Apple’s iCloud Almost Killed My Outlook

I've said it before, and I’ll say it again – I love my iPhone. From a design, usability, and functionality point of view, it’s an amazing piece of tech.

But, as I've also said before and will say again – I hate Apple’s software which they force you to use on their devices.

Apple’s iTunes often crashes, must be uninstalled and then re-installed to resolve issues, and on more than several occasions, has simply stopped working for no reason whatsoever. One minute it was fully functional, the next it’s hung or “bricked.”

Being an old school techy, I tend to take a while to gravitate to new technologies. I read reviews, read up on bug reports, and wait until I see the initial bugs which come with all early stages of tech are resolved.

I’ve been keeping out of the cloud for this reason – it’s still a new and somewhat experimental technological marvel. I’m used to backing up everything – including my iPhone – to my computer.

However, there are some cool benefits to sharing data with the cloud. Responses to emails from my iPhone would be in my Outlook on my computer, and any other iOS device I share via Apple’s iCloud. All my photos, apps, and other data would be available in the cloud too.

If Apple’s iCloud wasn’t like their other software which is complete and utter garbage.

I’m a very tech-savvy person. You know that friend that you always call when your latest tech suddenly stops working and you can’t figure it out? I’m that friend.

I don’t know why I thought iCloud would be any better of an experience than Apple’s immature iTunes – I read lots of instances of conflicts between MS-Outlook and the iCloud. But there were work-arounds, so I figured, if I encountered one of the many problems I read about, at least I could fix it. (And I'm using MS-Outlook 2007, which is supposedly fully compatible with Apple's iCloud.)

At first, when I tried to just turn on iCloud on my computer, it kept freezing. I did a search, and just like iTunes, the solution was to uninstall the application on my computer, reboot my system, and re-install it fresh.

I did this, and voila – it worked. Though someone should be challenging the Apple software team about why their software becomes corrupted so easily, and OFTEN requires their CUSTOMERS to uninstall and re-install it!

Although iCloud said it would take less than a minute to sync my computer with the cloud, it took about five minutes, and when it was done, my Outlook looked like it had never been used – all my emails, contacts, calendars and notes were gone!

My iPhone, still had all the emails, contacts and calendars which it had originally, but nothing from my PC was on my iPhone which wasn't already there prior to this so-called iCloud ‘sync.’

Now, being a techy geek, I had anticipated potential problems, so I made a backup of my MS-Outlook PST file prior to doing this iCloud thing. I always keep backups, but I made sure to make a current one so I wouldn't lose anything should the iCloud prove as well designed as iTunes.

And that’s a good thing – I immediately turned off iCloud on my iPhone and PC. Uninstalled the iCloud Control Panel on my PC – no I didn't re-install it – are you mad?!?!?

Then I copied the backup MS-Outlook PST file over the now corrupted one by iCloud. All my emails, contacts, calendars and notes were restored. Though I lost a few notes on my iPhone which for some reason iTunes didn’t sync with my PC (which I also did just prior to this iCloud trial), everything was back to normal.

I could only imagine the horror a regular iOS device user (iPhone, iPad, iPod) may go through installing and using iCloud. Most people aren't as geeky as me, and probably wouldn't even know how to backup their MS-Outlook, let alone restore it.

Apple has come under fire recently, as their new iPhone and iPad mini aren't as groundbreaking, heart-stopping amazing tech releases which we came to expect under Steve Jobs.

Many critics claim that since Job’s death just over a year ago, Apple’s once bright star will start to dim.

I don’t think this dimming has as much to do with the tragic loss of Jobs, but instead has been building over time.

Apple started as a computer hardware company, when they launched the first Apple Computers. Their third generation Apple IIe desktop computers back in the 1980’s were the start of their popularity in the home. They were forced to create an operating system – software – for their hardware to run.

Software has always taken a back seat at Apple. Their software has been designed much like their hardware – visually stunning, and extremely user-friendly – almost innate for most people to figure out.

However, as a hardware company first and foremost, their software is always buggy to the point of failing to do what it’s supposed to.

Apple’s iTunes is clunky, crashes, needs to be re-installed, and often fails to sync properly.

My recent experience with Apple’s iCloud – it’s clunky, crashes, needs to be re-installed, and it failed to sync properly.

Sound familiar?

If Apple wants to remain the shining star which Steve Jobs created, it’ll have to start catching up on the software side of things – because although I love my iPhone, as most with these devices do – I can’t stand iTunes or the iCloud – as most forced to use this software probably do too.

Out Spun: Say Good-Bye to Discs

A little while back, I went to one of the big box electronics stores to buy some blank CDs and DVDs. I’ve gone to this store, and it’s competition, for years to purchase blank CDs and DVDs to store audio, video and other digital files.

I was shocked when I went to the almost non-existent spot in the store left for removable media, to see a slim selection of blank CDs, DVDs, even the more recent Blueray blank discs weren't stocked very well.

I asked a passing store clerk if this was all they had, and he told me it was, as they just don’t sell as much of these as they used too.

As hard drives constantly become cheaper, and virtual storage in the cloud becomes more popular, people aren’t burning their data to disc anymore.

I remember when CD burners first came out, circa 1990’s. They were extremely expensive, running at least $1,000 for a decent one, and blank CDs cost about $15-$20 per disc.

Then DVDs came out, killing the CD industry, and when DVD burners came out, the movie industry tried to get them banned, as they witnessed the demise of the music industry thanks to people copying and sharing music CDs, instead of buying them.

Today, the music industry and to a lesser degree, the movie one too – continue to suffer from failing to adopt to the changing nature of digital media. We not only have CD and DVD burners, but Blueray burners aren't uncommon either.

Though that may change, as bigger hard drives at dirt cheap prices flood the market. Why spend hours burning your own discs, when you can just plug in a portable hard drive that stores many more hours of movies and music?

It’s a sign of progress, but in a way, it’s also a sign of the times.

We’re moving away from big tech, and gravitating towards mobile devices. With smart phones, tablets and laptops always on and connected to the Internet, we want to be able to access our movies, music and other data at anytime, from anywhere.

So, people will buy more hard drives, and get more space on cloud storage platforms. But we probably won’t be lugging our hard drives wherever we go. We’ll probably set up our own media servers (I already have one myself), which allow us to access all the information on our hard drives at home, from anywhere at anytime over the net.

I can watch movies, listen to music, and even remotely access my desktop computer from my mobile devices, simply by logging onto them using apps on a WiFi or 3G or better connection.

The days of creating menus, chapters, and burning our own discs are long gone. Now just dump everything in a folder, and log in to play.

Progress is awesome. But I’ll miss the creative aspects of choosing images, background sounds and animations for menus, creating chapters, and even taking the time to burn a disc just right.

Reminds me of making mixed audio tapes in the 1980’s. This was long before digital media was even an idea. You’d sit in front of your radio, waiting for your favourite tunes, and then stumble with two fingers to press “Play” and “Record” together to capture that song on a 60-minute audio tape.

Ah, those were the days. Sometimes you’d slip, and only hit “Play” and curse as the song you wanted played on, but without you recording it. Sometimes the tape you were using would unravel, rip, or even get “eaten” by the tape deck.

But there was something very romantic – in an old school geeky kind of way – about making a mixed tape for a friend, a party, or even just yourself.

Good-bye discs, you’ll be wherever blank tapes, eight-track-tapes, and records now call home. Long gone, but never forgotten.