Fury as OS X Mavericks users FORCED to sync contact books with iCloud Apple has removed from Mac OS X Mavericks the ability to directly sync an iPhone's contact list with its owner's computer – forcing the user to instead upload their address book to Cupertino's cloud and download it to the local computer. Anyone who updates to the latest release of Apple's desktop operating system, version 10.9 …
Another anonymous fandroid halfwit strikes again. The insinuation, oh great stupid one, was that iPhones are common, which would indicate that they are the dominant handset. However, we are constantly being told my monobrow toting fandroids that Android is the dominant platform, although the main area of domination appears to be landfill. John, may or may not be a fandroid, it's a reasonable however to make such an assumption, numbnuts.
@John Devoy,
"The days of iPhones being the bling phone are long gone, it's the most common phone around here."
Same goes for Android I suppose, and there's faint glimmers of interest in WinPhone.
For the best left-field, way out and non-conformist mobile phone experience it's BlackBerry all the way for me :-)
Not over here, there are nearly as many Windows Phones as there are iPhones, both of which pale into insignificance compared to the Android phones.
Interestingly, at home the following has happened with the kids / partner:
Mac user 1 : Windows Phone 8
Mac user 2 : Android
Windows user : iPhone
The iPhone user is only using it, because it was a free hand-me-down (my old 3GS). She doesn't care what the next phone is, as long as it is cheap (under 100€).
US Attorneys are Very Mad
As you probably know by now, you cannot sync without iCloud in Mavericks
To say it another way, I missed a court date this morning because of relying on non-iCloud syncing (all handled very graciously because Judge was an Apple user whose child just told him about issue) .
So, because my clients are international, and because some demand that I do not use iCloud, and because I am fearful as well, sync is now a BIG issue.
Apple took it away in Mavericks without telling anyone. You cannot sync by cable or wifi or bluetooth except by using iCloud. All of my accounting info depends upon that syncing ability to ease the pain. Solution provided by Apple is to downgrade to Mountain Lion. That solution will require a complete reformatting of my hard drive as it requires a TimeMachine Restore. Of course, that is not easy. Apple was not going to guarantee that my accounting information could be rolled forward.
I have spoken to the IOS and Mavericks groups, and now am trying to determine if there is a proper way to use Server to restore this function. Server advertising states that there is, but it does not seem easy to set it up, and there is no confirmation that it actually will work yet.
There are now 1,000s of apple support blog messages, and the story is troubling. See http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/11/07/apple_mandates_icloud_contact_syncing/
In our world, this seems to be a lawsuit in the brewing. If you are interested in one, my team is definitely looking at it now.
....
I just got off the phone with Apple.
We got Mavericks Server to work with the iphone and the local mac (1 MacBookPro and 1 iPhone). To do so, we set up CalDAv and CardDAv servers and tested them under several circumstances (change IP number, etc). It seems to work but server must stay on for syncing, and setup is a bit awkward, but doable.
You must 'administer' the server, but that is not a bid deal either - simply you have to learn how like you had to learn how to use iTunes.
So, for $20 and 3 hours, you can get a local sync facility to work that you can carry with you. When you are at a coffee shop, you must be on wifi with both devices, but it should work too. No guarantees like having a cable, and you must be a bit worried about security because you are turning on a server, but at the office it is workable.
Sync time is not immediate - but is within a few minutes.
Call Apple - ask for enterprise solution assistance (you have to fight through mavericks support, then IOS support, then second level support at IOS, then first level support at Enterprise, then describe that you just want what you had with Mountain Lion for sync, and the wire itself is not required. Then they will take about an hour to help you set it up.
They said that the CalDAv and CardDAv servers provided were obtained from open source and improved, but basically stated that others could work too. I wanted an All Apple solution to show that Apple did not need to take the function away, but made the decision and failed to tell anyone, and thereby caused damages in terms of time...... You can see where that takes you/us.
does it make a material difference?
Well, it would for me, since forwarding company info such as mail to a third-party server directly contravenes company IT policy and could have me sacked.
Still, I don't use crApple products, and am happier about that decision every day. I know a few colleagues who will get an unpleasant surprise when IT come knocking at their virtual door, though.
"Well, it would for me, since forwarding company info such as mail to a third-party server directly contravenes company IT policy and could have me sacked."
Er, remind us how you send email messages to business contacts *outside* your organisation then? Do you have a magic way that doesn't involve 'third-party servers' for every single one of your external business email contacts? I'm guessing: unlikely.
Er, remind us how you send email messages to business contacts *outside* your organisation then?
I can choose which mail I send, and obviously don't send confidential info outside the company. If all my mail is forwarded through a third party mail server on the way to my mail client I have no such control. That, surely, is obvious?
"I suggest you try SSL between client and server, with TLS between servers."
While that IN THEORY prevents snooping the message as it is transiting between servers:
- most MTA's do not enforce certificate chain validation of the certificate provided by the remote MTA, so spoofed, unsigned SSL certificates will generally be accepted
- that doesn't address the e-mail being stored outside your network border, which will invariably be in clear text (very few servers encrypt on disk, Lotus Notes being the only one I can think of and even then it's not on by default)
For a company who claims of having "no interest in amassing personal information about our customers", they make it a little difficult to keep personal information personal.
While the move is really annoying (although zero impact to me, I already used iCloud), Apple forces you to sync your contacts with any online service, not only iCloud.
Google is one such service. So you can very well sync your iPhone's contacts with Google.
Which is not half as bad as syncing your whole life with Google, as you do when you sign in on an Android phone :-)
Yes, but you can CHOOSE whether to synchronise with Google or not. Obviously not so with an iS**t device
You clearly haven't taken your aura anywhere near any iOS device. All you need is a groupware account that supports ActiveSync, use the "Exchange" account setup and there you go. Problem solved, and no worrying about an OS that was designed by a company whose main income is derived from selling your information.
Oh, sorry, you forgot about that? Tsk tsk tsk.
What on earth are you talking about? Apple has removed the local syncing capability from iTunes. That's annoying. You can sync your contacts through any third party online service, or indeed use your own server if you wish. no-one is forcing anyone to use iCloud.
I'd be happy to have access to the "Google Play Services" source. Unfortunately, there is nothing open about them. So I have to wonder what idea you have of what is going on with it!
And, you might not have noticed, Google's business is about making money from your personal data (through ads).
Regarding iOS, you do not have to sync your contacts/ calendar data with anything.
But most people want to (and there are may good reasons for that).
I was just using Google as an example. iOS supports contacts/calendar syncing with iCloud, Gmail, Exchange, Yahoo, Outlook.com ...as well as ldap and CardDav/CalDAV.
I'm assuming a missing n't after does.
The reason your mod doesn't come with google's closed source stuff is because they're not allowed to include it, as clearly stated in the cyanogen wiki.
Did you install any btw? or is your solution to not having available source to forgo functionality?
Finally, maybe you (Bill the sys admin), took the time and had the skills to carefully check through your cyanogen source before installing, but unless you're a cyanogen dev I really doubt that,
I suggest that like just about everyone else who visits cyanogen, you installed it because either it was an easier update route than going through your phone's manufacturer, or because it removed all the crap that your manufacturer decided you'd positively, absolutely love to have on your phone, that you won't or (way way more likely), can't determine it's shenanigan free yourself, and that since installing it you've added odds and sods of closed source anyway because you needed the functionality.
a) "your phone" what phone are you referring to or at least which os?
i do have a clue what "my phone" is reporting because i can see all outgoing traffic and from which apps.
b) so im guessing that you are talking about android being an open source project which it isnt truely?
yay its open source, it works so well for truecrypt
Well it's not just Google or Apple who want to herd you into their walled gardens. Microsoft are doing exactly the same to people using Windows 8.1. It's very difficult using Windows 8.1 and avoiding setting up a Microsoft account that will sync all your stuff, calendar, contacts emails with Skydrive. In fact, if you do not do this you pay the penalty of not being able to use Skydrive on a Windows 8.1 PC.
@RobO
This is my biggest complaint with Windows Phone 8. If it weren't a work phone syncing with the Exchange server I'd be forced to sync with the Live/Skydrive/Outlook cloud. There is absolutely no built in way to use the USB for syncing contact information without logging in from both the phone and PC although I understand that there is an app on the WPstore that allows you to use USB.
This sounds like an intro in AA meeting: I'm using Windows 8.1 with Microsoft account.
I haven't told Win8.1 to sync or not to sync anything with Skydrive, and guess what - Win8.1 doesn't sync my "stuff, calendar, contacts emails with Skydrive". It does seem to - by default - backup Metro settings, list of installed metro programs, IE favorites and such, and all those can be switched off. My Outlook calendar, contacts or emails are not in any way connected to Skydrive and certainly aren't sync'd there.
I'm still perfectly able to use Skydrive in the same manner as Dropbox or Google Drive - ie. free internet storage that is handy to share files with others.
Prove me wrong if you can.
.. I built my own personal Cloud (well, and company), and that works too for sync, without the data export risk.
If I had to choose I'd prefer iCould over Google, but that's personal opinion. One of them sells hardware, the other one already is in the "gathering data and selling it on" business. But, of course, Apple never stated it would do no evil :/
I switched to fruux a long time ago for my address book, calendar and todos. Syncs between my Mac and iPhone, just like iCloud but also supports my Android tablet and allows me to sync/share data with people on other machines, which works great for my company. They are a german company and big open source contributors, so I much rather trust them than Apple or Google.
Both have similar unknown quantities when it comes to your personal data.
It's not unknown. It's right there in their privacy policy, bullet-pointed under "How we use your personal information".
To the strange people here who think I'm calling Google some kind of saintly organisation: I'm not. I'm saying Apple are just as nasty and devious. In some ways, moreso.
And not two days ago...
Unlike many other companies dealing with requests for customer data from government agencies, Apple's main business is not about collecting information.
REALLY now?
(Hah, linked to in the article, but hey, have the link again anyway.)
And yet they still are collecting and collating masses of information, entirely unnecessarily, which flies in the face of any snarky comments they might make about the world's biggest advertisi^Wsearch company.
Google aren't selling your data to anybody either. They are selling advert space via keyword auction. How is that different to, or rather more "evil", than Apple's own platform, iAds?
You seem to think that anyone who lets you use their cloud services is collecting and collating the data. They're giving you a lump of disk to store stuff on and have no financial interest in mining whatever you chose to put there.
Google mine your data to determine what kind of adverts you would respond best to. This may be an indirect sale, but they are basically selling data about the data.
So in other words, Google are not selling your data on to anybody.
Just like Apple aren't.
However, if you think both of them are not mining the shit out of every byte they can "to improve our services", and to provide you with "more relevant" ads (or iAds), you're naïve or blind.
And as I mentioned, this flies in the face of their snarky comments not even 48 hours ago.
Firstly you're going to have to explain just exactly what was wrong with what Apple said. Their major income is from selling hardware, iAdd is a tiny blip on the balance sheet. Do you think they'd risk hardware sales to make a little extra off of iAdd? (If so then who's the fool)
Secondly I've only seen one iAdd, and that was for a US car that I couldn't buy anyway. I've seen no sign of them mining my data, unlike Google who keep on spamming me with adds based on my searches (just because I search for something does not mean I want to buy).
Apple made snarky comments about Google using personal information to provide advertisements, while at the same time being deliberately misleading about how they also use your personal information. They use it for the exact same thing that Google do, regardless of whether it is their "main" business or not. Apparently though, it's okay for a bit of data-mining on the side, so long as you make enough money on the hardware too.
To quote https://www.apple.com/privacy/
How we use your personal information
The personal information we collect allows us to keep you posted on Apple’s latest product announcements, software updates, and upcoming events. It also helps us to improve our services, content, and advertising. If you don’t want to be on our mailing list, you can opt out anytime by updating your preferences.
We also use personal information to help us develop, deliver, and improve our products, services, content, and advertising.
Looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck. Chances are, it isn't a chicken.
So in other words, Google are not selling your data on to anybody.
Well, there is a large difference. If I use Android, I have the choice between jailbreaking the thing, or I am forced to set up a Google account to make the thing do much. The moment you set up a Google account, you have agreed to their T&Cs and if you haven't read them you really should. They make Facebook look benign.
Secondly, I have worked my way through the Gmail help files which seek to explain away that Google scans email, but hey, we don't really. There are some interesting verbal deceptions in there like the statement that no 3rd party would scan your email, neatly skipping over the fact that Google itself is ALSO a third party
Thirdly, Apple is not in the dock in 20+ different countries for their privacy policy which in different words repeats Schmidt's original statement "you have no privacy, get over it". Only now this is hitting the bottom line and there are court cases looming do we find Google railing about the protection of privacy (bwahahahaha, sorry, it's too funny for words). Oh, and using Gmail turns out to be illegal for business, according to 3 regulators I talked to.
You know, I think I'll stick with Apple. At least they haven't blatantly lied to me yet. That may come, but for now their track record there is better.
At least they haven't blatantly lied to me yet.
Just been rather misleading and very careful about their words, yes.
Your personal information is being used to decide how best to serve adverts up to you, regardless of who you go with. And also most likely being used to decide whether you are a Person Of Interest as far as the NSA is concerned. Google just has the bad press for it, for now.
Between what you claim Apple do and observed fact. Their T&Cs may give them the rights, but there is little evidence that they use more than your account registration information to send out the occasional email.
Google on the other hand, there is plenty of evidence of their mining in action.
> ince proprietary/closed-source software and walled gardens aren't inherently evil
Oh yes they are - to us, the customers. The whole point of them is to deprive the customer of choice, thereby protecting the prison warden company from competition.
There's nothing stopping you using a 3rd party CalDAV server not in the USA or one inside of your own network, or not synching at all if you're a real tinfoil hat type. It doesn't even need to cost money, free server software is available.
Apple frequently drops older technology ahead of the crowd. They've provide users with a perfectly good alternative to cabled synch but all we get are haters ascribing negative reasons for it. Get a grip folks, and ask yourself just exactly what the downside is compared to the advantages (being able to synchronise multiple devices with updates near instantly) compared to a "loss of privacy" that is easily rectified by anyone who is sufficiently concerned.
"They've provide users with a perfectly good alternative to cabled synch but all we get are haters ascribing negative reasons for it."
As I understand it is NOT "a perfectly good alternative" because it takes away the ability for you to sync using a cable hooked up to an air-gapped host...
I have some sympathy with your assertion that a mountain is being made of a molehill, but I think the underlying complaint is a fair one.
"So someone sufficiently paranoid as to air gap a PC (even to the point of not allowing a bluetooth PAN) is going to risk their data on a mobile, Internet connected phone?"
Firstly it is not down to you to decide whether giving away all your contacts to a third party is a good thing for everyone or not. There are examples of organisations disciplining people for using that data to stalk people (British Police Forces and NSA included), so for some people I think there are very good reasons for NOT spreading that kind of information any further than necessary.
Secondly, there are other uses cases that don't have paranoia as a source of the air gap. Here's a couple of examples...
Sometimes people do not have roaming data access (or WiFi) but they would still like to transfer some recently acquired contacts to their phone from their laptop.
In some cases even if they do have internet access on both their phone and their laptop they still find it easier to hook them up with a USB cable instead of farting about with entering WiFi Keys or working around web content filtering.
I think most people who travel have experienced those two use cases at least once in their lives. While the world won't end because folks with Mavericks can't sync their contacts via a USB cable, I think it's fair to say that given the choice most of them would prefer to have the option, right ?
Firstly, did you not read the part of my post that said you need not use iCloud? You can use your own internal servers or a 3rd party CalDAV server. Corporate types can use their Exchange servers.
Secondly your use cases are, to say the least, extreme. You're on the road, have entered data into your laptop, can't synch the laptop and the phone to your calendar server (remembering that iPhones can work as Wifi hotspots) and are unable to re type a couple of entries into the phone? This is about something that users have to do regularly (like connecting to their company email server), not making it slightly easier to do something that they do one or twice in a lifetime.
"Secondly your use cases are, to say the least, extreme."
I really don't see the lack of unfettered WiFi and/or roaming data as being extreme. It's a fairly routine occurrence when you are travelling in my experience, I guess your experiences are different to mine, lucky you.
From my personal point of view I would rather use a USB cable than sync by hand because it's faster, easier and more accurate. Also given the choice of using a USB cable or syncing via an untrusted third party I would rather use the USB cable too. I don't see any benefit in making the lives of marketing wonks and script kiddies any easier than it has to be.
I am quite happy for you to mess about entering stuff by hand, set up servers or simply punt you and your friends personal data to a third party that you have absolutely no control or governance over.
"You missed the bit about an iPhone being usable as a Wifi hotspot?"
No, but you clearly missed the point about mobile data access not being available 100% of the time.
"Most road warriors that I know connect back to home base. Do you have a particularly ineffective IT department where you work?"
The efficacy of an IT dept is irrelevant if you don't internet access in the first place. It is also irrelevant if you are simply on holiday and don't want to share your holiday experience with the office.
Why do you find it so hard to accept that people might legitimately have a use for a USB cable now and then ?
Why do you find it hard to accept that the number of people for whom this would be in any way a problem is small? You seem to have started from the premiss that this is something that you cannot live without, but then posit situations which are at best rare and unlikely to be a serious inconvienience.
"Why do you find it hard to accept that the number of people for whom this would be in any way a problem is small? You seem to have started from the premiss that this is something that you cannot live without, but then posit situations which are at best rare and unlikely to be a serious inconvienience."
You are making that up.
The fact is, the function was there but it has been taken away. While I'm not claiming the world will end (see previous post) it would be a nice thing to have back. In this particular case I doubt Apple are being malign or stupid, they probably just didn't get the code into shape in time to ship.
It's a teeny weensy ittle bitty bit like car seat headrests. You rarely use them, but they are nice to have should the worst happen.
I sync only between iphone and my macbook, usually over wi-fi, sometimes (e.g. for photographs or to charge away from the mains) using USB. I refuse to use "cloud" services for personal data and, as far as possible for any data. But then, I'm a professional with experience of network computing and my own and most of my employers' attitude to security. Every European employer for whom I have worked, including USA firms operating in Europe, warn the user if any of their user services involve a USA server, e.g. chat services, usually with the choice to refuse to use that service.
I am disappointed if Apple really do insist that users must do basic back-up or synchronisation of contacts and calendars via another network service instead of the option to do it directly and privately. Next to email and SMS, I would class calendar and contact information as the most sensitive information that most people have got. I suppose that someone in a contacts list could object if their details are being transferred to a "cloud" service without their agreement, particularly an American or British one.
No, this is a foolish misapprehension I hope: I am prepared to think that this is just a mistake - a neat idea not being thought through by the designers and implementers. Of course, if it is not remedied in an update soon, then one must reconsider.
Pious comments that one can use any service are silly and pointless: most people have no idea of these various choices nor how to find them etc.. As for setting up one's own: go to your non-computing friends, family or acquaintances and tell them to do it. See if they even understand the suggestion.
Most users have to trust their supplier, whether Apple, Google, Microsoft or Linux distributor and use their software more or less blindly. Even most "technical" users do that once they leave work. Spending their spare time managing their systems instead of just using them is not most peoples' idea of relaxing and getting away from doing the same at work.
> They've provide users with a perfectly good alternative to cabled synch
Err, no they haven't for me. I'm still using an older phone* for which cloud synching is not an option - so even if I was happy with the privacy side of things, let alone the extra bandwidth and delays, it doesn't work. Besides, I *LIKE* synching with a cable - after all, the phone (and other devices) need charging.
So count me in the "seriously unhappy" camp. As I write this, I'm running from a temporary 10.6.8 install on an external hard disk while a backup from before I upgraded is restored. Rate varies a bit (it's into the little files now), but it looks like it *should* be finished before home time. So there's a day I won't get back.
There really, really, **REALLY** is no excuse for dropping a feature like this without warning.
* Palm if you must know - using Missing Sync. Yes it's past it's best (Web browser is ancient), but it works well as a phone, the contacts work well, and the calendar works well - and it sits there running on just one or two charges a week. Can't decide what to upgrade to - these days it seems to be a case of who do I bend over and take it from, Apple, Google, or Microsoft :(
So you're unhappy that Apple have dropped support for an obsolete third-party phone that synced using unsupported third-party software. I agree that Apple should have given some kind of warning, but their own phones and several versions previous will work just fine with the updated software. I'm sure there will be third party software coming out that will allow some kind of address book sync that doesn't rely on iTunes. In the meantime it's probably best not to upgrade your OS when you're using obsolete hardware and software.
> So you're unhappy that Apple have dropped support for an obsolete third-party phone that synced using unsupported third-party software.
No, I'm "irritated" that they've dropped a system service that was provided for just this sort of arrangement - ie to allow third party software to sync in a supported way (rather than having to dig into stuff they shouldn't). I'm "very annoyed" that it was dropped almost silently, but then that's par for the course for Apple these days - as long as their iStuff works then nothing else counts.
But like many of the others, I consider it a real step backwards to remove local sync capability. Regardless of various issues (I'm not that fussed if the NSA know that I'm going to the office party etc), I fail to see the point of punting a load of data (slowly, and if away from home, potentially expensively) up my internet connection, only to pull it down again. A local USB connection is 3 orders of magnitude faster than my internet upstream.
Not only that, but I'm assuming I'll still need to use a cable to sync videos etc - it would take days or weeks to sync photos and videos to my iPad via the internet. I haven't looked into at all, but that's what I assume from the references to calendar and contacts servers. So given that I'll still need to use a cable, what's so wrong with … well … using that same cable and same sync session for the calendar and contacts ?
> In the meantime it's probably best not to upgrade your OS when you're using obsolete hardware and software.
Yes, for me the answer is to not upgrade (now I've rolled back by restoring from backups). But I would point out that "old" does not equal "obsolete". My "obsolete" phone works very well as a phone, works very well as a calendar, works very well for contacts, will run for a week between charges (unless I'm using TomTom in which case it will still last me a good day).
Incidentally, I do generally look at compatibility of applications before a major upgrade - I just missed this one.
Security seems a funny fun kind of thing.
Like here in the UK we have the press phone hacking thang and then there is the NSA thang.
And it seems one strategy supposing your phone is nice and secure is to tap into the details of people you contact and hack their information.
So security seems to be a wider issue than one secure phone - it needs a secure hardware/firmware/software environment and equally secure carrier networks and all of these might just be less secure than the phone in the first place?
Simple solution if you are worried about them using your data, don’t buy the product, no one is forcing you to use a these products, if Apple made pacemakers and Google performed liver transplants, then it would be an issue, as these are needed by people to live, however this is their product, and by signing up to use their product they can legally do whatever they (legally) want with the information you provide them with so you can get that product, including selling it on.
Not having a Facebook account, an iMac or an Android phone is not going to stop you from getting a job, it will not prevent you from being able to live, it will not impact your freedom, and it will not mean you are breaking the law, if you don’t like it, don’t use it.
Talk about 1st world problems, let’s get some perspective please.
*This is not some holier than thou rant, personally I use all three of the products mentioned.
Well guess what, refraining from the use of electricity isn't going to prevent you from being able to live either, but most people I know would still consider it unacceptable, even if they would not particularly be fond of the power company for some reason. Like it or not, some things have become de facto indispensable for a civilised living in the 21st century, and smartphones are getting on that list really fast. You'll pry my Android form my cold, dead hands - you're welcome to move out into the woods if you think that works for you better...
Are these products stopping you from using electricity? I fail to see the connection.
That example goes back to the previous analogy, this is not a question of not having power, heating or anything else for a standard of living.
This is like choosing between two types of fridge, one that keeps food and drinks fresh and cold, and one that keeps food and drinks fresh and cold but also lets you order more food using the fridge and has a number of other bells and whistles.
Unfortunately if you want the second fridge you have to allow the fridge makers to use your data.
Boo Hoo, don’t like it, get the first type of fridge.
A smart phone is not a measure of “civilised living”, nor is it indispensable, it is a luxury item.
A mobile phone might be considered ‘almost’ indispensable for modern life, but it doesn’t have to be ‘smart’, the same way a car is a necessity for a lot of people, however having an inbuilt Sat Nav, CD changer, Aux/USB port, blu tooth connection and digital radios are luxuries.
“you're welcome to move out into the woods if you think that works for you better...”
You’re welcome to read a whole comment before replying to it, it might help you understand the point
Problem is that these companies are operating in a rather unregulated fashion. Suppose all car dealers available advertised that they are happy to sell you a car but you must also provide your spare house key for them. Taking the stance that if you don't like that deal then don't buy a car doesn't wash if all other car dealers have the same policy. The consumer doesn't have a choice. Especially not if his hardware is being unwittingly upgraded.
For that reason it would be good if the EU stepped in and regulated the businesses that IT companies Google, Microsoft and Apple are now doing.
While I understand what you are saying a smart phone is not a car, and they are not asking for your house keys.
The analogy would work if the car dealership required you to allow them to use your personal data if you wanted the car with the leather interior.
However,
there are plenty of other cars without leather interior that do not require your data that you are also free to buy.
People have all been shouting, screaming, jumping up and down and bitching about the NSA and it's supposed world-wide data slurping but they all still go out and buy the products.
I've started to lack sympathy for those people. Why don't you start up your own company with privacy as it's watchword. If THAT many people are truly bothered, then I can't see you having too much of a hard time getting the investors in.
Of course, it's also entirely possible that most people truly aren't all that bothered and just don't care that some analyst in the US government can see that you fart twice before falling asleep. Generally, humans haven't changed all that much in centuries. They still fall prey easily to the same degrees of pandering and bullshit, and are mostly easily swayed en-masse. Give them two options and they'll always pick one of them, instead of saying 'who the f*ck are you to give me two options?'.
Sync Service are (or were) used for more than just iWhatsits. Third parties (eg Missing Sync for <something>) also use Sync Services, and some of those devices don't have cloud ability.
Besides, if I run my own server then I have two options - buy and run an extra machine for it (limits me to syncing at home, not anywhere as long as I have or can borrow a cable), or have to set aside a large chunk of my limited RAM to run a virtual machine to run it in. And it's an extra cost - granted it's hardly anything compared with what they used to charge - but it's still an extra cost.
I quite agree, no longer high end.
As for the sync issue, there are plenty of ways to sync without using iCloud, plus there's a good reason to stop sync via cable.
If you allow cable syncing while iCloud is also enabled on both PC/Mac and iPhone, you can easily end up with multiple duplicates which are a massive pain to sort out.
That is an excellent point. I can see lots of corporates deciding that letting their workers have an iPhone is a bad idea. Maybe when that starts to hit Apple's bottom line they might reconsider.
I'm now feeling happier that my machine is, just, too old to run Mavericks. Didn't stop the Apple Software Updater installing the software to mediate the upgrade process to Mavericks though.
>[...] Mavericks includes a new iCloud Keychain that can store all website usernames, passwords, credit card numbers and Wi-Fi network information, and keeps the data up to date across a user's Apple devices, including iPhones and iPads. While we're told the data is encrypted using the AES256 algorithm, security researchers including Mike Shema, director of engineering at cloud security firm Qualys, expressed mixed feelings about the password management feature: it helps people juggle their login credentials, but ultimately users are in the hands of software developers.[...]
Mike Shema pretends to be a security researcher and has "mixed" feelings over a company storing passwords (including credentials for banking websites) in the cloud ? We really need to find him another job, I think the job market for cleaners will soon be filled with former IT "pros" when security experts join the ranks of Windows admins@www.chicoofficecleaning.com.
Then again, I would not let a "current or former" Windows admin into my office with or without broom, never !
Now, think they also store "credit card information", this is beyond words - the guy who thought this "sync everything to iCloud" up is an idiot, no ifs, buts or maybes !
Please note that I use a card reader to access my bank account, however, time to put Linux on My MacBook Pro ...
"Then again, I would not let a "current or former" Windows admin into my office with or without broom, never !"
I'd give them a chance to renounce their ways/learn to admin a UNIX box before I barred them. With broom would be preferable in the instances where they need ejecting from the premises.
[4 Steve Todd] "You seem to think that anyone who lets you use their cloud services is collecting and collating the data. They're giving you a lump of disk to store stuff on and have no financial interest in mining whatever you chose to put there."
I'd be rather more worried about the information which includes "credit card numbers" being lumped on the disc and then that lump being copied and read by someone who would like to pretend to be me.
But of course, this is Apple and they *never* would be subjected to such attacks and if they were the attacks would fail.
I'm going to ignore the anti apple comments here as they don't bring anything to the discussion
However, a number of my clients have been totally and utterly buggered by this as they work in remote locations and often have no or very intermittent internet connection at best for weeks at a time. I'm currently advising my clients NOT to upgrade to Mavericks as a result of this issue, and for those that have, but are remote or do not want to use iCloud, I'm suggesting that they use their time machine backup to restore their computer to the last 10.8 state it was in and then bring the changed files, via time machine, over manually.
I've been reading that developers were informed two years ago of the fact that the sync services, which iTunes uses for contacts and calendars would be deprecated. However I'm not a developer, and neither are my clients so how the fuck would they, and I, know that such a critical part of using an iToy would be totally and utterly broken by the Mavericks update.
Apple really fucked up with this one.
Quite often there is a choice between ease-of-use and security. The least hassle is usually relying on a cloud service of some sort be it Dropbox, SkyDrive Pro, O365 etc. In many ways it makes sense. But it would have been good form to tell the user about what appears to be a change of behaviour that occurs in the background.
Privacy died in 1995. You are way, way, waaaayyyyy late on this. I have totally given up hope half a decade ago. What will change? Absolutely nothing. Welcome to the future. A place where you are but a member of the borg collective and robots raise your children.... it's too late. We will soon merge our conscience into a machine and travel into the stars. It's "a brave new wold" until then. Thanks technology.
I wonder if any of the Reg's article writers know how to actually parse the English language for meaning.
Apple said they gave "consideration" to users privacy. This does not mean Apple thinks users information should be private or even that they took any step toward keeping such data private. It just means a couple managers or devs thought about user privacy at some point. Probably while chugging a beer and crossing it off a list of potential features of the application.
Come on guys. Learn to read.
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