Digital Address Book portability
Yeesh. So here we are, year 2006, and I have no idea how to share contact data between several connected computers. Every major OS has an address book API, and almost all of them use VCard formatted data. Well, how do you keep them synchromized? This isn’t a new-fangled Web 2.0 problem, this is the kind of thing it’s embarrasing to realize is unsolved.
Right now I’ve got my AB data on my mac, which I can export, but then I lose my contact groups. What? Data loss? So I need to shoehorn my groups data into each contact as a new keywords field or something… but this platform doesn’t (easily) support that. I’ve got a PC laptop running Windows and Linux, and Windows and Linux at work, too. I can import this data into either OS, but will it be integrated into the programs I use there? It depends. Am I using the OS’s Mail / Chat clients? No? Then I lose out. I need to import my data again into the individual programs. How many places is my personal data? I can think of little data more personal than someone’s address book. That’s part of the reason I’m hesitant to be on such sites as Friendster, and why I’m not on MySpace. But now, on some system that I do not own or admin, I have my personal data sprayed on the inside like a Ziebart rustproof job. Where is it? Where did Kabc import it to? Did windows put it in the registry? How can I possibly get it out of there?
I have a feeling if this gets any more frustrating, I may have another project on my hands.