Versions (the feature that was added to Lion) would be a good fit. (It however doesn’t seem to be used in that way currently.) There is no one correct way of handling conflicts, how to best resolve them depends entirely on context, context only the user is aware of. That’s why this problem is so damn annoying.
I nevertheless believe that it’s possible to find some heuristics that do the right thing most of the time – without ever having to annoy the user with dialogs. Easy to use versioning (where all conflicting versions are still available as versions) covers all other times.
As a closer comparison, DropBox doesn't either; it just dumps a file named "yourfilename (Other Person's conflicted copy 2011-11-03)" in the directory.
It is. And "Documents and Data" is just a wrapper term to mean "App Store apps have APIs to sync data with iCloud", whether it's a Mac or iOS app. It doesn't mean "Just iWork documents".
I think the reason for confusion is just... so few apps support it yet. Not even iWork on the Mac supports it yet, I don't think.
I don't agree that cross-platform is a requirement. For example, I haven't touched a Windows-only PC in years. Also, Dropbox can't sort out access control precisely because it is cross-platform. That's just one example of many downsides of supporting all major platforms.
If you make it cross platform, you make it easier to be a lingua franca of sharing between loosely connected people. Dropbox is handy for sharing project files between consultants and clients, for example.
OTOH, if you make it platform-specific, you can make it a better experience for people who use it to synchronize their own files or between closely connected people such as colleagues on a team that have a single standard OS.
The whole thing seems analogous to Apple’s strategy for integrating hardware and software. It sacrifices “interoperability” for just being better. I suspect a lot of the same arguments apply here.
It's also an hedge against someone deciding they want a 4G Android phone, a BlackBerry, a Kindle Fire, a Windows 8 tablet or whatever comes along next week in addition to their other Apple devices. This provides another incentive not to mix and match.
Or an incentive to stick with Dropbox if you think you might want a heterodox solution.
Yes, in the end either Apple will draw users into its "ecosystem" via iCloud, or it will remain a handy option for Mac-only users. Dropbox has filled a need for me (synching across multiple Apple devices) that Apple could easily expand to new areas by leverage the native OS.
Then it becomes an issue of trust – who is putting more skin in the game to protect my assets? Dropbox has always had a problem establishing trust for users like me who absolutely cannot afford any negligent gaffes like leaving my account open to accept any password for a few hours. On the other hand, Apple has a very short track-record as a manager of a big, shared data repository open to the general public.
Out of curiosity, are there people that require files synced over the internet across multiple devices maintain access control? I mean, is that a requirement that people actually have?
First of all this isn't a released feature. Secondly why must it be cross-platform to be useful? If it's mainly for sharing things between Pages, Keynote, and Numbers then there's no point having it on any platform besides iOS and OS X.
