That's exactly how it works on Windows. Any app can access the global address book. (If you want to do a mail merge from Microsoft Word, for example). It has been this way for at least 5 years.

I hate to break it to you, but you will have to dialup to the internet anyway. In order to sync two machines, you must be a .Mac member. In order to verify your .Mac membership, the iSync software must access Apple's servers over the internet when you want to sync.

So you will still need to be connected to the internet each time you want to iSync.

Has anyone actually tested iSync with a mobile phone or palm pilot. If so, how well does it really work?

Well, I must say that it's about time someone did something about it on the mac. I don't know if it's Palm's fault for not making a conduit, but I'm glad this functionality is finally here.

I do like the fact that the address book which iSync syncs to is a system-wide database which any application can access, not just Outlook. I really hope that iSync encourages a more open-standards based way of synchronizing devices.

Also, if you use Address Book / iCal / Mail.app, having the conduits (once they are final and work completely right) will be useful, no?

Well, anyway, it seems people are strongly opinionated about all this, so I think I will leave while I still manage to maintain my objectiveness. :)

-Jeff
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Life = Integrate[ Experiences, {t, Birth, Death} ]

I've been doing that on Windows for about 4 years, by syncing my Palm device with Microsoft Outlook's address book. It's nothing new.

Yes, you can sync your Palm without a subscription. But big whoop! You can do that on every computing platform, don't need iSync for that.

In other words, the stuff that doesn't require a subscription was already free. The new, interesting stuff that wasn't easy before requires a subscription.

When it happens, then I guess I'll have something to complain about. Until then, it's Apple doing it, not Microsoft.

I must agree that it is pretty darn slow...but I'm sure they will work that out later. This is beta software after all.

Regardless of it's sluggishness, this software is definitely a breakthrough product. Where else can I enter in someone's e-mail on my Palm, and then have it autocomplete in Mail next time I send a message? iSync certainly has a lot of room to grow and I really hope that Apple opens up the conduit plugin api's so that other device manufacturers can use it as well.

Or is it just that the moderators don't want anyone to know that certain features don't work without a subscription, so they mod posts that talk about that down?

I don't know where you people get these ideas. There is no product called ".NET" that you can buy. Microsoft does not sell a product called ".NET". People who use Wintel can't buy something called ".NET" even if they wanted to.

There is not even any software to BUY for an initial purchase, let alone a recurring subscription.

Is Bill Gates evil? Yes. Do I hate him? Yes. Is OS X better than Windows? Yes. But it's Mac users that have subscription software, not Windows users. Don't forget that.

-Jeff

P.S. - If you haven't read the beta release notes, you might want to. It has some notes on a few thing that can still cause data corruption. (It is a beta you know.)
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Life = Integrate[ Experiences, {t, Birth, Death} ]

Has anyone actually downloaded it and used it yet?

Sounds like you need a subscription for this feature, which is exactly what I said in the first place.

pay for .Net

You're uninformed. .NET is nothing more than an architecture, and no one "pays for it". I use Windows 2000, and I paid for it exactly ONCE. No .WIN subscription, no annual fee. Mac users are the ones paying recurring fees, not Windows users!

Yeah, it's called an Applescript or shell script. Go learn some scripting and you can backup, synch, copy, start anything you want to.

lol You must have missed the thread about using Backup without a .Mac account. Yawn. Plus, if you want to backup, Unix has plenty of tools to do it with and they are all FREE. As for synching across different macs, huh??? You are so retarded. Go post on zdnet or somewhere else lame ass. Don't try submitting on Slashdot or Macslash where the admins are using Macs or are going to get new Macs. Don't go to Defcon where 80% of the people are using iBooks or TI PowerBooks. Go buy XP, pay for .Net, crash your system, learn to right click, and suck Bill Gate's rectum out and feel happy about your computing experience. haha

Guess I will wait for someone else to develop something for that. I would rather pay $50 for software that gives me more freedom than for a useless dotCrap account. Of course i didn't get hooked on the email account.. thank goodness :)

Now, you can argue that the fee is worth it. Or that it's reasonable. That's fine! But it is still software rental!

I also have to surrender to Starbucks from time to time, and yet, when drinking their bitter roasted espresso I always think, couldn't Cremcaffe`, Mr.Illy or Mr.Hausbrandt open a coffee chain in North America, life would be so much better :-)

DO NOT LEAVE IT IS NOT REAL [slashdot.org]

If .mac is built into Apple's apps, it's there because a lot of people find it to be a convenient way to do things. What's more, they're additions - minor additions - to very powerful apps that don't require a membership at all. Apple always allows non .mac ways to do the same things in their apps. You can make a web page in iPhoto using your .Mac account, or you can just export it to HTML. It's not as snazzy, but it works. ...and if you want to have an online calendar, just use the publish function of iCal. It works with .Mac pretty easily, but you can publish it to any WebDAV server, which further proves my point.
Trev
www.trev.com [trev.com]

Take off the blinders. It's legitimate for people to "Bitch" for more as long as they vote with their pockets.

Forcing .Mac on iSync does not "add value" to either product. It just removes all value, and gives some back if you get .Mac. More value would occur if the web-syncing were optional.>