It now appears Microsoft will officially unveil Windows Phone 7 at an open house in New York on Oct. 11. While we don't know exactly when the latest Windows Phone 7 hardware will be available in the United States, one thing we do know for sure: Microsoft's latest phone will hit the streets without sync software. Microsoft can't get its syncronizing software, Windows Live Mesh, to sync with its own phones.
While Microsoft's still diddling with syncing, upstart competitor Dropbox forges ahead. In addition to syncing across all recent versions of Windows, Linux (Ubuntu 7.10+, Fedora 9+), and Mac systems, Dropbox also syncs with iPhone and iPad (it's No. 1 on the productivity list at the Apple App Store), Android, and now the BlackBerry.
[ For an earlier take on Dropbox's head start, see "Dropbox bridges gaps in Microsoft's mobile sync" | Stay up on the cloud with InfoWorld's Cloud Computing Report newsletter. ]
Dropbox lets you designate a folder on your computer or phone as a synchronized folder. You set up a similar synchronized folder on other computers or phones. When you add a file to the folder, delete or modify it, the changes are rippled to the other devices' folders, as soon as those devices connect to the Internet. It happens in minutes or less. You can also get to the synchronized folder's contents through a Web interface. And you can specify a folder as "Public," thus allowing anyone to get into the folder using either Dropbox or the Web.
The first 2GB of online storage is free. If that isn't enough, you can pay $99 to upgrade to 50GB for a year, or $199 for 100 GB.
To download the BlackBerry version of Dropbox, go to the Dropbox Anywhere site. If you already use Dropbox, you should check for updates.
