Mac OS XI (Eleven)

In: Business Ideas By: Brian Armstrong

18 Aug 2010

Random thought for the day: for the next version of Apple’s operating system, they should really think about synching all your programs, settings, etc across ALL your computers.

Right now I carry a MacBook Pro between home and work every day because maintaining all my programs, files, and settings on two separate machines would simply be far too much work. Why can’t those all be in the cloud? I’d love to have the raw power and convenience of desktop machines at home and work – but the software underneath would have to all be the same virtualized computer or it would be too much of a hassle.

How many more computers could Apple sell if everyone who currently uses a MacBook as their primary machine went out and bought a desktop or two to complement it?

I wouldn’t be surprised if they are already working on this…

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13 Responses

Ionut Staicu

August 18th, 2010 at 6:59 am

To be honest, I’ll be happy with „cut file” feature and some smarter finder… :D

Matt

August 18th, 2010 at 3:53 pm

You can sync a lot using Dropbox! I use it for stuff like 1Password files, some project files, and any documents I want to use between computers.

For anyone that hasn’t heard of Dropbox, it gives you a folder on your computer that behaves as a regular folder, but is synced online and to any other computers you install it on. Works seamlessly and in the background! You just need to configure your programs to save stuff in that folder. Also, works across platforms (Mac, Windows, Linux).

Brian Armstrong

August 18th, 2010 at 8:33 pm

Hey Matt, yep I’m a big dropbox fan too – one thing I’ve never considered, could it work for your Applications directory too? That would be really cool if you could keep your programs in there too.

The world is def moving in this direction…

Erica Douglass

August 18th, 2010 at 5:32 pm

Windows has built-in sync. I use this all the time between my laptop and my desktop. Syncs my entire “My Documents” folder automatically when I log in to my home network.

Jungle Disk also has it; you can set it up as J: and then do the sync so everything is in the cloud.

Sorry you have a Mac. ;)

-Erica

Brian Armstrong

August 18th, 2010 at 9:20 pm

Ha…..yeah fair enough, figured I’d get some flak for that :) Would be awesome if it went even a step further and synced all programs too, and not just the files. But I’m sure someone will build it eventually.

Raam Dev

August 19th, 2010 at 7:18 am

If you have the MobileMe service, syncing preferences is already available.

With my AddressBook, Email, Preferences, and Dashboard Widgets all synced to the cloud, setting up my new MacBook Pro was a simple matter of plugging in my username and password and waiting for everything to download. Then I just looked to my list of “apps I use” and reinstalled them (most were free downloads, so even that wasn’t difficult).

But yeah, syncing apps would definitely be awesome. That would pretty much complete the experience!

Brian Armstrong

August 28th, 2010 at 7:39 am

Interesting Raam, didn’t know MobileMe had started going in this direction…thanks!

Frank

August 28th, 2010 at 9:58 am

I needed this yesterday. Just lost *everything* on my macbook for no apparent reason. Time to put every single thing I do in the cloud.

MacManish

September 7th, 2010 at 4:32 pm

I must say that if I am disappointed in one thing with Mac OS X it’s the lack of a meaningful built-in sync solution. And no I don’t want to use rsync with some bash script, it should be much like Time Machine where it’s automated and goes on in the background.

I also use several Macs (plus several iOS devices) so it’s a bit cumbersome to get all file versions and app settings consistent across the board. DropBox is a big help but there needs to be something better, and I hope this comes in the next major software update.

Jack Jackson (Jack-of-all-trades)

November 12th, 2010 at 1:08 am

Hey man,
you know that mac syncing is going to be in os x lion

Brian Armstrong

November 12th, 2010 at 3:10 am

Hi Jack – nope didn’t know that. I watched the keynote on it but didn’t see anything specifically about this. I know they are going to use the App Store there, but is this the same?

Pam Solinsky

November 24th, 2010 at 10:24 pm

We have built our site using open source (Joomla), on an iMac running OS XI. It’s at http://www.regdfast.com. The site is Reg D Fast. We allow small business owners to purchase and download the appropriate legal documents for collecting private capital from private investors. We sell Private Placement Templates (PPM Templates).

The iMac works fantastic for this application. We love your article. Keep up the great work.

Breaking Free

Mac OS XI (Eleven)

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