SyncML: A technical perspective (Re: New kolab version ?)

[Del]

On Sat, 2008-11-08 at 13:44 +0100, Gunnar Wrobel wrote:
> A year ago I would have agreed with you. That was *before* I  
> implemented SyncML support for Kolab. SyncML has some severe problems.  
> Maybe not so much in the area of the protocol. But the fact that the  
> actual data exchange elements used within the protocol are being left  
> undefined means that any real world implementation will only ever work  
> with some devices. Not with all. There will always be a plethora of  
> device specific incompatibilities.

Thanks for sharing your concerns and hindsight. I must admit that I
haven't looked into the SyncML protocol, so I am not familiar with its
shortcomings. I am grateful for any negative experiences you can share,
e.g., handsets that work well or not.

> I deliberately describe this in a negative way. Of course things will  
> often work and make users happy. But from a technical point of view  
> I'm pretty convinced that SyncML is not really going anywhere. Or let  
> me rephrase: I hope it is not going anywhere.

I do see the need for an open standardised protocol, do you see any
alternative? Is it feasible to extend SyncML specifications to mend the
shortcomings?

> Kolab is doing one thing right: It defines a format that any client  
> should be able to read and write so that all other compliant clients  
> can also work with the stored data. This is a pretty robust approach  
> and syncing is not.

Still, this requires everybody to adapt to Kolab's format, I do not
think it is a good technical solution. Do you have any experience with
Funambol's connectors? Seems they could potentially clear out some of
the troubling points having connectors to most devices.

> If you want clean support for this on a mobile client it is actually  
> not too difficult: You add a Kolab Format compliant IMAP client on  
> your mobile device and you will be fine. No syncing, no problems.
> 
> Will future clients support this? Yes, no question. IMAP access on a  
> mobile client is nothing fancy. And this is why I'm currently certain  
> that SyncML is just a temporary thing.

A good point. However, is there any Kolab client underway that will run
on most mobile devices? If not, what kind of time span are we in for?

Cheers,
Del