More from the âtech writers writing for tech writersâ series.
Dan Moren, writing for Macworld, on how iCloud is useless because it does not serve his very specific set of needs.
Sometimes you want to open files in multiple programs, and sometimes more than one person needs access to a file.
This concept only applies to nerds. The target audience for iCloud does not even understand the concept of opening a file in an application other than the one it was created in. When discussing text files, 93% of users think âWordâ.
For example, if youâd like to take a text file created in TextEdit and stored in iCloud, and then edit it in some other program, thereâs no easy way to do so.
I am very much intrenched in the Plain Text movement. I start a document in Text Edit, move it to Nebulous Notes then pass it to Byword or Textastic. But exactly zero people I work or speak with on a regular basis even understand this concept, let alone can put it into practice. In the tech company where I work, the work in Word and Google Docs. That is just the reality of the non-nerd world.
The heart of the matter comes in this paragraph in which Mr. Moren discusses collaborating on a document with a colleague:
Lex created the presentation file and saved it in a shared Dropbox folder. We then took turnsâon alternate daysâopening and working on the file. While one of us was editing it, the other would use Quick Look to view it from the Dropbox folderâwithout opening it, lest doing so might create some sort of conflict or data corruption. Even then, the file had to be re-Quick-Looked each time the Keynote file was updated.
We have come a long way in the last 5 years in the realm of document syncing. Dropbox is the go-to app for the average user wanting to sync documents, but it is still an imperfect system prone to file corruption (as mentioned above), user error (better learn how to use the recover function if you are working with other people who like to âkeep things cleanâ) and still requires a fairly sophisticated understanding of the file system to make it work well.
I believe what Mr. Moran wants is for Apple to solve a nerd problem; give us a simple, business-class syncing and sharing solution that works the Apple way. What Apple has given us is a stupid-simple service that meets the needs of 93% of users. You know, the ones who buy millions of iOS devices. Apparently that is just not good enough.
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