iDisk
I’ve had MobileMe (MM) for nearly 9 months now, for the most part it’s worked perfectly in the background syncing my contacts, calendars and bookmarks across my iOS devices and my Macs. No complaints from me on that front.
Now I’m no stranger to using online services to store files. In the past I’ve tried Box.net, used Google Docs and am a big advocate for Dropbox, so when I was assessing my useage of MM I began to question why I don’t use the up to 20GB of storage I have with iDisk (something I’m not alone in judging by the response I got on Twitter).
Wanting to explore iDisk fully I checked the MobileMe section of Apple’s website, specifically the section on setting up MM, which, it turns out guides you through the set up of your email, contacts, calendars and bookmarks. It details logging into MM and setting up the sync of the aforementioned items with only a token gesture to iDisk at the bottom the page. The features section is a similar story. I’m told how I can, using the iOS app, access my iDisk on my iPhone and on the web, but not how to set it up.
So I opened up System Preferences and explored the MM section. I checked the normal Sync section, a familiar tale, turn it on and select what I want to sync.
I checked the iDisk section and was greeted by this:
Ok so I can click the big Start button and it will turn on iDisk sync automatically. But no explanation of what it actually does, what gets synced or what doesn’t. That’s a big difference to the screen I was greeted with under the Sync section, which is pretty self explanatory.
So what do Apple need to do to help make it easier for me to use all that online storage?
Well, simply put, there are two1 reasons I’d like to use the space on my iDisk. I’d like to store my documents there so I can get at them easily from anywhere, as well as for another backup, and I’d like to be able to share files for download.
When I set up syncing of my contacts, calendars etc, it’s a case of telling MobileMe to sync automatically and ticking the boxes of the items I want syncing. It’s all built in and nothing really to think about. This should be the same process with iDisk. Under the iDisk tab I should be given the opportunity to turn on syncing automatically and tick the main folders I’d like to sync. In my case Documents and Public, then, whenever a file is placed in these main folders they should be uploaded in the background just as a new bookmark in Safari is.
It’s a crude mockup but it illustrates my point. It’s understandable, it show’s me how much space I’m using and I’ve got control over my Public folder. It’s simple to understand, it would get me using it and I’m sure it would get others using it.
1 Well maybe three if you count the fact I’m paying for it as a reason.
