I'm doing a little ground-work. I have a constant knot at the moment that iOS/iCloud is not the be-all solution for maintaining my email/calendars etc. I have at least 6 email addresses over various services that all filter in and, while the i-services 'just work', something about it just doesn't feel quite right. Maybe because it's just too much of a closed system for anyone who is not using it?

 

I've been looking at Google's services recently and am quite impressed. The fact that it is WAY more accessible than Apple's system - from an 'inviting others in' perspective at least - is really working for me.

 

How many of you - Mac or PC-based - have all of your comms linked through iOS/iCloud?

 

Just wondering

 

(I may look to shift from an iPhone at some point, too, so the move to Google wouldn't hurt in that respect either!)

I think you're pretty much spot on with your conclusions/assumptions. iCloud, as it stands, is for personal use. 5GB of free cloud storage to sync documents, and other <5MB files (usually that size, at least) around your devices. As for collaborating, well you've got other services that are much better for that and have actually been specifically built around it.

 

Remember, moving to iCloud is pretty much a one-way ticket. Sticking with Google will leave you open to options in the future. However, if like me you're not planning on moving away from OS X/iOS any time soon, the two work together like nothing else I've ever seen.

Edited August 7, 201214 yr by andyl

I'm locked in. It's so easy to get locked in with iOS App Store and Mac App Store, iMessage. Mountain Lion now goes further to lock in also with most apps also using iCloud as default storage.

 

I agree it's a one way ticket but I'm not planning on moving from OSX or iOS anytime soon. It's lock in either you can easily save your documents locally and move on if need be.