Ubuntu One Gets iPhone App For Contact Sync 115
oneone writes "Canonical is bringing its Ubuntu One cloud service (which we discussed last month) to handheld devices with a new mobile contact synchronization feature that is powered by Funambol. Canonical's Ubuntu One application for the iPhone is now available from the iTunes Music Store. Android and other mobile operating systems will be supported with Funambol's standard client application. The mobile sync feature is currently in the beta testing stage but will be generally available to Ubuntu One subscribers when Ubuntu 10.04 is released later this month. Canonical says that it is boosting its Ubuntu One server infrastructure in order to support what it anticipates will be record loads."
Contacts good, Calendars would be better (Score:2)
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I've also tried Funambol, but it uses too much memory for my P3 "server". Trying SyncEvolution now, the last betas include HTTP server support, although it's experimental.
But besides "trusting" Google, doesn't it require special apps? I thought Google services didn't support SyncML. My Nokia comes with integrated an SyncML "client", I'm not installing yet another client just for syncing. Might as well sign up for a real syncml service.
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If that where the case, then couchdb is not the smartest way to do it, considering that each user has it's own DB. Cross-referencing anything from user to user is incredibly expensive (load-wise) and hard to do ;)
Canonical could be after world domination and selling data to the CIA, or we could be trying to provide a valuable service to users. Who knows.
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Android and other mobile operating systems will be supported with Funambol's standard client application.
That was right there in the summary.
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that...low?
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How about a Symbian app, then?
Anyone know what "other mobile operating systems" are? (I'm presuming it's not Symbian yet, as surely that would be the main story, not the Iphone...right?)
What about a non- iTunes method? (Score:1)
What about the people who own an iPhone, run Ubuntu, but don't use iTunes?
Is there going to be a way for them to install the application? Keep it up to date?
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Those who have jailbroken their iPhones, however...
... can still do everything non-jailbroken iPhones can? I'm not sure what your point is.
Re:What about a non- iTunes method? (Score:4, Informative)
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So they've fixed the in-app purchase problem with jailbroken phones?
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perhaps you shouldnt make comments that are a dead giveaway you've never even seen a jailbroken iphone if you're going to try and claim you're some sort of authority on what they can and cant do.
Right!! what did you think this is? slashdot?... wait a minute!. Errr!! never mind, just mod parent -1 irrelevant.
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I just don't want an itunes account
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And what does contact syncing between devices has to do with always-on lifestyle?
Re:Always-on lifestyle (Score:5, Funny)
Are you asking about the market finding it acceptable or about it being socially acceptable? Your post isn't very, and maybe it's because, and in some cases, and in some places, this is acceptable, your comma use is, and I mean no offense, confusing, clear.
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I think GP was going for the William Shatner style of speech, and confused the comma and the exclamation point.
Re:Always-on lifestyle (Score:5, Insightful)
At present, if you want your data to be there when you need it to be, you pretty much have to be a bit of a gearhead(not a huge gearhead by any means; knowing about dropbox is way less techy than having your own git repo or secure WebDAV share, or whatever) or you have to engage in frankly infuriating amounts of error-prone manual labour.
File propagation among the people generally is still(even among the youth) at the level of "emailing it to myself", with all the version errors and minor fuckups that that occasions. Synchronizing bookmarks? Pretty much doesn't happen. Cell contacts? unless you can swap the SIM, or have them do it for you at the store, people pretty much just retype them. Bloody dark ages stuff. Even the cases that should work by now(DLNA media sharing in a closed LAN, all devices trusted, is still rather rough around the edges). Even the trivial case of somebody who has a desktop and a notebook/netbook still isn't really there yet. You either sign up for something like Dropbox, which is easy and cheap/free; but depends on an internet connection and is potentially privacy problematic, or you drop fairly big money(Windows Home Server/Small Business Server), or you do it the gearhead way(any one of dozens of permutations of NFS or SMB, or webDAV, or a revision control mechanism, plus a helping of Linux Fu), or you basically just let the two drift apart, occasionally using a flash drive or emailing something to yourself. Pitiful.
Not everybody wants to be connected all the time; but I'm not sure I can think of anybody who wouldn't like having their data and files and bookmarks and whatnot there when they want them, wherever "there" happens to be(within the limits of privacy and security, of course, for the few people who think about that stuff).
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File propagation among the people generally is still(even among the youth) at the level of "emailing it to myself", with all the version errors and minor fuckups that that occasions.
True, though I've noticed that more and more people use those "online disk" services like SkyDrive.
Personally, I just bought Jungle Disk [jungledisk.com] subscription, which gives me an SMB share on top of Amazon S3 with pretty much no strings attached (you pay for monthly traffic, and you pay for storage used, and that's it). It also has a nifty client which can auto-sync local files with remote drive, which does two-way sync if you want it.
Synchronizing bookmarks? Pretty much doesn't happen.
Not until recently, but this seems to be changing rapidly as Chrome (which has book
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It provides online/realtime backups. If you don't see the advantages of that, turn over your geek card.
This has nothing to do with "socializing" or whatever you're rating about, it's syncing between your apps/devices.
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This has nothing to do with "socializing" or whatever you're rating about, it's syncing between your apps/devices.
I think he just hates Facebook because his HS girlfriend wouldn't agree to be his friend there a decade later.
Boosting is still on-going :) (Score:5, Informative)
Just so everybody is aware, the servers are quite overloaded at the moment, so expect all kinds of timeouts. We didn't expect so many testers :)
We will be slowly bringing it back in it's feet, so patience is welcomed.
the cloud? (Score:1)
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Because it's easier than getting Apple to port iTunes to Linux?
Re:the cloud? (Score:4, Interesting)
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Not that I give a rat's ass about anything mobile. Why would I want to put anything into a "cloud" that I don't own or control? I didn't see anything about encryption, and without a high level of encryption that only I own the keys to, it would be not for me.
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Available only to subscribers (Score:4, Interesting)
Is this the beginning of their move to (mostly) pay product model, like Red Hat did after they used the OSS community for all they could?
Re:Available only to subscribers (Score:5, Informative)
No. We partnered with Funambol to provide this service, and it carries a significant cost to both develop and maintain and scale this specific service, as the announcement says.
Supporting hundreds of different mobile phones is an incredibly expensive task, and on top of that we've added a layer that saves those contacts to couchdb and replicates them locally for you, to be used with any application you wish.
While we all love and use free software, it's completely unreasonable to demand that services be provided for free. The service also provides a 30 day free trial, where you can perform a one-time sync if you wish to have a backup of your contacts.
I personally believe that allowing people to sync their contacts from almost any mobile phone into a Linux desktop is a huge step forward.
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It is? Why? Aren't they supposed to use all SyncML? Even if they don't support it natively (for shame!), there are usually apps for it.
There are some SyncML servers, like https://www.mobical.net/ [mobical.net] . They seem to be able to provide the services for free.
Re:Available only to subscribers (Score:5, Informative)
Free to you, but not because it doesn't cost them. Their business model allows them to offer you a free service because you're their Guinea Pig. What they learn from servicing you, they sell on to other people. It took me about 30 seconds to find this explanation on their web site:
Canonical's business model is different and so they need to charge for the infrastructure (servers, disks, network, etc) required to provide this service. As they said, they have no problem with free software, but free services are a different beast all together. Don't be a tight arse. If you want them to succeed, then support them !!
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Actually, I'm planning to do self hosting on my pentium III laptop that's running as a server.
But my point was not that mobical was doing it from the kindness of the hearts, it's: if there are companies who offer the service for free, why does Canonical think they can get people to pay for it? I think most people will prefer to be mobical's guinea pig or better yet, they'll use Google's service [google.com]*
* btw, isn't it odd that Google's own service supports every mobile except Android?
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I personally believe that allowing people to sync their contacts from almost any mobile phone into a Linux desktop is a huge step forward.
Not really. gmail or syncml could already do this, and do it for free (at least, the synchronization worked fine between my Nokia E71, my Droid, and my linux boxes). Your service apparently can't do it for free, and can't even stay up right now. May be, you just meant to say "a huge step backward", so if that's the case, I'd say yes, this service is taking at least a couple of little steps backwards.
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Parent is correct.
I'll be happy to cough up some dough for quality services that integrate well with my free Ubuntu desktop. PIM-syncing type operations have been a headache for me, and I am sure other users, and it's excellent to see the need being addressed. Although I won's need this, as I'm all Googly now, I look forward to trying out the music store.
Charlie
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They give away Ubuntu Desktop and Server editions for free,
Today, but what about tomorrow? This does not instill confidence was my point.
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Today, but what about tomorrow? This does not instill confidence was my point.
Then you get the CentOS of the Ubuntu world. They can't just lock it up and put $$ in front of it, that's the beauty of open source. No confidence lost here, just perception on your behalf.
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From the www.ubuntu.com front page: "Ubuntu will always be free of charge, along with its regular enterprise releases and security updates." Plus, as another poster noted, the beauty of open source means that you can fork (see CentOS).
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Re:Available only to subscribers (Score:4, Insightful)
OK, you asked...
Lots of companies make money by selling us a "license" to use the products they provide, rather than letting us buy the product itself. It's becoming more common, so apparently, someone out there has found a "better way for a company to make money than by having people pay them for a product".
Who uses software? (Score:2)
Lots of companies make money by selling us a "license" to use the products they provide, rather than letting us buy the product itself. It's becoming more common, so apparently, someone out there has found a "better way for a company to make money than by having people pay them for a product".
Ok, you guessed wrong.
Sure, Google, Volkswagen, Boeing, 7-Eleven, Ace Hardware, Sherwin-Williams, and countless others write or customize software. Some even return improvements back to the FOSS community. However, these companies use software to make their money. The list goes on and together they make up the GDP.
Lots of companies, perhaps in absolute numbers 'sell' software. But compared to the companies that make their money in other ways, those that sell a license are functionally zero percent
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Microsoft, Apple, the game industry and the entire music and movie industry would disagree with you.
No.
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Those examples support the point I made that software is a means to the end and that 'selling' it is largely irrelevant to the GDP.
Apple sells hardware with software as an enabler, some nasty blobs on top of FOSS. The music and games [wikipedia.org] industries sell data, not software. So let that meme about 'selling' software die. It's done. Stick a fork in it.
No one 'buys' software or 'licenses', that's 1980's talk. Software is a tool that you download to get your real money-making work done.
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Really? Then what do you call it when people buy apps that serve no money-making purpose for the end user for their phones and other devices?
Using software to boost production (Score:2)
Then what do you call it when people buy apps that serve no money-making purpose for the end user for their phones and other devices?
Usually it is called stupid [businessinsider.com]. (Re-)read my previous comment. You will find in absolute numbers many such stupid practices. However, in terms of percentage of the GDP in any given country, it is insignificant enough to be inappropriate to bring up.
Most software is written by companies and agencies as a means to an end. Some write FOSS. Some build upon FOSS and even return improvements back to the FOSS community. These companies use software to make their money. The list goes on and together they mak
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When you find a better way for a company to make money than by having people pay them for a product, let me know. (And counterfeiting does not count.) Besides, they've already promised [ubuntu.com] that "Ubuntu will always be free of charge," so I don't know what you're concerned about.
1 - Ever hear of support? Product for free, support for $. Lots of companies solely thrive on this concept of support ( of others products ). They often call it 'professional services'. I suggest you look it up sometime. There is no reason it cant work if you support your own products that you give away.
2 - Promises from companies have been broken before. Quite often actually. You might want to trust some corporate entity who's directors can change and thus the direction of the company, but i dont.
Re:Available only to subscribers (Score:4, Informative)
And the moment that Ubuntu becomes nonfree and/or pay-to-play (either in a de jure or de facto sense), I have my data backed up. I'll move away without a regret or a second thought. And yes, free (free as in beer AND speech) software has existed for quite some time. No one needs a company for it. If you can figure a way to make money off it, great. If you can't, then to be honest, fuck yourself. It's not there for that purpose, it just allows for that purpose if you can pull it off.
That, however, is the exact reason that I absolutely insist on local storage of my data. If you control the data that I generate using my software, you control my use of it. I will not concede that control to even an entity that is now entirelty benevolent. That data is mine. If I wish to migrate it away, for any reason from malevolence to a simple wish to experiment, that's my right to do as well. I will not allow external storage or control of critical data.
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1 - Ever hear of support? Product for free, support for $. Lots of companies solely thrive on this concept of support ( of others products ). They often call it 'professional services'. I suggest you look it up sometime. There is no reason it cant work if you support your own products that you give away.
And Canonical offers that, if fact IIRC it was the first commercial offering Canonical did. But they are not a 'professional services' company, they are a software company with more than a handful of (320+ according to wikipedia I just checked) employees which means they need to, just like every other company, try many avenues to make money to keep those people employed. And quite frankly as a linux admin myself I have (like many of us) a superiority complex that tells me I would never need to purchase su
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Ever hear of support?
How would you charge for support for, say, a video game that isn't massively multiplayer?
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1 - Ever hear of support? Product for free, support for $. Lots of companies solely thrive on this concept of support ( of others products ). They often call it 'professional services'. I suggest you look it up sometime. There is no reason it cant work if you support your own products that you give away.
Congratulations, now a company has to create two enticing products instead of one.
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Why isn't this self-defeating? If you're supporting someone else's product, what's the incentive for them to make it? If you're supporting your own product, what's the incentive to improve it?
The more you improve your product, the less support you can sell. Doesn't that make you want to have an enticing, yet difficult-to-use product?
Unless all your support involves customer-specific modificatio
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we were not, and are not being used by them.
Having been around the community since before they existed, I disagree.
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I'm all ears.
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I think you are mis-understanding "free" in "free software" (or OSS for that matter, which is strictly speaking less "free" than "free software"). Hint: it's not referring to money.
The GPL even explicitly allows you to charge for the software (it's just that the source must then be available).
Pretty much no-one objects to charging for a service.
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Yes, this is the beginning of their move to being a strong, profitable business instead of just the charity arm of Mark Shuttleworth.
They should do a deal with NuevaSync (Score:1)
AGPLv3? (Score:2)
I thought the GPLv3 was incompatible with App Store distribution.
I haven't seen anything in the Affero addition that would clear the Tivoization, DRM, etc. clauses.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewEula?id=365281620 [apple.com]
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Still, while the protocol is open, the app doesn't have to be.
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Is that it then? The license applies to the protocol and not the app? Seems very odd.
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GPL applies to the PC app.
The protocol is open, unlicensed.
The mobile app can be any license it wants to be as long as it shares no code with the PC app.
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Then why do you have to accept the GPL before downloading the iPhone app?
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the app can be -any- license -including- GPL, providing that you can fulfill all GPL prerequisites.
If you can't, because e.g. GPL contradicts iPhone developer license, then you are not legal to release it under GPL. If you still do - tough luck, it's in violation of both and it's up to the court what to do with this legal monstrosity. Of course you can always hope nobody tries to assert either of them.
Anyway, GPL spreads virally through source code, not through transmission protocols. It can "spawn" instead
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Thanks! Good to know.
The lack of a Windows client is the reason why I prefer a combination of Dropbox and Truecrypt.
et tu ubuntu (Score:1)
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but not for Android? open source much?
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Android and other mobile operating systems will be supported with Funambol's standard client application.
Re:but... (Score:4, Informative)
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Slashdot needs a "-1, Wrong" moderation option.
Disagree, because then we'd have people getting modded wrong all the time simply because the mod is wrong.
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less likely to be wrong.
ROFL, having good karma is all about saying what other Slashdotters will agree with, and absolutely nothing to do with being right.
I have Excellent karma, so I should know... :P
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I agree with you, so obviously you're right. Sadly, I'm out of mod points.
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I guess that's where I'm going wrong - I have excellent Karma, and get mod points about once a year :/
You just need to look at the moderation on an Apple story, to see how bad an idea a "-1 Wrong" moderation would be, although I suppose it's already the case that people use Flamebait/Troll/Off-topic to mod down anything they don't like (in this case, doesn't support Apple). I have to browse these stories at -1.
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How about a "-1, didn't read the article" and more importantly "-2, didn't read the summary"?
It's OK, mods, I know this will be -1 offtopic in 3... 2... 1... Do what you gotta do.
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The whole thing make very little sense really. Funambol has had an iPhone app since 2008, so I am unsure why Ubuntu is writing their own. Maybe to get some press? Maybe for some unknown technical reason? Hard to say. The Ars link makes it sou
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And where was the Slashdot story for that?
He may not have RTFS, but this is a perfect example of how people end up being misled that things are only available on the Iphone, because anything "On The Iphone" gets pulled up for the daily Slashdot Iphone story, whilst other platforms are ignored. I did RTFS, and I ask what are these "other mobile operating systems"? Does it include the remainder 95% of the market, e.g., support for Symbian?
Prediction: It'll be the same for the Ipad.
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How can anybody assume that i would willingly upload all my contacts?
Wait.. was this custom written for you?!
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