Apple's MobileMe users gripe about 'push' that isn't
Some Mac users are calling foul after discovering that information entered on their Mac and PC calendars and address books isn't pushed instantly to the servers in the MobileMe "cloud."
Apple, meanwhile, has posted a support document to its Web site acknowledging that applications on a PC, or on a Mac running Leopard, synchronize with MobileMe only once every 15 minutes. Macs running the older Mac OS X 10.4 , aka Tiger, sync with MobileMe only once each hour.
Users have vented on Apple's own forums as well in comments on sites such as MacRumors.com, which posted a story early Monday on the brouhaha.
"It's really the desktop iCal and Address Book issue that's got everyone disappointed though, because Apple didn't tell people it was only push one way down, and everyone understandably assumed that the desktop apps would push UP as well, based on Apple's marketing," said a user identified as "McToast" on a thread in Apple's MobileMe support forum Sunday. "But they don't."
Changes made to the iPhone's e-mail, address book or calendar are pushed almost instantly to the MobileMe servers, and entries added to or modified in the MobileMe Web-based applications push down to the iPhone at the same speed. Any changes that reach the MobileMe servers are pushed immediately to the user's Mac or PC, but on the upstream -- from Macs and Windows PCs to MobileMe -- there's a lag because of the best-speed-sync of every 15 minutes.
Apple confirmed the slower Mac/PC-to-MobileMe synchronization in a document published last week to the company's support database.
"Selecting Automatic in Mac OS X allows your computer to immediately sync and update when there are any changes on the MobileMe servers. Those changes can come from your iPhone, iPod touch, the MobileMe website, or another computer. Changes made on your computer will be synced to the MobileMe'cloud' once every 15 minutes (or every hour in Mac OS X 10.4.11)."
Windows-to-MobileMe sync also occurs about every 15 minutes, Apple added in the document.
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Well, those of us who have
Well, those of us who have not upgraded to Tiger (OS 10.4)literally can't gripe about the switch to mobileme. My "year" subscription to .mac has been essentially terminated because perfectly acceptable hardware is not able to run the newest OS (10.5), and 10.4 cannot be found for retail purchase. MobileMe does not work at all with 10.3.