5 ms·

> if you use multiple macOS machines, Apple will now sync your desktops between them, too Oh No. Please no. If I had to come up with a list of 5 things Apple

by imron 10y ago

> if you use multiple macOS machines, Apple will now sync your desktops between them, too Oh No. Please no. If I had to come up with a list of 5 things Apple is really bad at, sync would be one of them. I've basically stopped syncing my phone and desktop because of all the duplicated calendar entries syncing creates. It's something I have absolutely zero trust in them to do properly.

matthewmacleod 10y ago
See, the thing is - I use sync across multiple Apple devices. I have had zero problems with duplicated or missing entries, and it's one of the absolute killer features of the ecosystem for me. It's hard to get a real impression of what problems may or may not exist, unfortunately.
- imron 10y ago
  It works great - until it doesn't, and then you find all your music is deleted or something [0] They don't exactly have a stellar record on this sort of thing. 0 - http://9to5mac.com/2016/05/13/apple-officially-acknowledges-reports-of-personal-music-files-being-deleted-itunes-update-coming-next-week-to-hopefully-fix-the-bug/ http://9to5mac.com/2016/05/13/apple-officially-acknowledges-...
  - coldtea 10y ago
    One random user? Which they officially acknowledged even? This might be a less than a stellar record, but not because of that link.
    - imron 10y ago
      That was just the first link from a Google search. Internet forums are full of other users complaining of the same problem. Even if it only affects 0.1% of users, multiply that by the tens of millions, and that's a large number of people having a horrible experience. It works great for you, until you're in the 0.1% then it's a bitch. Edit: and it's not just music, it's a mulit-year history of botching up sync across multiple different technologies - some of which I've experienced first hand, some of which I've had friends complain of. Either way, Apple have zero credibility with me and syncing.
      - coldtea 10y ago
        >Even if it only affects 0.1% of users, multiply that by the tens of millions, and that's a large number of people having a horrible experience. Still nothing for the remaining 99.9% of them.
        creshal 10y ago
        Schadenfreude is not a problem solving strategy.
    - randallsquared 10y ago
      10-12 years ago (wow...), stories like that were a lot more common. I lost thousands of MP3s to iTunes on my first Mac, a PowerBook 17.
    - ben174 10y ago
      Happened to me and many people I know. It's a very widespread issue.
kiwijamo 10y ago
I've used Apple sync between my laptop and phone for my calendars for over a year with no issues. I have several friends with Apple devices who depend on reliable calendars and none have complained about this aspect. YMMV.
Esau 10y ago
I don't have a problem with syncing, so long as it is not turned on by default. I also wouldn't use it if it depends on iCloud.
mikewhy 10y ago
It was under the impression that it's not one desktop being synced across all your computers, but rather your desktop on other machines are accessible anywhere. Akin to iCloud tabs, or Chrome tab syncing. Basically you open Finder on your MacBook and there's a new sidebar entry: "Desktop on imron's iMac"
- eric_h 10y ago
  I haven't read enough about it to corroborate, but I very much hope this to be the case. My personal machine and my work machine have very different use profiles (not to mention monitor setups), and I would not want actual automated syncing of everything, but being able to grab something from my home machine would be useful (which I already do with iCloud browsing history).
- imron 10y ago
  Remote Desktop with the ability to copy/paste text and files would be useful. Sync would be dreadful.
  - szc 10y ago
    You can already sort of do this. But it is done with drag-n-drop. Pick a file on your Desktop and drop it into a Screen Sharing window! Drag a file from a Screen Sharing session onto your desktop.
leonroy 10y ago
Dropbox + symlinks works great already.
- therealmarv 10y ago
  nice idea!
guiporto 10y ago
Same here. I've had multiple problems with sync. Specially with Notes. I've lost notes, I've had notes duplicated, etc. The best decision I had was to switch to Simplenote.
dreamcompiler 10y ago
Completely agree. Apple's unstated policy regarding sync is that customer data loss is acceptable, and for that reason I avoid any form of sync from Apple.
derefr 10y ago
Apple is bad at cloud syncing. And "cloud" stuff in general, really. That's just not the scale they think on naturally. Apple has always done "workgroup"-size sharing pretty well, though. See: early AppleTalk; Bonjour; AirPlay; Time Machine with a Time Capsule; etc. (Though I won't include iTunes Home Sharing in that list; it's garbage.) But, I was surprised to learn, OSX Server.app is actually supposed to be part of that "workgroup-sized solutions" list, too. It's basically "Active Directory Controller - Home Edition"—an actually not-insane thing to use to manage ~3-8 devices for your family. Stick it on a Mac Mini, forward some ports through your router, set up dynamic DNS and a LetsEncrypt cert, and suddenly everyone can consume regular old CalDAV calendars and LDAP contacts. (Plus some cute other things, like putting all your family's devices under Profile Management so you can push an update to them whenever you are about to e.g. change the wi-fi password, instead of having to go around to everything and change it.)
ceocoder 10y ago
I really hope this is an Opt-In feature rather than Opt-Out. Out-of-sync iMessage threads, bizarre chicken-or-egg "Approve Keychain for this device from your other device" (what device? I never approved it in the first place - JUST STAY AWAY FROM MY PASSWORDS, I'm perfectly happy with 1Password + Dropbox sync), and my personal pet peeve is Spaces. I used to love OS X Spaces as with really easy to use keyboard shortcuts, Apple got rid of around Lion and replaced it with mediocre "workspaces" with very little keyboard friendly-ness - TotalSpaces helps fill the void, but once has to disable sip in order to use it. </endrant>

by imron 10y ago

matthewmacleod 10y ago

See, the thing is - I use sync across multiple Apple devices. I have had zero problems with duplicated or missing entries, and it's one of the absolute killer features of the ecosystem for me. It's hard to get a real impression of what problems may or may not exist, unfortunately.

imron 10y ago
It works great - until it doesn't, and then you find all your music is deleted or something [0] They don't exactly have a stellar record on this sort of thing. 0 - http://9to5mac.com/2016/05/13/apple-officially-acknowledges-reports-of-personal-music-files-being-deleted-itunes-update-coming-next-week-to-hopefully-fix-the-bug/ http://9to5mac.com/2016/05/13/apple-officially-acknowledges-...
- coldtea 10y ago
  One random user? Which they officially acknowledged even? This might be a less than a stellar record, but not because of that link.
  - imron 10y ago
    That was just the first link from a Google search. Internet forums are full of other users complaining of the same problem. Even if it only affects 0.1% of users, multiply that by the tens of millions, and that's a large number of people having a horrible experience. It works great for you, until you're in the 0.1% then it's a bitch. Edit: and it's not just music, it's a mulit-year history of botching up sync across multiple different technologies - some of which I've experienced first hand, some of which I've had friends complain of. Either way, Apple have zero credibility with me and syncing.
    - coldtea 10y ago
      >Even if it only affects 0.1% of users, multiply that by the tens of millions, and that's a large number of people having a horrible experience. Still nothing for the remaining 99.9% of them.
      - creshal 10y ago
        Schadenfreude is not a problem solving strategy.
  - randallsquared 10y ago
    10-12 years ago (wow...), stories like that were a lot more common. I lost thousands of MP3s to iTunes on my first Mac, a PowerBook 17.
  - ben174 10y ago
    Happened to me and many people I know. It's a very widespread issue.

kiwijamo 10y ago

I've used Apple sync between my laptop and phone for my calendars for over a year with no issues. I have several friends with Apple devices who depend on reliable calendars and none have complained about this aspect. YMMV.

Esau 10y ago

I don't have a problem with syncing, so long as it is not turned on by default. I also wouldn't use it if it depends on iCloud.

mikewhy 10y ago

It was under the impression that it's not one desktop being synced across all your computers, but rather your desktop on other machines are accessible anywhere. Akin to iCloud tabs, or Chrome tab syncing. Basically you open Finder on your MacBook and there's a new sidebar entry: "Desktop on imron's iMac"

eric_h 10y ago
I haven't read enough about it to corroborate, but I very much hope this to be the case. My personal machine and my work machine have very different use profiles (not to mention monitor setups), and I would not want actual automated syncing of everything, but being able to grab something from my home machine would be useful (which I already do with iCloud browsing history).
imron 10y ago
Remote Desktop with the ability to copy/paste text and files would be useful. Sync would be dreadful.
- szc 10y ago
  You can already sort of do this. But it is done with drag-n-drop. Pick a file on your Desktop and drop it into a Screen Sharing window! Drag a file from a Screen Sharing session onto your desktop.

leonroy 10y ago

Dropbox + symlinks works great already.

therealmarv 10y ago
nice idea!

guiporto 10y ago

Same here. I've had multiple problems with sync. Specially with Notes. I've lost notes, I've had notes duplicated, etc. The best decision I had was to switch to Simplenote.

dreamcompiler 10y ago

Completely agree. Apple's unstated policy regarding sync is that customer data loss is acceptable, and for that reason I avoid any form of sync from Apple.

derefr 10y ago

Apple is bad at cloud syncing. And "cloud" stuff in general, really. That's just not the scale they think on naturally. Apple has always done "workgroup"-size sharing pretty well, though. See: early AppleTalk; Bonjour; AirPlay; Time Machine with a Time Capsule; etc. (Though I won't include iTunes Home Sharing in that list; it's garbage.) But, I was surprised to learn, OSX Server.app is actually supposed to be part of that "workgroup-sized solutions" list, too. It's basically "Active Directory Controller - Home Edition"—an actually not-insane thing to use to manage ~3-8 devices for your family. Stick it on a Mac Mini, forward some ports through your router, set up dynamic DNS and a LetsEncrypt cert, and suddenly everyone can consume regular old CalDAV calendars and LDAP contacts. (Plus some cute other things, like putting all your family's devices under Profile Management so you can push an update to them whenever you are about to e.g. change the wi-fi password, instead of having to go around to everything and change it.)

ceocoder 10y ago

I really hope this is an Opt-In feature rather than Opt-Out. Out-of-sync iMessage threads, bizarre chicken-or-egg "Approve Keychain for this device from your other device" (what device? I never approved it in the first place - JUST STAY AWAY FROM MY PASSWORDS, I'm perfectly happy with 1Password + Dropbox sync), and my personal pet peeve is Spaces. I used to love OS X Spaces as with really easy to use keyboard shortcuts, Apple got rid of around Lion and replaced it with mediocre "workspaces" with very little keyboard friendly-ness - TotalSpaces helps fill the void, but once has to disable sip in order to use it. </endrant>