ubuntuone-users team mailing list archive

[Elliot Murphy <elliot@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, Apr 23, 2010 at 10:18 AM, Matthijs ten Kate <ubuntu@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 1. Performance. To be really useful, the sync performance should IMHO be
> improved.

Totally agree, this is something that will be a focus in the next
cycle. When the system is slow, it become very annoying rather than a
delight.

> 2. Updates of files sometimes don't get picked up by U1. This is
> especially annoying when working with i.e. an OOo document which has a
> lot of revisions and edits. Expecting to have the latest saved version
> to appear on another U1 connected computer within several minutes can
> prove to be disappointing. On more than one occasion, the latest saved
> version wasn't picked up at all but the other clients still showed the
> nice little green sign of the file being up-to-date.

I believe this is a symptom of the slowness that we are currently
seeing. We're working on this actively, and taking both short term and
long term steps to improve performance (deploying additional servers
and redesigning some of the backend architecture to scale better and
perform faster under load).

> 3. Interaction with small disks. I use U1 extensively to sync files with
> my netbook. However, this netbook only has a 10GB disk. What happens
> when I upgrade U1 to 50GB and actually start using that space? I predict
> the netbook will get stuffed. And then what? Is there any way to have
> any control over what's being pushed to the netbook and what isn't?

This is a great point. We have some manual capability for this in
Ubuntu 10.10, where you can select which folders should be synced with
each computer. We could stand to make it more obvious/better though.

> 4. Verbosity. As long as the whole sync process is still sometimes
> problematic, I'd like to be able to see just what exactly the U1 client
> is doing and what is has done. Just displaying 'Synchronization in
> progress' is just not verbose enough. I imagine there could be a 'more
> info' button (or plus sign) which would take me to a more detailed
> overview of what's going on.

I'd like this too, as would all the developers/super users trying to
test and improve the system with daily builds. I feel like improving
performance will do away with most of the need for casual users to
know whats happening, but even so we should make it more obvious when
things are up to date and when they are not, and when the system is
working.

> And of course, there's my wishlist of items:
> -Sync contacts with Thunderbird

Good news on this one, you should be able to do it today by installing
the Funambol Thundebird SyncML client and signing up for phone sync
(which is really a syncml interface). We haven't advertised this very
widely yet and should write some instructions, but it definitely works
and people are using it.

> -Being able to use all the features of the Address Book (using pictures
> of people, creating groups etc.)

Agreed, we need to improve this. It's an open question whether we
should try and put a new dedicated Address Book application on the
desktop or stick with the one built into Evolution - plenty of pros
and cons either way.

> -Calendar sync
> -Integration with other sources such as Google Docs / Calendar, IMAP
> servers etc.

We've been putting off Calendar sync but I agree it would be useful,
as would other service integration.

> You might say 'hey, you just want a clone of Mobile Me!'. Well yes, I'd
> be thrilled to have a good alternative for this service, to make the
> Ubuntu solution more viable to people who are switching from Windows.
> Right now, most of my customers are moving towards Apple...
>
> Nevertheless, keep up the good work!

Thanks! I too would be happy when we finally make Ubuntu One even more
useful and compelling than Mobile Me, Apple creates some very nice
products which I use myself, so I understand the bar that has been set
- competition is a good thing :)
-- 
Elliot Murphy | https://launchpad.net/~statik/