Re: Conflicts between device and PC

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"jss" <jss87@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:%23qsVocRyJHA.140@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Todd Allcock" <elecconnec@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:Oqrij5pwJHA.5836@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I'll echo your thoughts, Sven. I've never really understood the point of syncing two PCs with one mobile device since the device can't keep the data segregated anyway.

I my experience, and I don't have Exchange, Microsoft does not provide a decent way to keep Outlook in sync on two PCs, which, as everyone seems to agree, is a reasonable thing to want.

I'm not saying it's unreasonable to want the functionality to work, just that when it does work, it doesn't really work like it should anyway- in a perfect world, the device should be able to keep "Work" and "Personal" calendars and contact lists segregated for syncing purposes. Whether by categories, or separate databases (that could be viewed on the device as an overlay), so my device should be able to show me the big work meeting with the top brass at 2PM and my daughters' soccer game at 6PM, without the soccer game showing up on my work PC or the meeting on my home PC.

That functionality has been missing from WinCE devices since day 1, and it's a seemingly requested feature (at least it was in these NGs years ago. Not as much recently, but that just might be because we've all "thrown in the towel" and assume we'll never see it!)


With the popularity of netbooks as a category, we're now entering a world where the need to sync between three or more PCs is more common, so I'm sticking to cloud-based solutions. Exchange is still the best, but it's pricey, particularly if only used to recreate functionality that should work properly with the device in the first place!

Funambol (funambol.com) has finally fixed most of the bugs nagging their WinMo client software, and I'm pretty pleased with the current version. Push email and Push PIM sync are still a little problematic- it works for some people/devices and not others- (I'm in the "not" category, unfortunately) but scheduled and manual syncing work pretty flawlessly. They have plug-ins for Outlook so you can have any number of PCs and mobile devices (even non-Windows Mobile based ones- i.e. iPhones, Symbian, Blackberries, etc.) syncing against their "my.funambol.com" server and keeping everything in sync. This even works without mobile sync. You can use Funambol to sync your pile of PCs, and still sync your WinMo device via USB with a single PC, secure in the knowledge that the PCs all have the same information, eliminating the need to use the WinMo device as a "bridge" to sync the PCs.

And, no, I'm suggesting this excuses the current state of Windows Mobile syncing- just that sometimes it's easier to avoid a bug/undesired "feature" by doing an end-run around it, rather than to waste time and energy on trying to work through it!



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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Conflicts between device and PC
    ... I've never really understood the point of syncing two PCs with one mobile device since the device can't keep the data segregated anyway. ... If I were allowed to sync "work" and "home" data separately so they didn't "cross-polinate" to the other PCs, a dual-sync scenario would make a lot more sense. ... If I had to do it all over today, I'd probably just use Google's sync tool, since that would simplify life on the mobile device side. ...
    (microsoft.public.pocketpc.activesync)
  • Re: Conflicts between device and PC
    ... The point is to sync two PCs with one mobile device. ... prevents reliable syncing with two PCs. ...
    (microsoft.public.pocketpc.activesync)
  • Re: iPad Message app
    ... similar to the Time Capsule icon but without the clock hands. ... That rotates during a sync via MobileMe. ... syncing via iCloud. ... Once that's all done I'll see if I can lose the Mobile Me icon by logging in and out. ...
    (uk.comp.sys.mac)
  • Re: Conflicts between device and PC
    ... The point is to sync two PCs with one mobile device. ... Many times over the years we've heard from those who wanted to sync their work and home contacts and calendar with one device, but not merge the data together. ... in NO way am I excusing the current state of syncing. ...
    (microsoft.public.pocketpc.activesync)
  • Re: Three computers for syncing
    ... only sync two PCs with Windows mobile phones. ... I also have three PCs running Outlook, plus three Windows Mobile devices to ... all keep in sync, so for me, a server to sync to was the best option. ... I chose the open-source Funambol software ...
    (microsoft.public.pocketpc)