Ubuntu One Gets iPhone App For Contact Sync

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."

Re:but...

[nazariuskappertaal]

but not for Android? open source much?

?

Android and other mobile operating systems will be supported with Funambol's standard client application.

Boosting is still on-going :)

[Beuno]

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.

Re:but...

[Skreems]

If you bothered to read past the first sentence of the summary, you'd notice that Android is mentioned as already being supported.

Re:Available only to subscribers

[Beuno]

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.

Re:What about a non- iTunes method?

[trapnest]

There -are- no drawbacks that I know of. The iTunes App/Music stores both work fine on jailbroken iPhones. Way to spread FUD.

Re:Available only to subscribers

[laughingcoyote]

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.

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.

Re:Available only to subscribers

[Macka]

There are some SyncML servers, like https://www.mobical.net/ [mobical.net] [mobical.net] . They seem to be able to provide the services for free

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:

"The purpose of Mobical.net is to introduce people all over the world to the benefits of using Tactel’s product Mobical for mobile synchronization. Tactel doesn't make any profit from this service; we only use it to develop, test and market new mobile synchronization technology that we sell to our customers: network operators, handset vendors, service providers, etc. That is how we can offer a free service and still make a business, and that is why we are committed to ensuring the privacy, integrity and security of your data."

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 !!