Best Alternative To Apple iCloud & Google Apps
When it comes to cloud synchronization of contact information, calendars and tasks, there isn’t much of a choice: Either, you’re some mid-forties sales person who’s using a Blackberry, thinking he’s still “up to date”, or you spent and ass full of money on your very own dedicated server and keep your data updated through FTP – or you give away your privacy to companies like Google or Apple and use their cloud services. At that point, you’re probably thinking “Why is there no services that allows me to sync my information without compiling a user profile out of my data – and all that free of charge?“. Well, let me tell you, there is!
Thexyz is a cloud synchronization service that takes your privacy serious. It was in beta for quite some time – actually, it looked like the next Duke Nukem Forever white iPhone 4 Spotify for iPad (okay, damn it, let’s just call it vaporware) of the contact & calendar sync universe. But not so long ago, but, wow, Thexyz indeed has been publicly available for quite some time now, but in the end of 2011/the beginning of 2012 they’ve moved to a new sync technology based on open standards. Thanks to Steve from Thexyz for the correction!
However, their basic accounts provide up to 3 devices. The Canadian company behind Thexyz also provides “Business” and “Briefcase” accounts, containing more possible devices and shares. Yet, there aren’t official statements about what’s coming, nor about when it’s coming.
The user interface is kept pretty simple and straight-forward. You can easily manage and add new sync devices and edit your account information using the links on the left sidebar. When adding new sync devices, Thexyz provides a feature many people might be missing on iCloud and similar services: Each device can be added using a unique access password. This means, that you’ll never have to use your actual thexyz.com account password on your devices, if you wouldn’t like to. The range of supported devices currently includes Mac OS X 10.8 (Address Book & Calendar), 10.7 (Address Book & iCal), 10.6 (Address Book & iCal), 10.5 (iCal only), Mozilla Thunderbird (Contacts & Calendars), Evolution (Contacts, Calendars & Tasks), iOS (Contacts, Calendars & Tasks), Google Android (Contacts & Calendars), Nokia N9 (Calendars only) and “Other clients” (CardDAV/CalDAV & .ics).
When adding a device, a wizard guides you through the setup process, using detailed screenshots of how to set up the synchronization on that actual endpoint.
Synchronization is working pretty fast and smooth and there’s actually nothing noteworthy to report – what’s good with such a service. From the current point of view they’re doing a very cool job!
If you’d like to try it out on your own, feel free to sign up on Thexyz and set up your devices. Maybe, it’s the alternative to iCloud and Google’s services you’ve been searching for a long time?
