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Apple Implements the CalDAV Standard For MobileMe
Vermyndax writes "Apple announced the new MobileMe Calendar beta on July 6th. The mainstream press picked up the story and plugged the gorgeous new iPad-like interface for all devices. It seems, however, that they missed the real story: MobileMe's new Calendar application is an implementation of CalDAV, the proposed calendaring standard. This may be the same implementation that exists in Snow Leopard Server and is open sourced. The hidden gem in all of this is that Apple plans to bring this CalDAV connectivity to Outlook users on MobileMe. Where might they take it next?"
Pointing out that Slashdot is full of anti-Apple fanboys means your "braiin was washed in Apple juice"?
Apple was one of the three companies that wrote the CalDAV RFC and they implemented it immediately in iCal in 2007. (iCal is the built in calendaring app in OS X.) Previous to that that iCal already used WebDAV. They offer an OSS CalDAV server in OS X server. Why would anyone find it surprising that the rewritten WebApp version of iCal is using CalDAV?Apple has already been pushing it as hard as possible as an open standard alternative to Exchange.
People seem to forget these two companies actually press open standards above proprietary formats. For two companies that are pitted against each other so much by the media and marketing, they really do remain nearly seamlessly interoperable. I have no problems switching between Apple's default software to alternative applications just because of how standardized it is. Mail, iCal, etc.
Try pointing out any negative trait on Apple products. Then do the same for Microsoft products. Then for Linux. Then watch how you get moderated. The results are... interesting.
Yeesh. SyncML? Have you ever looked at that standard? Ghastly.
Besides, converting CalDAV to SyncML on the server side shouldn't be hard, since CalDAV is iCalendar files in a set of directories on a WebDAV server, and SyncML is iCalendar files wrapped in XML and sent to a SyncML server across whatever protocol the vendor chooses. In fact, a quick Googling suggests that there are already numerous SyncML to CalDAV gateways, including open source ones.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
Yeah, I know because Apple never gives anything back to the open source community at all!
:q!
In all fairness, no platform is perfect, let's face it. You seem to be commenting on OS X (hard drives, 3d performance, etc.), so let's see:
If you want non-working cut and paste (the general case is it only works for text), no 3d performance at all, barely any wireless support, no commercial software support including de facto standards like MS Office and Photoshop, no games, amateurish and inconsistent guis, etc. ad infinitum, then run desktop Linux.
If you don't mind a pretty substandard operating system in return for all the software you could ever want and you don't need Unix, run Windows.
If you want a usable, well thought-out desktop Unix with lots of commercial software (though much less than Windows), good open source and open standards support, and you don't care about games, run OS X.
As cliche as it sounds, it's all about what works best for you.
As cliche as it sounds, it's all about what works best for you.
I totally agree. I've been vocal about the shortcomings about Windows and Linux (no Quickbooks alternative!?) for a depressing amount of time. Though I wouldn't exactly put Windows in the "substandard OS" category if I wasn't throwing OS X and Linux in the same box as well.
The issue I have with Apple is that the pride has turned to arrogance. Now you're buying "magical and revolutionary devices" that "change the world" and people are actually believing the bullshit. I mean, their phones suck at making phone calls, but good news! You can edit movies instead. And if video chat is a revolution, don't tell the Japanese consumers who have been doing it for years. Or anyone who's used Skype.
I guess it taps into the same disappointment I have with people in general when it comes to propaganda. But maybe the only thing worse than someone who thinks a phone or an iPod Touch XL is going to change their life is the guy with so much free time he decides to complain publicly about it...
Agreed.
A year ago I would have agreed with you, as things tended to be pretty balanced, and pretty fair, with initial flambait, troll mods balanced out after a few hours. One of the most recent posts about Apple tells a different story with any positive posts about Apple all being modded down as troll or flamebait regardless of content.
http://apple.slashdot.org/story/10/07/06/1839240/More-Trouble-In-Apples-App-Store
Look at the above link, at what's being modded 'Insightful', 'Informative', and on the opposite side, trolling and flamebait.
Claiming that things are pretty even handed looks a little ridiculous. The above link is about a story where someone hacked an iTunes account and bought his own app. It immediately turned into a slew of Apple is Evil, the Walled Garden doesn't work, the app store is a failure, all modded insightful and informative, when it had nothing to do with apps other than the guy hacking the accounts bought his own app.
Slashdot has become a haven for anti-Apple trolls. Look through that link and tell me that the posts deserved Insightful, and that the trolls deserved the bashing. It's pointless anymore to even enter an Apple thread as it is immediately filled with FUD, "Apple Sucks +Insightful", and "Evil + Informative".
I particularly like the one stating "WTF, did you suck Steve's dick or something" being modded Insightful and Informative.
I've done that, and I have to say that I think people misjudge the bias on Slashdot. I've posted positive/negative comments about Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Linux, and I'll tell you that the response can be fairly random. You can get modded up for posting positive things about Windows and you can get modded down for posting positive things about Linux.
Beyond that, the trends aren't what most people assume. In my experience, interesting and insightful comments about any of these companies/products can get you modded up, but annoying snide cliched complaints will probably get you modded down.
If there is a bias, I think it's most heavily anti-Apple, but in a specific way: irrational and ignorant complaints against Apple are more likely to get modded up than irrational and ignorant complaints against anything else (at least within the sphere of computing. Irrational complaints about religion are probably most likely to get modded up (no, I'm not religious)). I think the reason (if I had to guess) is that there are still a fair amount of Windows/Linux/Android users who are so anti-Apple that they won't give the products a fair shake and never really use them or learn what the situation is. On the other hand, most Apple users have used other operating systems.
As a result, complaints against the one-button mouse get modded insightful and complaints against WGA/WAT get modded overrated (I guess because people think you're just piling on).
That's my interpretation, but I guess you could accuse me of being biased.