Today we released fruux v0.7.1, besides several iCal syncing related bugfixes this version includes a french localization, which was generously donated from linathael over at HardMac.com/MacBidouille.com (Thank you, linathael!).

We are also working hard on our main site at fruux.com. It’s still work in progress, but you’ll find our changelog and also our roadmap there.

Please always remember, that fruux is still in beta.
Backup your data:

• Addressbook: File -> Export -> Addressbook Archive
• iCal: File -> Backup iCal…

If you are affected by any bugs, please let us know (support @ fruux . com). We are pretty responsive and will do our best to get any bugs you might experience resolved as fast as possible.

Can’t wait for the new version? Here are the update instructions:

• Start “System Preferences”
• Start “fruux”
• Click “Synchronize Now”
• If you don’t already have v0.7.1 installed, the “New version availiable” message will appear
• After a few seconds you’ll be asked if you want to replace the current version. Click “Replace”
• Wait a few seconds, until the new version is installed
• Click “Synchronize Now”
• If the System asks you for permission to use the fruux Keychain item, click “Allow”

We are happy that our fruux v0.7 rollout went quite smoothly.

However we’re still not entirely satisfied, because some of you are affected by bugs.
There are currently three known issues with iCal syncing:

• if you heavily use recurring events, your sync might break (we’re working on this one)
• Obviously some of our users from russia are affected by an encoding bug (we’re working on this one)
• Some users have problems with duplication and repeating sync conflicts (so far all of them used other sync systems in addition to fruux, we’re working on this one, too)

Only very few users are struck by those bugs, but still we are extremely sorry for any inconvenience caused! Please keep in mind that fruux is still in beta. We’re working really hard fixing those bugs as fast as possible.

If you are affected by bugs or need help, please get in touch with us:
support (at) fruux . com

(Please don’t forget to enter your correct emailaddress, if you use our contact form. If you email directly to our support emailaddress, please include the file ~/Library/Application Support/Fruux/Sync.log).

Some of our users already work with our addressbook syncing in productive enviroments. If you need addressbook syncing e.g. in your office and there is no way you could wait for our bugfix release, please contact us. We might be able to offer you a customized version of fruux, which just syncs your addressbook.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any problems concerning fruux! Thank you for your support.

Did we mention, that we don’t really like those proprietary IM protocols?
We wanted to know how popular our favorite protocol XMPP (a.k.a. Jabber) actually is, so we gathered some ANONYMOUS statistics from our systems.

While XMPP in it’s early days was a “geek-only protocol”, it actually looks like it’s on a triumphal course.
(Our current userbase probably consists of a lot of geeks, but since most of us still have several “normal people” in our addressbooks, those stats are actually representative)

XMPP is close on AIMs heels. 27% of our users IM contacts are XMPP contacts. Thats great!
Our educated guess is: In one or two years XMPP will be in the pole position!

We got a couple of mails from people asking us, what exactly fruux is about. I guess our marketing sucks

What is fruux about?

• syncing data (currently addressbooks) between multiple macs devices

What about the future?

• sync even more data (calendars, bookmarks, preferences)
• iPhone syncing
• adding social-syncing
• more details in our roadmap

Any demo video?

• Thanks to Joshua from MacGasm there is a nice screencast covering fruux. It’s availiable at blip.tv.
  (The video shows an older version of fruux. If you watched the video and wonder what went wrong at about 1:20 - Address Book.app and the Apple SyncServices only update a record, if it is not currently opened. Joshua worked around by closing Address Book.app and syncing again. Just clicking on another contact and then back on the “demo contact” would have worked, too. The sync actually went fine, Address Book.app just didn’t update itself with the new data, because the changed contact was currently opened. In “real live” you probably won’t even recognize this behaviour of Address Book.app and Apples SyncServices, because you won’t sit on both machines, have the same contact opened and wait for the change to appear)

FAQ

• Is my data safe?
  • fruux uses industry standard SSL encryption (like your bank does for your homebanking) and we will never ever give a third party access to your data!
• Should I backup my addressbook before I start using fruux?
  • You should even backup your addressbook when your are not using fruux! fruux is betasoftware. We store a quadrillion (not exactly) contacts and so far nothing went wrong, but there might always be some edge case (for example if you use any other third party sync app) where bad things could happen. So please backup your addressbook (Launch Address Book.app -> File -> Export -> Save Address Book Archive).
• fruux is free, may I support you?
  • Why not. You could donate via Paypal, or just shop at Amazon.com or Amazon.de. It’s also possible to list your website/company on our supporters page. We might also blog about your company and how nice your donation was.
  • Help spreading the word. Blog about fruux, produce screencasts, upload screenshots (if your article/video/… is nice, we’ll probably link it here), tell your friends, show others that you use fruux at iusethis.com, if you are a Facebook user please “fan” our fruux @ facebook page, follow us on Twitter (it’s low volume, usually we just use it for important stuff) and so on.

More questions?

• Contact us

Try fruux?

• It’s availiable as a free download

Although we are a bit late, we are pleased to announce fruux 0.6. This version still contains no iCal syncing (sorry for that), but we changed a ton of internal stuff, that allows us to include new features in the next version, give you even better performance and reliability as well.

public beta
This version allows new users to join our beta test. Just download it and register a fruux account yourself (you need a valid emailadress, otherwise you wont be able to activate it).

Changelog:

• (FEATURE) self registration feature (allows new users to create a fruux account)
• (FEATURE) fruux autoupdater (allows us to deliver new features to you)
• (FIXES) A ton of bugfixes and performance optimizations

If you are are current fruux betatester, this is (hopefully) the last time you have to update your fruux client manually. Please download the new client version and follow our update instructions.

Please contact us if you need help, experience bugs, have a suggestion or simply want to tell us how much you love fruux

If you are interested in speeding up development, feel free to support us and please suggest your top priority feature!