Ovi Sync there, but not live...

[slitchfield]

One component of Nokia's Ovi which hasn't had quite so much attention is Sync. This just popped up on the main Ovi toolbar, trailing what Sync will offer. See below for the details.

Read on in the full article.

[Dr Tran]

I'm pretty annoyed that I have to have different accounts for all these Ovi services.

Maps, Music Store, N-Gage, Twango, Sync, etc.

Why doesn't Ovi have one unified ID?

[fernando20]

that tab has been there for a long time already...

[slitchfield]

@fernando: glad you spotted it a while ago, but it was new to Rafe, Ewan and I - somebody should have said something 8-)

Anyway, it's reasonably new and worthy of debate, IMHO. Personally, I've been syncing moderately happily to Google through GooSync, but Nokia's Ovi carries a lot of weight too. Maybe.

Steve

[PaulyLaw]

@Dr Tran

Good point, whats the point of a unified Ovi brand without a unified account?

I only have a few hundred thousand usernames and passwords. I want more.

Seriously though, passwords etc, are getting out of hand these days. We need a decent solution. I don't care much about ovi but if you need mulitiple passwords for different areas then I certainly won't be trying / using it. I am sure I will not be the person.

[sapporobaby]

As a person living in Finland, I can see why all these multiple passwords and logins exist. Finland lives by the password and user log in. If any part of the Ovi development is done in Finland, you can rest assured there will be multiple passwords, logins, secret hand-shakes, eye-winks, etc...... This is typical Finnish and when you try to point it out to them how illogical this, the Mr. Spock in them comes out and they will defend a completely illogical position with equally illogical logic. to say this is annoying is an understatement.

Hopefully someone not as logical will decide that having one user ID spread across multiple services will be completely illogical and implement it.

Kirk out

[krisse]

Sapporobaby, could you give up the racism please. Apart from being offensive you're factually incorrect.

Nokia's Finnish CEO already said at Ovi's launch last year that the whole point of Ovi is to have a unified login. They want unified login, they just haven't achieved it yet.

When Google bought YouTube, they didn't instantly have a unified login with other Google services, it took a while to happen. When Google bought Blogger in 2004, they didn't migrate it to Google servers and logins until 2006. When companies buy online services made by other companies, they can't just immediately integrate them into their other services. It just isn't that easy to do, especially if there are millions of members.

The reason the Ovi services currently have separate logins is because they were all made by separate companies, and they all pre-date Ovi's existence.

-N-Gage as a platform was already in development way back in 2005 (they even had screenshots back then of the current interface). The network it runs on, SNAP, was developed by Sega, not Nokia.

-Ovi Share is a rebranded version of Twango, which was a totally separate company. Nokia only bought it in July 2007, and Ovi launched in August 2007.

-Nokia Maps is a rebranded version of Smart2Go, which also wasn't developed by Nokia but was bought by them.

To have a unified login for these services, you'd have to deal with products made by three independent companies, all using different systems, all intended for different purposes, all developed before Ovi existed.

Obviously they should eventually unify the logins, that's what they say the point of Ovi is, but you can't just wave a magic wand and have it happen overnight in these circumstances.

It's also worth emphasising that N-Gage, Ovi Share and the latest version of Maps are all still in Beta, so none of them represent finished products.

[sapporobaby]

Quote: Sapporobaby, could you give up the racism please. Apart from being offensive you're factually incorrect.

Incorrect about the Ovi statement maybe as I do not live inside of Nokia headquarters so I would not hear every gem or nugget that drops from the Nokia tree.

racism |ˈrāˌsizəm|
noun
the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, esp. so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.
• prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on such a belief : a program to combat racism.

I think you need to understand the word you want to use before you misuse it again. When you move and live in Finland then you can tell me how I am. Being married to a Finn, living with Finns, working with them day in and day out gives me a pretty good understanding of their temperaments, foibles, and over all character. Do forgive me for not using a disclaimer in my post. I assumed that most had the common sense to realize that statement was aimed at the powers within Nokia and not ALL of Finland. Sorry for assuming you had common sense. I will write disclaimers in the future.

In the meantime, you are cordially to correct me regarding Finnish culture, lifestyle, etc...... Thanks in advance.

[PaulyLaw]

Krisse - Rascist is quite a strong word to use, and I think it a little too strong in this instance. I read Sapporobaby's comment as fairly tongue in cheek, kinda like suggesting that English people like to queue or Irish people like thier guiness.

Your explanation about Nokia's challenge to achieve a unified login system made sense, but was a little lost by your OTT initial statment.

Just a thought ...

[sapporobaby]

I was trying to be cheeky and have a bit of fun with the post.

Too bad krisse missed the poster that said he had over 10,000 usernames and passwords. I guess we should talk all of this as serious. Aren't phones and stuff supposed to be fun and stuff?

[Rafe]

Keep calm everyone, just a bit of mutual misunderstanding I'm sure. We don't need definitions etc. etc. If we're looking at in the Ovi light this explains why context - at the heart of what Ovi is about (the expression on a face when someone says something) is so important eh!

I do get that its hard to do unified log-in, but I think its something Nokia perhaps could have introduced sooner... at least have xyz@ovi.com user name and passwords work across other services even if legacy ones dont.

[sapporobaby]

Originally Posted by Rafe

Keep calm everyone, just a bit of mutual misunderstanding I'm sure. We don't need definitions etc. etc. If we're looking at in the Ovi light this explains why context - at the heart of what Ovi is about (the expression on a face when someone says something) is so important eh!

I do get that its hard to do unified log-in, but I think its something Nokia perhaps could have introduced sooner... at least have xyz@ovi.com user name and passwords work across other services even if legacy ones dont.

If I am not mistaken, didn't SE have something like this with their online service? If I recall, you could log in from any different territory. Hell if SE can do it, Nokia can surely make this happen.

And Rafe, no hard feelings. I'm not angry.

[neilhoskins]

SyncML services are, as you say, two-a-penny. The trick will be to give us a service that will take a sync from a handset, and be able to sync it back down to a desktop service. GooSync is currently the closest, as I can sync back down to my Thunderbird/Lightning calendar. Can't do contacts yet, though.

[davidmaxwaterma]

I (again) see parallels with Microsoft's business practices, and I think Nokia has to be careful.

Indeed, it isn't 'as bad' but Nokia should careful of duplicating 3rd party products, since they have a clear advantage, especially if they're giving them away for free or including them on shipped devices.

Does anyone else see parallels here? I would like to hear an opposite point of view...

Max.