SyncML 1.0 released; MAL Is Dead.

A reader Coward writes: "Finally, there's a standard for sync. SyncML 1.0 was just released. Which also means MAL is pretty much history." Yeah, getting Motorola, Nokia, Ericcson, Palm and about 600 other companies is probably a good move. If it means I can beam sync calender/number information from my Palm to my phone, I'll be a happy man.

Comments

Re:it's about time!

[Anonymous Coward]

At first glance, this looks great. However, having downloaded the specification, I am somewhat troubled by this bit of legalese:

<snip>
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) Ericsson, IBM, Lotus, Matsushita Communication Industrial Co., LTD,
Motorola, Nokia, Palm, Inc., Psion, Starfish Software (2000).
All Rights Reserved.
Implementation of all or part of any Specification may require licenses under third party
intellectual property rights, including without limitation, patent rights (such a third party may
or may not be a Supporter). The Sponsors of the Specification are not responsible and shall
not be held responsible in any manner for identifying or failing to identify any or all such
third party intellectual property rights.
</snip>

What's this? The sponsors of the specification "may" have various patents and copyrights making it impossible (or illegal, which isn't the same of course) to implement the specification without paying them money? And they don't even have to tell us about them (until it's too late)?! And I hoped this was going to be an open standard...

Will this present a major hurdle for Linux developers trying to implement the standard so we can use our PDAs and such with a Linux box? I think it looks pretty likely.

stuff i noticed

[Fat Cow]

there doesn't seem to be mention of an rsync type approach, which is odd considering the bandwidth problems they're trying to address.

each device is required to maintain a change log for each server that it syncs with. could get expensive in terms of memory if you don't sync for a while, especially on small devices. however, does anybody have an alternative other than a complete resync every time?

one of the things it's based on is that each item to be synced will have a unique ID, which is something that can't be relied upon to exist at the moment. hopefully, this will encourage PIM writers etc to implement these as it makes things much simpler. the only alternative i can see is to compare items every time to try and find similarities which is fraught with difficulties ;)

the best sync stuff i've used has been truesync by starfish, so it's encouraging to see them involved.

Sync, but where is MS

[cluge]

With MS being so prevasive in the desktop I would assume that MS would want to be a part of this. After all I'd love to sync my Ipaq address book with outlook AND my Cell Phone. The thing is MS already can sych with Palm Devices that it deems "good" (i.e. WinCE) And it leaves other "syching" up to third parties.

I noticed Avant Go was mentioned in the article. The Avant Go system is a perfect example of a 3rd party coming and and developing a something for a MS product because it was lacking that ability (Avant go allows you to sync across the network and through the web!)

Since MS, who has openly announced they are "going after" the embedded market is conspicuously absent I predict the following.

• The sych will start to catch on and more and more people will develop nice applications for it
• MS will decalare that the standard synch model is too limiting for it's products and introduce it's own standard
• The new standard is based on "MS XML" and the sych software runs ONLY on win2k software
• The new software is 100% compatible with MS office (i.e. outlook) any third party patches to use the standard sych will stop working after you install the latest service pack

MS absence smells bad in this context. I only hope that enough people have adopted the protocol and it's use is so ingrained that MS will have to come along. A good example of where MS had to tow the standards line is the netowrk protocol TCP/IP, if MS had had it's way, we would ALL use NETBEUI :)

On that same note I still find it oddly funny that TCP/IP is under Microsoft as a manufacturer when you add TCP/IP to any MS machine. Almost like they invented it (sub liminal associtation?)

Re:Sync, but where is MS

[fhwang]

Although I wouldn't put it past Microsoft to try to fuck with SyncML this way, I don't know if they'd be able to. This is a move which depends on portable devices just as much as it depends on desktop PCs, and that's an area where MS has very little penetration. Their palmtops are pretty well-established, but they still don't beat PalmOS in terms of numbers, and have absolutely zero presence among cell-phones.

Of course, you could make the point that the Windows desktop is the ultimate destination of most syncing operations, which gives them some control. However, Microsoft would need to convince third-part developers (Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, etc.) it's worth the trouble to support it. And if those developers signed on, MS would still need to give out a well-defined protocol, and even if MS made them sign a bunch of non-disclosure agreements, there are so many parties involved that the odds of leakage are decent. Once that protocol gets out, it's not so hard to hop on board and write your own version in Linux/MacOS/Be/whatever.

As a side note, I think one of the big trends to watch in portable devices is convergence. Nobody wants to carry around a cell phone, PDA, and MP3 player -- they'd rather have all those functions in one gadget if possible. This convergence is fast approaching -- there's that Handspring Visor cell-phone module, for example, and that Samsung MP3-player/cell phone. Although Microsoft's PocketPC (WinCE) is a pretty respectable entry, I would expect the company to be behind the curve in terms of device convergence, since it's primarily a software company, and not a consumer products company. So their small leverage in the handheld world will probably shrink even further.

No Palm client yet?

[cananian]

Although there is a download entitled "WinPalmLinux" reference code, it doesn't include anything remotely resembling palmpilot client code. Does anyone know what gives? Presumably the idea is that there will be a "MobileLink"-type application to implement the SyncML protocol on the client side? If so, where is it?

more on SyncML

[nmarshall]

the home of the specification
hmmm can't find a linux project for it. anyone what to start one?

nmarshall

The law is that which it boldly asserted and plausibly maintained..