[selowitch]

This bit of freeware advertised by Apple syncs all your contact info on various machines, Mac or PC. Sounds good, except it doesn't appear to sync the data in AddressBook.app, the Thunderbird or Windows/Outlook address book or anything useful, just Ripplex-to-Ripplex.

So what exactly is the point of this software? Seems like a waste of time to me. What am I missing?

[samirpatel]

First the Caveat - I work for Ripplex and the intent for this reply is to point out how I think Ripplex aims to add value .

Ripplex is offering an alternative to current slew of address books - hopefully a better one by focusing on two main categories.

A) "Stand-alone" address book:

The features that users might find useful in this category would be:
- Automatic synchronization between Ripplex address book on multiple computers. It supports both Macs and PCs.
- Easy way to launch many applications, e.g. email client, google map, skype chat/phone. More and more internet services will be added over time to make this one address book that combines multiple applications instead of having address book independent of applications or buried in one particular application.
- Easy finding/managing/viewing of the profiles in the address book.
- Good import/export features

B) Platform to find friends, exchange information with them without any risk to privacy and confidentiality:

With the internet we all are much more connected to each other, but the current services let you exchange data with your friends or help you find your friends ONLY if you share the data with them first which inherently is prone to compromises to one's privacy and confidentiality.

Ripplex service (which is integral part of the address book) is different in the following ways:

- Data is primarily stored in your computer(s)
- Ripplex proprietary search finds your friends without looking at any of your information, so you can find people you know without (a) disclosing any of your information to amy one and (b) with no risk of spams and solicitations.
- Once you find your friends, you can make 1-1 secured links between your address book and your friend's address book(s) to disclose your items to them as well as to receive their disclosed items to you. All the communication is carried out using encryption to make data not readable by third parties.
- Group feature lets you share part of your address book with linked group members.

With the combination of these two aspects, we hope to offer an address book that is truly a distributed address book in which the data resides primarily with the owner of the data and from there it flows to where ever it needs to go - under the control of the owner of the data - with full security and privacy PLUS all the features that would make it convenient to launch applications, find information and exchange data with other tools/devices.

Hope this helps. For more information, please visit Ripplex Top Page | Free Address book - Ripplex -

[selowitch]

Samir,

Thanks for the info. I definitely see the value of such a broad-based synchronization tool. I think a great many users will nevertheless wonder why it doesn't take the next logical step and incorporate the Mac OS X Address Book, the Windows/Outlook Address Book, so that we can actually use the data to address e-mail messages, print labels, and do the daily work that involves contacts.

If I were on the development team for Ripplex, I would voice serious concerns about the viability of a contacts-related program that did not do those things.

[samirpatel]

Hi,

Thanks for the suggestion. Currently Ripplex supports import from many different tools (accepts .csv, .tsv and .vcf formats) as well as exports data in .csv outlook style file. This enables moving data to/from Ripplex Address Book to other address books. Certainly, we should look at making this easier. I request you to try this address book. You will see that it allows you to keep data of larger variety and more concisely. One can also start a compose window of the default email client on your PC/Mac to send an email, so hopefully you and others will find this useful while we work at adding features to make it easier to use and integrate with other applications.

Thanks a lot for the interest, questions and suggestions. We welcome feedback from the users.

[samirpatel]

Ripplex Inc. launched version 1.1.1 of Ripplex Address Book. This thread may be interested in knowing the following.

It now has interface with Skype and Twitter services. Now, you can bring all your Skype contacts in Ripplex Address Book and see their Skype status and Skype mood messages. You can launch Skype chat or Skype calls from Rippleax Address Book (same as version 1.0.2). Ripplex Address Book works as Twitter client, so you see the latest twitter messages from people whom you are following in your Ripplex! With Skype and Twitter IDs, its easier to find and link with friends. Once linked, you can share more information with your Skype and Twitter friends. The interface for linking with friends as well as account setup are greatly simplified.

The idea behind Ripplex is to offer an Address Book that lets you use Multiple channels of communications from single place, so in future, support for more and more services will be added. As a user, you want to share information with friends without having to share it with any third party. Ripplex provides a no compromise solution to privacy and confidentiality concerns by making sure that even Ripplex does not have access to your information. Its unique architecture and search mechanism makes it easy to exchange/update information with friends without even a remote chance of any spams or solicitations.

[peeb]

I think you might be underestimating the degree to which people like Apple's Addressbook OS integration.