Tiger and PDAs: Not Such a Rosy Relationship

[Darius Wey]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.markspace.com/tiger.html' target='_blank'>http://www.markspace.com/tiger.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The Missing Sync for Pocket PC was the first Apple-approved, third-party plugin designed to work with iSync. With Tiger, iSync has changed significantly so that 10.2.x and 10.3.x iSync plugins no longer function. As a result, the current release of The Missing Sync for Pocket PC is not compatible with Tiger."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20050507-MissingSync.jpg" /><br /><br />Thinking of making the jump over to Tiger? Think again. According to Mark/Space (the folk behind 'The Missing Sync'), significant changes to the iSync technology have rendered 'The Missing Sync' unusable in Tiger. However, all is not lost. You can choose not to upgrade to Tiger if you want to retain the Mac-PDA synchronising functionality, or you can wait until the end of June when <a href="http://www.markspace.com/missingsync_windowsmobile.html">'The Missing Sync for Windows Mobile'</a> will be released (we also <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=39036">posted</a> on this earlier in the year). Mark/Space guarantees that this version will be compatible with Tiger. The price? $19.95 for all existing customers, although those who purchased 'The Missing Sync' from April 1, 2005 will be eligible for a free upgrade as soon as it is released.

[Jonathan1]

Question: Tiger has had developer builds out since mid 2004. Why is it that Mark/Space didn't start looking into this before now? (Which pretty much has to be the case or they would have had a functioning product the day of Tiger's release. EDIT: Then again it could be because they are adding features in the next version which will support Tiger. :confused totally: )
Esp considering that Apple has been saying all along that Tiger was going to have a pretty big under the hood revamp.

IMHO it sounds like Mark/Space dropped the ball on this in a big way.

[shockidelica]

Pocket PC users have always been shorted by Mark/Space. Anyone who's followed their offerings know that it's taken them almost 2 years to add Entourage support for Pocket PC; and even that's not available yet. It seems that all of the focus is on their Palm syncing app while the Pocket PC app is treated like the step-child. To me, it's no surprise that they haven't been pro-active on providing support for Tiger.

[gorkon280]

I understand Mark Space is in it for making money, but hear me out.....why is it I have to pay even a reduced rate? PocketMac had a version out right around the time I bought Missing Sync. They both were released real close in time, yet the pocket mac developers are making thier update free. I don't flippin care about the Entourage syncing. I use iCal and Address Book. Notes not moving is not a big deal and I can always back them up. I understand they were working on a new version, but isn't there anyway for them to just update the version I have to make it work with Tiger? I don't need the new features and would be willing to buy it. I will still likely buy it, but only becauase of the discount.

[Anthony Caruana]

Note that PocketMac doen't yet support Tiger either. They are planning a free update to current users in the next few days.

I'm a little surprised that neither has had a Tiger ready release on Day 1 seeing that there have been developer builds of Tiger available for some time. On the other hand, I believe that the developer kit for Tiger wasn't all that cheap and they might have had to weigh up that cost for their busnesses. I'm not making excuses for them, just speculating.

In the case Missing Sync though, they are in the process of a full redesign of the application and the new release will be a substantial departure from the current release. I guess that they had to decide between a point release Tiger update and the whole new product.

I'll be tracking this closely at my site (www.thepdaguy.com) for those that are interested.

[Phronetix]

But which was the greater limiting factor? Tiger and the updated iSync, or Windows Mobile 2005?

I think that maybe updating sync software from both ends is a difficult endeavour, any which way.

The première developer membership is 3500 US dollars per year. Clearly MarkSpace would be a member. They couldn't pump out this signif an upgrade in 6 weeks.

[Anthony Caruana]

They couldn't pump out this signif an upgrade in 6 weeks.

Having had some correspondence with mark/Space, I can tell you that this major upgrade has been in the works for several months.

In the life of a software development project Tiger's arrival, which until a few weeks ago didn't have a specific date, was a complication that, while it was planned for, may have added some time to the app's delivery.

Personally, I'm really looking orward to this update from mark/Space

[juni]

My wife, who is an avid Mac user says that PocketMac already works with Tiger. What she says about Missing Sync can't be repeated in public. :D

[Anthony Caruana]

My wife, who is an avid Mac user says that PocketMac already works with Tiger. What she says about Missing Sync can't be repeated in public. :D

Interesting. I just took PocketMac's word for it when they said that a Tiger ready release would be coming soon.

I'm curious - what's the problem with Missing Sync. My opinion is that PocketMac was far more feature rich but I always found it very unstable. USB dropouts and crashes were normal occurences.

What version of pocketMac is your wife using?

[PPCMD]

[quote="juni"]My wife, who is an avid Mac user says that PocketMac already works with Tiger. What she says about Missing Sync can't be repeated in public. :D[/quote

Which PocketMAC app is your wife using? SmartPhone or PPC (phone Edition)? I will have to try my SmartPhone today and see if it works.

[Perry]

Becoming an Apple developer can be expensive if you want pre-release builds of the OS. I doubt either M/S or PM make that much.

Both are deeply flawed products that are steadily improving. I bought PM because it was less money.

You could argue that these programs barely work in Panther :)

[Anthony Caruana]

You could argue that these programs barely work in Panther :)

Umm, that's a little strong. Missing Sync, in my experience, was very reliable and did exactly what it said it woud do. Sure it doesn't support Entourage, but it never asserted that it would. The specs are very clear on this.

PocketMac is a little cheaper but I found it very unstable. Easily the most "crashy" Mac app I've ever used. However, it is getting better, build by build.

[alex_kac]

Both had Tiger dev builds for many months, but lots of iSync/iCal stuff changed in the last 60 days.

[corrosive]

You could argue that these programs barely work in Panther :)

Umm, that's a little strong. Missing Sync, in my experience, was very reliable and did exactly what it said it woud do. Sure it doesn't support Entourage, but it never asserted that it would. The specs are very clear on this.

PocketMac is a little cheaper but I found it very unstable. Easily the most "crashy" Mac app I've ever used. However, it is getting better, build by build.

Sorry, but Missing Sync hasn't done exactly what it said it would do if you're not in the US timezone - repeating daily events just do not work (search the discussion lists here (http://lists.markspace.com/pipermail/missing-sync-pocketpc-talk/)) - and the fix? There won't be one, you have to upgrade. I've also recently found that the latest version seems to need me to be logged in as an administrator for it to work. I've waited nearly two years for this product to work properly, which I think is more than enough time for MarkSpace to deliver a functional product. I'm not impressed. It's even more disappointing as their PalmOS product seems far better, so it's not as if their incapable of delivering a good product. Maybe the new version will work as advertised, but I'm not going to pay to find out.

[Pixelnose]

FWIW the current 3.44 Pocketmac Pro is working on my clean install of Tiger on my g4 ibook. I'm not using ical though, but if you stick with Entourage.... which is still nicer than ical, everything works great. I'm also not using isync though.... which I still don't care for.

I'm assuming it's isync and ical not working with Pocketmac? If you're used to living without these two programs, then Pocketmac is working. More than I can say for TMS.

I brought up as much on the Markspace mailing list and was completely flamed for whatever reason. Whatever, shooting the messenger I guess.

I wouldn't actually mind paying for TMS if it was just new features I was paying for, but I'll vote with my credit card if they expect me to pay for bug fixes.


Note that PocketMac doen't yet support Tiger either. They are planning a free update to current users in the next few days.

I'm a little surprised that neither has had a Tiger ready release on Day 1 seeing that there have been developer builds of Tiger available for some time. On the other hand, I believe that the developer kit for Tiger wasn't all that cheap and they might have had to weigh up that cost for their busnesses. I'm not making excuses for them, just speculating.

In the case Missing Sync though, they are in the process of a full redesign of the application and the new release will be a substantial departure from the current release. I guess that they had to decide between a point release Tiger update and the whole new product.

I'll be tracking this closely at my site (www.thepdaguy.com) for those that are interested.

[Pixelnose]

Yup, apparently TMS was ment for use in only one timezone, and then when you email them, they blame you... seriously, the worse support ever, and now we have to pay them to fix it. No it hasn't done what it was supposed to do from day one. Completely agreed!

You could argue that these programs barely work in Panther :)

Umm, that's a little strong. Missing Sync, in my experience, was very reliable and did exactly what it said it woud do. Sure it doesn't support Entourage, but it never asserted that it would. The specs are very clear on this.

PocketMac is a little cheaper but I found it very unstable. Easily the most "crashy" Mac app I've ever used. However, it is getting better, build by build.

Sorry, but Missing Sync hasn't done exactly what it said it would do if you're not in the US timezone - repeating daily events just do not work (search the discussion lists here (http://lists.markspace.com/pipermail/missing-sync-pocketpc-talk/)) - and the fix? There won't be one, you have to upgrade. I've also recently found that the latest version seems to need me to be logged in as an administrator for it to work. I've waited nearly two years for this product to work properly, which I think is more than enough time for MarkSpace to deliver a functional product. I'm not impressed. It's even more disappointing as their PalmOS product seems far better, so it's not as if their incapable of delivering a good product. Maybe the new version will work as advertised, but I'm not going to pay to find out.

[timb]

Actually, an ADC Select membership costs $500 a year, and that gives you full access to weekly builds on the Apple FTP. So, no, it's not expensive. That being said, a lot of the iSync changes WERE put in in the last two months. Most people had anticipated Tiger being released in June or July, so this came a bit early.

-Timothy

[mc_03]

All I know is PocketMac better hurry up on their release in "the next few days" because with the current version and Tiger, my mac mini kernel panics whenever I connect or disconnect my axim. :S

[Pixelnose]

I heard about kernel panics on the TMS mailing list, someone said something to the effect that they tried an upgrade of tiger and a clean install... and usually whenever someone says that, from my experience at support, it means they only tried the first option. So did you just upgrade to Tiger or was it a full clean install?

If you did a clean install and it still doesn't work, then somehow I must have lucked out... which so does not happen to me very often.

[unxmully]

All I know is PocketMac better hurry up on their release in "the next few days" because with the current version and Tiger, my mac mini kernel panics whenever I connect or disconnect my axim. :S

I can't believe I had to pay for this rubbish :evil:

[kellybelly]

All I know is PocketMac better hurry up on their release in "the next few days" because with the current version and Tiger, my mac mini kernel panics whenever I connect or disconnect my axim. :S
I get this when I disconnect my iPaq.

We shouldn't have to find work-arounds to get the program to work as it should, but I have found something that keeps the kernel panics at bay.

First, I don't have PM run at startup, and if it's running I make sure to quit it before connecting. I plug in the PDA then start up PM. It can be funny; sometimes I need to do it a few times to get the program to see the PDA. Once I'm done syncing I totally quit PM. Once the program is closed, I can disconnect my iPaq without a kernel panic.

I'm running Tiger on a clean install, FWIW.