When first reading about Portal, many people probably asked themselves “Why do I need yet another sync utility?” or “Why would I want a fancy animated interface for a simple sync app?”.
My answer to the first question is straightforward: Mac to Mac sync doesn’t have a “Mac” solution, yet. Apple’s own .Mac Sync comes close, but requires a subscription and doesn’t sync everything it should. Keeping two Macs in harmony, to me at least, means more than just bookmarks, mailboxes, calendars, and address books. What about the other Apple applications I use every day, like Keynote, iTunes, and iPhoto? What about the 3rd party apps I can’t live without, like Growl, Quicksilver, and NewsFire? What about my Wacom Tablet preferences, my Fetch settings, my Word and Excel toolbars, and all the rest? Portal should be able to handle all of these syncing needs. File and folder sync comes standard as well. Either drag the file/folder you want to sync to the Portal window OR right-click on the file and select “Sync with Portal” (see pic).
As for the second question: Core Animation gives this app a chance to show off, nothing more, nothing less. Mac OS X Leopard and Time Machine are raising the bar when it comes to animated user interfaces. Portal’s interface will be complimentary to those advances. Just as the Time Machine interface will be customizable (somewhat), Portal’s interface will be as well. For the strict utilitarian user, all the animations can be shut off entirely. Portal will, after all, have a passive mode with background sync as default. Get two Macs within Bonjour range and everything runs without user interruption. For the rest of us, Core Animation is a way to show off a bit, and a way to have a little fun. Wormholes ripping through the desktop, tearing application and file icons out of folders, sucking them through the “tubes” and spitting them out on the other Mac’s screen… Sure its over the top, sure its pointless to the syncing going on in the background, but where’s the harm. There will also be more toned down animation options (like the screen ripple used in Dashboard) if you just want to have a quick visual cue that a sync is taking place.
There are so many possibilities: have custom animations for updating certain apps (such as a fire motif for syncing NewFire or an iTunes visualizer style for syncing iTunes playlists); use a time warp animation for downloading software updates (betas and such); or a miniature Time Machine animation for single file restore (the restore would use Time Machine anyway, but possibly without the whole interface opening up). These are just a few ideas, if you’ve got any more I’d love to hear them!
