get to go back and forth with other people about the concept, and possibly to get professional advice from Wil Shipley, Leo Laporte, and Steve Wozniak! Only later did it sink in that these dignitaries would only be commenting on the Top 24 ideas out of the thousands submitted. Only later still did I realize that they were saving the big names like Laporte and Wozniak for the Top 9 and Top 6! Chances didn’t look good, way back when, but it was going to be a fun ride nonetheless.
And now here I sit, with Portal in the Top 6, already having been judged by Shipley, Laporte, Watanabe, Mueller, Sarner, Ott (three times), Harris (three times as well) plus many others, and “Woz” is still to come. It somehow doesn’t seem entirely real.
Anyway, here’s the first in a series of blogs I’ve written to help explain my idea one last time before the Final round of voting. Its a bit long, so bear with me.
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One of the best ways to define an application is by looking at the problems it solves. To that end, I have come up with a list of 5 questions and their current answers, all to try to expand upon the world of Mac syncing, the world within which Portal must make its home.
(Q1) If you have two Macs sitting next to each other, how do you make sure that they always have the same versions of your documents?
(A) You could use iChat Bonjour to drag and drop the files from one Mac to another, and repeat every time the file is changed on either system. OR you could put the larger files onto USB flash drives (or a CD or DVD) and physically carry the files from one system to another. OR you could use DropCopy to drag and drop files from one system to another, every time there’s a change. OR you could use Synk (which does backups as well, $45 for Pro, $35 for Standard). OR you could try ChronoSync (also does backups, $30).
(Q2) If you have two Macs, how do you keep their bookmarks, address books, and mailboxes in sync?
(A) You could pay $99 a year to get Apple’s .Mac service and use the Sync feature. OR you could try MySync (now part of the Missing Sync family).
(Q3) How would you keep the iTunes, iPhoto, and iWeb libraries in sync between systems of Macs?
(A) iTunes has built in library sharing over Bonjour, but it won’t transfer files between systems (unless you sync one Mac to your iPod, then sync the iPod to the other Mac). iPhoto can “photocast” albums over the web, but requires .Mac to do so (and then takes up part of your 1GB storage). iWeb can use the .Mac storage, or you could export to a folder and then use an FTP app like Transmit to upload it to your server. But there’s no easy way to share the original libraries so they can be edited and then re-synced.
(Q4) If you have two Macs, that aren’t near each other (so there is no local Bonjour connection), how do you keep them in sync in either of the above ways (by file or application specific)?
(A) Apple’s .Mac Sync is web-enabled, so all your personal information is stored on a remote server (you get 1GB for $99/year), therefore remote sync is possible. OR you could email each of the Macs the files you need to update, and do so every time there is a change. OR you could set up an iFolder Server to remotely store your files, then use their client software to sync local changes to the network list.
(Q5) How would you sync your files or personal settings between a Windows/Linux box and your Mac(s)?
(A) Apple’s .Mac Sync makes your personal information available on their website, so you can access it via any web browser, on any platform. ChronoSync claims sync to PC as well, but limited to files and folders just like for Mac-to-Mac. IFolder Client software is available for Linux as well as Windows (but again, limited to file sharing).
Notice that although each of these questions seems similar on the surface, they each currently have entirely different solutions. The ideal solution would be to have one application that can answer all of these questions, and Portal is that application. Even so, it will not be able to do all things for all people right from Version 1.0. For instance, as far as I can tell none of the above solutions has a way to merge arbitrary file types, so expecting this as a feature in Portal is being a bit over zealous.
The most basic features of Portal are there to address Question #1: to keep your files and folders in sync between any number of Macs (assuming they appear on the local Bonjour networks every now and then). Simply bring the two Macs close together and they sync right up (I’m thinking here of a laptop user syncing with a Mac at home or in the office).
Portal can also sync applications, so for Question #2. First, all of the associated files fora a given application are found using an AppZapper style search. Syncing these selected files should keep the application itself in sync on the different systems. The beauty of this approach is that Portal should be able to sync any application you would want, all without the various developers having to rewrite their code. This is particularly useful for Question #3, since these are all Apple products. We as consumers should realize that If even Apple doesn’t use its own Sync Services technologies in all of its products, how are we to expect anybody else to do so in their products? Successful syncing must be achieved in the absence of any recoding by developers, and I consider the AppZapper-style approach one method worth considering. Remember that from the user’s perspective, all they have to do is drag and drop an application into the Portal window and select a destination Mac. For the more generic settings, like bookmarks, calendars, and keychains, there will be a set of checkboxes in the Portal preference window for easy access. Just check off everything you want to sync, and it is all taken care of in the background.
Beyond these three core features, I don’t want to promise much else for an initial 1.0 release. By using Wide Area Bonjour, Portal could address (Q4) using 90% of the same technologies it would already have. As for (Q5), that’s a different problem. Application syncing would have to go for the most part. Certain standardized file types, such as vCards, and iCal calendars might be easy to exchange with a non-Mac system. The real trick is getting the two systems to talk with each other in the first place, which would mean a PC or Linux version of Portal. That’s beyond the score of this contest as it stands, so it will have to wait. If Portal is one of the three ideas to be developed, and there is a strong enough user base, then maybe it will happen!
