Funambol Open-source Syncing; Viable MobileMe Competitor?
There has been a whole lot of buzz about Funambol since the WWDC keynote, mostly touting the open-source offering as a wonderful free alternative to MobileMe. MobileMe, in case you’ve just awoken from a coma, is Apple’s sync everything everywhere solution. Syncing with MobileMe is seamless, instant and always active. You know, kind of like Exchange. So is this free Funambol offering really going to be a viable alternative to Apple’s new suite? There is an expression that almost always holds true, people: You get what you pay for. There’s a comment in the post on the other side of the read link that pretty much sums up our thoughts and experiences with Funambol quite nicely:
I played with funambol a while ago, and seriously was it rough… You pay for services like MobileMe because they’re seamless, intuitive and easy to use, not because they’re a ‘cheaper option’. Imagine what would happen if your mobile phone’s sms had the performance of Twitter.
The bright side, as mentioned above, is that Funambol is indeed open-source. While Funambol’s shaky free portal - which will only support contacts sync initially - is a possible option for those with low expectations, perhaps some developer will come along and put the Funambol sync engine to use in a more competitive and reliable offering. We shall see…
I for one think that .Mac/MobileME is well worth the money. I’m currently a .Mac subscriber and really enjoy the iDisk feature. All the other new additions make this product a no brainer.
I love how the tone of the articles are always deeply negative when it comes to something that is competing against anything Apple. How was it rough? Can we get more details?
More details would be fair. What is rough for one is a no brainer for another. Just the mere fact that the app will be available from the apple app store give the product some cred. Just like iPhone 1.0 was missing features, the first interation of this product is missing features. Give them time. It is free!
Exactly. “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Details about why it was rough would be great. Usually though it’s good to try things out and see for yourself, especially since it’s free.
And to say you get what you pay for isn’t always true. For example, there are plenty of great free Windows apps. Even plenty of great free iPhone apps and games.
Hey funambol Open source syncing, your know your a copy cat right? MobileMe was Apple’s idea first
LMAO.. Anonymous comment made me chuckle..Well Said..
Thanks.
If people want free syncing of email, contacts and calendar on their iPhone, why not just use a free Exchange server like mail2web.com? I’ve been using their service for months. (And I use Xdrive for free online storage.)