KitchenSync using OpenSync

With KDE making use of the desktop-independent OpenSync project, a unified syncing platform becomes a reality. Other desktop applications and projects already use OpenSync or have signalled interest in using it. With OpenSync as a unified platform vendors of mobile devices and other parties interested in integrating with the desktop syncing platforms have a single point of contact. By writing a simple OpenSync plugin they enable desktop users to sync their devices with all other devices supported by OpenSync and most applications used on the desktop, independent of the desktop environment.

At the end of August leading members of the OpenSync and KDE projects met for a three-day coding session at Nuremberg in Germany, sponsored by SUSE. At the meeting a KDE based graphical user interface for OpenSync was created. A presentation of the results of this meeting is available on the OpenSync website. The code for the KDE frontend, codenamed KitchenSync can be found in the "opensync-integration" branch in KDE's Subversion repository. It has been constantly improved over the last few weeks and already represents a usable application to operate the OpenSync backend. Not only can it be used on the KDE desktop, but also on all other GNU/Linux or UNIX desktops.

The combination of OpenSync and the new KitchenSync frontend will replace great parts of the current variety of KDE syncing solutions by a unified approach. The old versions of KitchenSync, KSync, Kandy, libksync have already been removed from the code base for the upcoming next generation of the KDE desktop, KDE 4. KPilot is planned to be replaced once all functionality is available with the new framework in an equivalent way.

The first official stable 1.0 release of OpenSync is planned for the beginning of 2006. The KDE based frontend will be released in parallel to OpenSync 1.0. This release will contain support for syncing Palm Pilots, SyncML, Evolution, Kontact, files and IrMC capable devices like mobile phones.

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