iDisk EOL'd??

[Mad Mac Maniac]

Question for developers!

How exactly does the iCloud API work? Has anyone had a chance to really dig into it?

Do you have access to the entire iCloud? Because if so, then the "developer created iDisk equivalent" speculated above would be very possible. Joe Shmoe could create a "Filesystem for iCloud" app, allowing you to view pages files, numbers files, keynote files, and all other files of iCloud enabled apps on your devices. The only difficultly I could see is many apps could use unique formats so they may not be compatible with the viewer in the filesystem app.

The way I originally anticipated the API's functioning is you could link them to your own apps and that is it. Like say I created a note taking app called "iNotes R Us" for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. I would use the iCloud API to link my apps to my individual iCloud "slot" (say position AAABBBC). Each app I create would link to that AAABBBC slot to keep all devices in perfect sync with each other. I don't have access to anything else in the iCloud, my App is for my app files. Of course under this system I could still foresee building an arrangement with another app developer like QuickOffice. Or maybe partnering with a Mac App developer if I didn't decide to create my own Mac App. Then I would share my slot AAABBBC with him and he could share his slot DDDEEEF with me. Now both of our apps can be in sync with each other and it would be up to us to make sure the files are compatible.

That is how I had envisioned it. No one with access to the entire iCloud (except for Apple if they had decided to make an iCloud app). Of course it would be possible for an app like Dropbox, or goodreader, or readdledocs to try to gain partnership with as many popular apps as they can to try to create a pseudo iCloud database.

 

[hitekalex]

The main reason I think that remote cloud disk storage is good (apart from syncing across mobile device) is security. If my MacBook breaks down, catches fire or is stolen I know all my precious files are still safe, I can get another MacBook and get my files back straight away.

You will get back up to 5GB of your files, to be precise.. 5GB is a minuscule amount of space by today's standards. I have about 2TB worth of personal files (movies, photos, music, home videos). Backing up 5GB of this data "in the cloud" doesn't do much for me. For the offsite backup purposes - I keep a high-capacity portable drive offsite (in my office).

Don't like running your own WebDAV server? Fine. But "the cloud" is not really an answer for offsite backup.. unless all your valuable data fits on a single DVD!

 

[hitekalex]

How exactly does the iCloud API work? Has anyone had a chance to really dig into it?

Do you have access to the entire iCloud? Because if so, then the "developer created iDisk equivalent" speculated above would be very possible. Joe Shmoe could create a "Filesystem for iCloud" app, allowing you to view pages files, numbers files, keynote files, and all other files of iCloud enabled apps on your devices.

From what I have seen, it's something like this. Each device gets access to the iCloud slice associated with the device's AppleID (up to 5GB of storage). Within that 5GB slice, every iCloud-enabled app gets it's own sandbox, associated with that apps entitlement ID. Multiple apps can share sandboxes by sharing entitlement IDs, but they would typically be done by the same developer.

So by default there is no sharing of iCloud data between apps.. And it's unclear if it's even possible to share data between different Apple IDs. So any kind of iDisk emulation would be restricted to a particlar app (or maybe a suite of apps). The user would then need to copy files into individual apps sandboxes (say Pages), just like you'd do today with GoodReader or ReaddleDocs.

 

[toke lahti]

I am very concerned that Steve Jobs said "Some people think that cloud computing is just a Hard Disk in the sky". This seems to undermine the incredibly useful fact that a Hd In the sky is damn useful. Also Steve said that Apple had been trying to get away from file systems for 10 years.

Getting away from rusty filesystems sounds laudable but in the real world we need folders and subfoulders. I organise work by projects , type and time, without a filesystems I would get lost... Also we have to interact with the rest fthe world that uses simpler file system structures....

Since I don't own any iOS devices, can someone explain to n00bi3 how files are managed in iOS without file system and every app handles only it's files?
Eg. if you have 3 apps in ipad that you can use for jpg's, how one jpg app gets pictures from the other app?

 

[tlinford]

A question of perspectives..

You will get back up to 5GB of your files, to be precise.. 5GB is a minuscule amount of space by today's standards. I have about 2TB worth of personal files (movies, photos, music, home videos). Backing up 5GB of this data "in the cloud" doesn't do much for me. For the offsite backup purposes - I keep a high-capacity portable drive offsite (in my office).

Don't like running your own WebDAV server? Fine. But "the cloud" is not really an answer for offsite backup.. unless all your valuable data fits on a single DVD!

I do not consider movie or music files as precious, and for these fat files a local backup is perfectly file. When I am Speaking about precious files I am thinking specifically about a univiserty doctorate research files.... These files occupy within the 20 Gbyte MobileMe provision, this should continue to be offered!

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

iDisk EOL'd!

Well I guess this question was answered.

Apple wants to kill all assemblance of a file system!!

 

[Benbikeman]

From a user point of view who isn't running Lion server blah blah blah, the only option on pages for iPad seems to be iDisk?

You can use WebDAV to save Pages documents to dropbox (including in Word format), but that costs $5/month.