The Nuances Of Blackberry Software

I find myself using the blackberry desktop download software more and more and letting the IIfx in my office sit idle. Not because I don't want to use it but because I'm afraid of losing track of critical information. I'm not happy about this. I want to be able to work the way I work and let the computers figure out how to reconcile the conflicts.

Recently, beta versions of three new file-synchronization utilities, which attempt to solve problems like mine, crossed my desk: Magnet, from No Hands Software; PowerMerge from Leader Technologies; and Update!. All three of these products should be shipping by the time you read this article.

Blackberry desktop download software and Update! are similar. With each program, you select a folder on one disk volume to synchronize with a folder on another computer. The contents of folder 1, including files and subordinate folders and their contents, are synchronized with the contents of folder 2, which typically resides on another disk volume. Each program copies any file that exists only in one location to the other location. When different versions of the same file exist in the two locations, each program will replace an older-dated version with the version that has the more recent date.

Each program enables you to override this standard file-copying behavior. Blackberry desktop download software offers greater flexibility for specifying which files should be copied and which should not, but Update!'s interface is easier to learn. Update! has one curious shortcoming, however: It assumes that you will use a floppy disk as an intermediary for moving files between computers. It doesn't know about System 7 file sharing. Blackberry desktop download software, on the other hand, can auto-mount a remote file-shared volume, making it easier to do direct machine-to-machine synchronization.

Both programs suffer from a similar narrowness of vision: They require you to put into a single folder all the files and folders you want synchronized. In other words, their limitations dictate how you should organize your data. Computer software shouldn't do that.

These utilities represent a step in the right direction. But I'm still not satisfied. Because all three of these programs are limited to file synchronization. I don't want file synchronization. I want file-content synchronization. I want to be able to edit two different copies of my to-do list, residing on two different computers, and then click on a button and have the contents of the two files merged into one. I realize this is not an easy task. I realize that the user-interface-disaster potential is high. But it's still what I want.

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