Cultured Code published a post at their Things Blog yesterday, with their latest update on the status of cloud sync for the Things task management app. The big piece of good news in their update is that they will not be charging for the cloud sync feature / service when it is eventually available.
It turns out that the hard work of making our solution scalable has paid off – our sync service has gracefully handled this increasing traffic – and with usage data on hand from this large group, we can also now confirm that there will be no need to charge for the service. Our cloud sync service will be free for all users of Things.
The bad news is that their beta program seems to be continuing at the same leisurely pace that has been the trademark of Cultured Code’s approach all along. The beta program started in early May but included only Macs, no iOS devices. Yesterday’s post states that iOS testing will begin with a small group of testers, on August 22. So it sounds like they are still months away from a public release. Bearing in mind that several rival apps have offered cloud sync for a long while now, the lack of any sense of urgency on this subject from Cultured Code continues to surprise me. This is all too little and too late for me; I’ve recently switched to OmniFocus and I’m very happy with the change.
For more details, and to hear what Cultured Code think about iOS 5 and iCloud and why their own solution is still the right one, see their full article here: http://culturedcode.com/things/blog/2011/07/cloud-sync-beta.html
Cloud sync is by far and away the biggest missing feature in the otherwise excellent Things task manager app for iPad, iOS and Mac. It has been for a long time now, while other rival apps have offered it well ahead of Things.
Last month there was some relatively good news for those of us long awaiting this feature; as Cultured Code (developers of Things) started a Things Cloud Sync Beta in early May. The not so great news at the time was that only Macs (no iOS devices) would be involved in the initial beta period, there was no timeframe at all for the beta period or ETA for when the feature would be released, and no indication as to whether the cloud sync feature would be free or paid for.
I’ve been curious about how the beta testing is going and hoping by now there might be some word on ETA for the new feature release – so today I had a quick check of the Things Blog and Cultured Code’s Twitter account. Their most recent tweet was a reply pointing a user at an FAQ page for the latest info on Cloud Sync.
[click to continue reading…]
Cultured Code has kicked off their beta testing program for cloud sync for their Things task management app. They’ve started the beta testing on schedule with a small group of testers that will be expanded as the testing moves forward.
That’s the good news, that beta testing has begun. Here’s the not-so-good news:
– The current round of beta testing includes only Macs, no iOS devices at all.
– There’s no timeframe announced for how long testing will take.
– There’s no decision yet as to whether the cloud sync service may be charged for or not.
I love Things as a task management app, and it’s been one of my most used apps on the Mac and on iOS for ages – but its current WiFi sync is getting worse all the time, and Cultured Code have taken so long to address this cloud sync issue, and there’s still no end line in sight and no clear answer on whether it will be charged for. It’s becoming harder and harder to stay with Things. I now find myself looking closely at every tasks app that gets an update and adds features.
The screenshot above is one I’ve got to know quite well over recent months. Far more than I would have liked to. It’s a status / error message from the Things task management app on my MacBook pro, concluding with
Waiting for Things on your mobile device …
The thing is I see this message when the mobile device in question, my iPad, is roughly 10 feet away from my MacBook (or less). The iPad is on, the Things app is open – so my rather obvious question is WTF is Things on the Mac waiting for?
Of course that’s just a rhetorical question. I’ve learned by now that the issue is generally resolved by closing out Things on the iPad, closing and restarting Things on the Mac, or some combination of these. If this happened once in a great while, no biggie; but when it happens several times per week, as it does for me, it is more than a little bit of a pain in the arse.
I’ve spoken to someone at Things / Cultured Code about this in the past and they suggested that it must be a problem with my wireless router. That is possible, but I find it highly unlikely – as the issue has persisted over enough months to include a time when I used a NetGear router and now an Airport Extreme I’ve had for several months. And none of my other apps that make use of local WiFi connections, or sync between Mac and devices, have had any issues at all.
So my thought is that this is just Things sync getting its knickers in a twist, annoyingly often.
I love Things. It’s one of my most used apps. But the lack of cloud sync has been a sore point for a long, long time now – and now that WiFi sync frankly sucks in terms of performance, it is adding insult to injury. It’s a great app – but the developers seriously need to figure sync out very soon.
Bitch and you shall receive, that’s how the saying goes right? Just yesterday I bitched again about the lack of OTA sync in the (otherwise excellent) Things task manager app, and last night the folks at Cultured Code (developers of Things) announced on their blog that OTA sync will begin testing in May.
Here are some of the major points outlined in their blog post:
– Things on iOS and Mac will need to be updated to enable communication with the cloud server.
This software upgrade will come at no charge, and will also sport a revamped database layer that is not only faster, but specifically optimized for cloud sync usage.
– Things sync will not be automatic it sounds like, but it will sync ‘frequently’ enough that ‘there should hardly be any reason’ for doing any manual syncs.
Whenever you open Things, switch applications, or wake your computer from sleep, Things will check back with the server to see if there are any updates to pull.
[click to continue reading…]
