Windows Users Get the Bare Minimum for iCloud

Andrew Cunningham for Ars Technica:

iCloud for Windows remains an effort aimed mostly at iOS users who also have Windows PCs. Between the new Control Panel and iCloud.com, it’s possible for these people to keep their mail, calendars, contacts, reminders, notes, and iWork documents accessible, but it works less well alongside Macs, especially since neither the Windows control panel nor the Web portal allow you to access documents and data created in applications that aren’t Pages, Numbers, or Keynote.

Despite having a Windows box, iCloud has never been something I wanted to use on it. Just as Apple maintains iTunes for Windows, they maintain some semblance of support for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch customers by giving Windows users a basic iCloud implementation that, at least in style, mirrors the iCloud pane in System Preferences.

Obviously you can’t open a document with a .pages extension in Windows, but there weird restrictions with e-mail, calendars, and tasks for example, which requires Outlook 2007 or 2010. Syncing bookmarks still requires Internet Explorer. With iCloud data being buried in iCloud > Storage & Backup > Manage Store in the iOS Settings app, there’s really no need for home (i.e. not enterprise) Windows users to even consider installing iCloud onto their Windows machines unless Calendar and e-mail syncing is a must. Even your iOS device can be backed up to iCloud, obviating the need for iTunes unless you have slow upstream bandwidth with your home Internet connection.

Although… As everything on iOS is mirrored into Photo Stream as of iOS 5, Windows users can take advantage of one fringe benefit — Photo Stream photos can be dumped into any folder of your choice, making Dropbox a suitable location if you’d like to have your photos on all of your devices. (Mac users wanting to move photos from iPhoto to Dropbox may want to check out Federico’s guide.)