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42 Comments
- sosudaniel, on 10/12/2007, -4/+18This is freaking awesome! FINALLY!
- jhuebel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12Well, this could spell doom for Portal from My Dream App, since syncing settings and such would become irrelevant.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8I would like this very much as well. I don't have 80 GIGS of music to put on my iPod!
- beauc, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8if this actually rolled out it could be amazing.
- ketsugi, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6How is that the exact same thing? The page you linked to details how to move the entire Users folder onto a different mountpoint. What Apple's talking about is allowing you to store a profile -- not necessarily *all* your profiles -- on an alternate storage device. Furthermore, the feature does not permanently store the profile on the external storage, but stores a portable version there, which is then synced back to your "home" computer whenever the storage device is connected.
Also, if you actually read the article, the patent was filed in Nov 2002, and was actually meant to be rolled out in OS X 10.3 Panther but was yanked, presumably because the patent couldn't be awarded in time. - ogre2112, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5/breaks out Dictionary.
pretermitted: left undone
In a sentence: The feature is pretermitted but will be added in a future release.
/closes Dictionary and opens latest Maxim. - mahemoff, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6A patent? This is novel why? One of the first things I read after the first IPod came out was how this is Steve Jobs' plan to put a personal hard drive in everyone's pocket. The reasoning was that people have talked before about smartcards and mobile drives to let you roam around with your whole setup, but the problem is no-one wants to carry something around *just* for that purpose. The logic goes that if you make that hard drive into a useful music player, they'll have an incentive to keep it on them at all times. The MP3 thing was just a trick to convince you to walk around with your data.
I think it was Cringely who wrote that. It was in 2001, a year before this patent was apparently filed, and in any event I'm almost positive others have discussed the same thing before. The idea is certainly not unprecedented and is way too trivial to warrant a patent, unless there's some amazing technique not mentioned in the linked article.
Would it actually be useful? I used to think so, but now with so much data already in the cloud, I'm not sure if it will have widespread appeal anyway. However, one thing in it's favour is Time Machine, the backup software to be shipped with Leopard - at least your data will survive in the highly likely event the IPod hard drive eventually fails. Realistically, few people would backup without something like Time Machine, and there's no way you're going to keep your valuable data in a portable player. - fishbert, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7So long as this patent doesn't apply to anything but iPods, I don't see a problem.
If it crept in to every other USB dongle, however... then there will be problems. - geekee, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Another frivolous software patent.
- enanogrande1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Not necesarily. Granted, it would stop me from using it (I've actually wanted a feature like this for years, and was bummed out when it mysteriously disappeared from Panther), but there are still many places Portal (or any other syncing app) would be more useful. Those are more for keeping two computers updated with the same information on a real-time basis, while "Home on iPod" is more of a screenless laptop; all your programs, preferences and documents ready to go to use in any computer.
EDIT: Fatcat, while I'm not sure which idea you're refering to, MDA has been around for only a bout a month, while most of Leopard's features were anounced a couple of months back, and have probably been worked on for a year, if not more. - jhuebel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Oh don't get me wrong, Portal's mockups look very slick. But which is easier? Having your home directory with you everywhere you go (ala "Home on iPod") or using a tool that requires configuration for each app you want to sync? There's longer-term maintenance required for Portal, which "Home on iPod" wouldn't require.
- ocellnuri, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'd love to see this come back out. Unfortunately, as the article says, since this patent was applied for in 2002 it gives no indication to whether Apple plans to bring the feature to light.
- heyitsme23, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2this isnt just for sycing folders, that has been available ever since removable media was invented. This is so you can use the ipod (or other portable drive) to load your user account in OSX on any mac, and have your applications, music, videos, etc. just where you left them. Very convenient, there is nothing like it for any other os. Windows would be a nightmare to do this with because of the registry and all.
- enanogrande1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2You're absolutely right, which is actually the main reason I would prefer this method to a program; It's just that I believe each method is geared towards different types of uses.
To me, an App like Portal would best be used two keep two or more computers synchronized with each other on a real-time (or close to real-time) basis. "Home on iPod", on the other hand, seems to take a different approach to this problem; instead of having two computers you keep synchronized, you have one computer that you access from various places.
Of course, I might be thinking incorrectly, especially seeing as I don't really have much of a use for syncing two computers and a high use for the 'one computer at many places' system I described above. - geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The patent covers wrapping up personal data and settings and storing them on a portable device. Random dongles included.
It's more of the "roaming settings" idea, not "portable /user/~username/home", which would hopefully be unpatentable due to prior art and obviousness. (Think: CoreData application settings being stored on an SQL database on your iPod). - tigerdyr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1You really don't get it? It doesn't matter if it is news or if it is not. Digg users will choose. That's the only real rule here.
- geekdreams, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yeah, I've heard about this for at least three years and would love to see it implemented, but my hopes aren't up at this point.
- Altotus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1People have been doing this (at least I have) since hotplug for Linux came out. Not with iPods, mind you, but with stuff like USB sticks and USB hard drives. I had several guest accounts on my machine that you would login to by plugging in a USB drive (which would auto login the user and mount the USB stick under /home with their username based on the volume label of the USB stick).
I don't use it that way anymore, but I do something very similar with my USB hard disks that I use for video editting.
I can't see how this isn't obvious as it's pretty much implied by the Linux hotplug documentation as something you could do if you wanted to. - oOLiquidNightOo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1if you're looking to sync folders across systems (mac/pc) check out:
http://www.foldershare.com/ - collywolly, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The difference is you get dugg down, by the fanboys, for mentioning an MS product.
- RadiatedAnt, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2In Soviet Russia Software Patents You
- fishbert, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Exactly my point...
Were the patent limited to iPods, the potential "obviousness" invalidation argument would be less likely -- storing computer user roaming profiles on a music/video device is unique thinking; while storing computer user roaming profiles on a generic portable data storage device is inevitable engineering (i.e., obvious). - Mike89, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3skealoha86:
Not copyright, patent.
I agree, it is stupid. Thankfully, that should be considered 'prior art' (or is it prior work? I forget) and Apple will fail to sue anyone "stealing their idea" (Taking your files with you on a USB Device? :-O Who would have thought of that!) - jsusanka, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1so does this mean I have to stop using my rsync scripts that I use to sync my usb drive to my home directory.
- skealoha86, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1haha... good points... unfortunately i don't read, i just make snarky comments...
- Altotus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Actually, this is precisely supported by Linux' hotplug (circa 2001). At the time, it wasn't widely used in that way because hot-pluggable storage wasn't nearly as common, reliable, cheap, or big as it is today. Nonetheless the feature existed if only a few people used it.
Even today, I only know a few people that use it that way. I used to do it, but have since preferred to separate the hotplugged mounts to a separate location. I have a broadband connection and have access to my home directory from everywhere 24/7 and rarely need access to stuff like my desktop config, etc. I think it's much more reasonable to keep some encryption keys on a stick and access remotely than keeping a copy of everything on a stick/iPod. - liiluliil, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Not iPod only, but USB-flash or USB-hdd also: just plug-off your flash stick at the end of your work-time and go *home*
- rasterbator, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1In my opinion, this would be great if the device runs on OS X mobile, and has wireless web services, so it can be used when not plugged into the multi-user, multi-OS machine.
- andr3, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1The day Apple builds-in wifi and seamless sync that's the die I'll throw my Zen Micro out and buy a brand new iPod (and a mac).
This is pretty cool.. though. Way to make a geek thing look useful to the common computer user. (portable apps on flash drives are pretty common among geeks..)
( I still don't like the word patent.... :- ) - fatcat, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4i think apple is actually using a bunch of ideas from my dream app's contestants, wasnt there another one that they are implenting in leopard?
- skealoha86, on 10/12/2007, -6/+6Here's the a link to a macosxhints.com article detailing this exact thing in friggin 2001.
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20010325102750788
Why is Apple allowed to copyright this? - gimianame, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3funny thing is that u can already do this . You can put Linux on a usb flash drive, and load it live...assuming the computer can boot from USB..not quite the same as syncing a directory...why doesent apple take it farthe and sync an entire user state?
- DPowers08, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I wonder if this would facilitate getting music from a computer to an iPod to a different computer in order to share it.
- Malkisdek, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Prior Art Much? Windows has a thing called "Briefcase" that has done the same thing for years... Knoppix can just put the home folder on a flash drive up front. Cool feature yes, but no patent...
- ductoogle, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Whats the difference between this and windows briefcase witch has been around since windows95
- agentstewie, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0thats pretty sick
- tzon, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3Yeah, but will it work with my Zune?
- miken32, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Somebody got koregaonpark one of those "Word-a-day" calendars for Christmas last year I bet.
- RadiatedAnt, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1I wonder how slow this will be due to the Universal Bussing and all...
- ogre2112, on 10/12/2007, -9/+2Microsoft should've done this YEARS ago with windows 2000 and beyond.
I thought of it back then when I got my first removable media drive. I know someone that even blogged about it back then. Can he claim the patent? =D - boff, on 10/12/2007, -15/+1How much of that 80g of music sits in your directory on your computer?
- knowall, on 10/12/2007, -24/+6dupe
http://www.digg.com/apple/Apple_patent_posits_Home_folder_iPods
http://www.digg.com/apple/Apple_Granted_Patents_For_Mouse_Portable_User_Accounts
also, this isn't really new news. "Home on iPod" has been discussed for years... the existent of a patent doesn't really change anything.
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