jducoeur

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The heck with being able to share bookmarks between machines -- I want to be able to share my bloody *dictionary*. I confess, this business of having to add "Pennsic" to the dictionary in every program on every computer I use gets old after a while. (Yes, yes -- I could just ignore the red underlines. But the pedant in me sees that blood-red mark with real pain.)

Really, it would be pretty easy to write an online system that lets you define your personal dictionary extensions, and that maybe even allows you to share them with friends. The only tricky part is getting programs to make use of it. Might make a good Firefox extension to start with, though...

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From:

oakleaf-mirror.livejournal.com

Okay, you're still confined to a single user/computer, but the spell checking on a Mac is a system service, using a common dictionary with all (well, most) programs. If I add Pennsic in Mail, then the dictionary in Safari, Pages, Keynote and most third party apps will recognize it as a valid word. (Microsoft being the major exception - Firefox currently doesn't use the system but has doing so as a goal.)

From:

laurion

Doesn't solve the multi-computer problem. Apple hasn't even implemented a .mac sync for the dictionary. Even if it did, .mac's services aren't currently worth the $100/year (coming from someone who has .mac). We'll see what the service value is after tomorrow's product release.

From:

oakleaf-mirror.livejournal.com

Yeah, I know that it doesn't resolve the multi-computer comproblem. That's why the first sentence of my comment mentioned that. But it's one step closer to a solution than every program using their own spell-checker and dictionary.

And I agree .Mac services aren't worth $100/year, and never have been. Which is why I haven't had a mac.com address since .Mac replaced iTools. Apple keeps throwing in little roadblocks that would go away with .Mac, such as computer-to-computer syncing. There's no reason to restrict it to .Mac, except to drive more .Mac subscriptions, but it's still too pricey for what you get. I don't expect that will change much tomorrow.

From:

laurion

Well, to be honest, for true syncing, you want a third point to act as intermediary. Otherwise, you need your syncing machines to be on, which doesn't work for most people. Even I never shut down, but I do close my laptop for large periods of time.

There are solutions to the problem, such as FolderShare (recently bought by MS), or using a unix utility like rsync or unison to sync, either directly or through an always on central point (in my case a webhost), but there is no really complete solution unless you roll one yourself. Even with a central storage option, you still usually need to schedule with cron or anacron the sync at the client end, or you are stuck having to do it manually, and we know how often manual processes become habits... :P

And the above solutions almost exclusively work at the file level, which isn't really what's important. The data level is what is important, and at the moment, .Mac offers a largish amount of data sync, not file sync. Depending on the data you want to sync, the new Plaxo 2.0 works well for PIMesque data.

From:

oakleaf-mirror.livejournal.com

My desktop machine is always on (except when I go away on vacation). I'd be happy to let it serve as a sync point. My laptop is often closed and asleep, but in that state, I don't care if it's not up to sync, as long as it takes care of that once it wakes up.

I haven't really found a good sync solution. Missing Sync bought up a company that was making a computer-to-computer sync, but that caused a nightmare of errors that I'm still not sure I've completely recovered from. Most purported fie sync (besides being file, rather than data sync) attempts seem to still poorly resolve changes on both branches. No, I don't always want to pick one vs. the other, I want the changes merged, perhaps.

From:

laurion

FolderShare at least does a pretty decent job with this. If one file is changed and the other not, it replicated the changed one. If both have changed, it appends the machine identifier. You have two copies, but at least it is obvious which is which, and you don't lose any modifications. It doesn't ask you to resolve anything, it leaves it up to you to do that whenever you get around to it.

From:

cellio

Instead of ignoring the invasive blood-red marks, I turn 'em off. Yeah, I'd rather have a useful spelling checker, but it's too much trouble to build. :-(