Please Apple: Take MobileMeek offline!

[drjjw]

Please Apple, do the right thing and take the service down. I have wasted countless hours trying to get this system to work. This is just simply unfair at this point. Leaving it online endorses that it works. I implore you, take the service offline!

[iShater]

Yes Apple, please take it down, but just for drjjw, as the part I need to work is working for me. :D

Wouldn't you think it would be worse if the entire service was down vs. not working right? :confused:

[Slip Jigs]

Please Apple, do the right thing and take the service down. I have wasted countless hours trying to get this system to work. This is just simply unfair at this point. Leaving it online endorses that it works. I implore you, take the service offline!

Are you continuing to have problems even after the letter went out that everything was stated as operational? I am, so just checking.

[DeaconGraves]

Are you continuing to have problems even after the letter went out that everything was stated as operational? I am, so just checking.

I'm really getting sick of people saying this. The official system status is here.

http://www.apple.com/support/mobileme/

[drjjw]

most definitely. Calenders are a mess for me.

[drjjw]

Yes Apple, please take it down, but just for drjjw, as the part I need to work is working for me. :D

Wouldn't you think it would be worse if the entire service was down vs. not working right? :confused:

actually, no.
I would use another solution until I could depend on data being recorded and synced properly instead of redoing everything.

[coolant113]

I think mobileme is amazing!!:apple::apple:

[Morod]

1. No autofill of recipient's email address when composing a new email. I have to either reply to an email, or open the address book in the dock to find email addresses. Really frustrating!
2. When opening the mail, the top email opens automatically. I don't want that feature. Just a minor pain, really.
Morod

[drjjw]

I'm really getting sick of people saying this. The official system status is here.

http://www.apple.com/support/mobileme/

In fairness, I doubt those updates are accurate. All weekend and this week the reports hardly reflected the true mess

[chriswheat]

I would use another solution until I could depend on data being recorded and synced properly instead of redoing everything.

Then go use another solution and let the rest of us who are using MobileMe (without problems) continue to do so.

[danny_w]

actually, no.
I would use another solution until I could depend on data being recorded and synced properly instead of redoing everything.
I agree. I would rather see MobileMe shut down completely than in the partially-up and undependable state that is is in right now. I also would use other methods until I could depend on MM. I got along just fine with Google Bookmark Sync on Firefox before switching to .mac almost a year ago, and, although my contacts and schedule sometimes are synced properly, more often than not it has given me collisions and headaches. What ever made me think that MobileMe would be any better?

[chriswheat]

*duplicate*

[Slip Jigs]

I'm really getting sick of people saying this. The official system status is here.

http://www.apple.com/support/mobileme/

Sheesh, bite my head off, I was just asking the OP a question.

[Alrescha]

Then go use another solution and let the rest of us who are using MobileMe (without problems) continue to do so.

I hate to say it, but I'm in the process of doing just that.

I've been a .Mac subscriber for five years (and just renewed recently). I've reached the point of questioning Apple's competence and therefore the safety of my data. I've removed my sync data (as best I can) from Apple's servers, removed my .Mac login information from my systems, and am in the process of moving email accounts.

I'll miss not having my bookmarks, calendars, etc. automatically duplicated across my Macs at work and at home, but I'll make do with USB syncing of my iPhone which I always have with me.

If you really don't have any problems with MobileMe, you're clearly in the minority.

A.

[hexonxonx]

I think mobileme is amazing!!:apple::apple:

Agreed, it's been working perfect that past few days.

[MacGeek7]

I think mobileme is amazing!!:apple::apple:

Ditto that

[philamac]

1. No autofill of recipient's email address when composing a new email. I have to either reply to an email, or open the address book in the dock to find email addresses. Really frustrating!
2. When opening the mail, the top email opens automatically. I don't want that feature. Just a minor pain, really.
Morod

2) On the mail page, go to the Cog > preferences > General > Appearance. Change your appearance to 2 panes, instead of 3 (default) to get rid of the preview pane.

[danny_w]

I hate to say it, but I'm in the process of doing just that.

I've been a .Mac subscriber for five years (and just renewed recently). I've reached the point of questioning Apple's competence and therefore the safety of my data. I've removed my sync data (as best I can) from Apple's servers, removed my .Mac login information from my systems, and am in the process of moving email accounts.

I'll miss not having my bookmarks, calendars, etc. automatically duplicated across my Macs at work and at home, but I'll make do with USB syncing of my iPhone which I always have with me.

If you really don't have any problems with MobileMe, you're clearly in the minority.

A.
Me too, I just haven't decided on what email to use yet. What have you chosen if I may ask? My son loves gmail, but it seems to be down as much as .mac/MM, at least as far as Mail.app is concerned. And before .mac I always used Google Bookmark Sync on Firefox and it worked great (much better that .mac actually); I didn't even seriously consider Safari until I got .mac and automatic bookmark syncing, since I was so used to it in FF. I don't have an answer for contacts and schedules though.

[Mikey B]

man, i love mobileme. i was always on the fence with .mac, but i had to jump on mm. certainly it's had some "growing pains" since it was launched, but the sync/push piece has always worked for me, and its just about perfect now.

i don't feel slighted by the fact that it syncs from the mac end instead of true push. either way, data that i enter on one device is getting to my others quickly, and that's the main function i was hoping for.

[danny_w]

man, i love mobileme. i was always on the fence with .mac, but i had to jump on mm. certainly it's had some "growing pains" since it was launched, but the sync/push piece has always worked for me, and its just about perfect now.

i don't feel slighted by the fact that it syncs from the mac end instead of true push. either way, data that i enter on one device is getting to my others quickly, and that's the main function i was hoping for.
Count yourself lucky then.

[Alrescha]

Me too, I just haven't decided on what email to use yet. What have you chosen if I may ask?

Well, I have my mail forwarded to my .mac account, so it's just a matter of turning that off and downloading it directly from my hosting provider (with fetchmail, in this case). I recommend Dreamhost if you're looking for such a thing.

I have a gmail account, and have never had trouble with it. I can't say that I use it a lot though.

A.

[Morod]

2) On the mail page, go to the Cog > preferences > General > Appearance. Change your appearance to 2 panes, instead of 3 (default) to get rid of the preview pane.

Thanks, philamac! I just changed this setting and will see what happens. Good luck everyone, and I do hope Apple gets all the bugs straightened out. I liked .Mac, but MM has the potential to be big.
Morod
PS... Still waiting for my "free 30 day" email from Apple.

[kjs862]

Mobile me isn't working for me still... I'm really disgusted with this and just stopped trying to get it to work. Going back to sync the old way.

[HLdan]

I hate to say it, but I'm in the process of doing just that.

I've been a .Mac subscriber for five years (and just renewed recently). I've reached the point of questioning Apple's competence and therefore the safety of my data. I've removed my sync data (as best I can) from Apple's servers, removed my .Mac login information from my systems, and am in the process of moving email accounts.

I'll miss not having my bookmarks, calendars, etc. automatically duplicated across my Macs at work and at home, but I'll make do with USB syncing of my iPhone which I always have with me.

If you really don't have any problems with MobileMe, you're clearly in the minority.

A.

That's really extreme. You guys give up too fast. It's only been a week. Apple didn't change .Mac just for the fun of it, it was to offer it's customer's a better experience and offer more services for the money we are paying but you really should learn the art of patience rather than jump the gun like you have so far.
For the record what is currently available to use works great for me. All the online apps and push back and forth between desktop and web apps.
I run an entire business using .Mac to store client files and I'm not having issues and I trust that the service will be better soon but if you can't even wait a week then so be it.

[Alrescha]

That's really extreme. You guys give up too fast. It's only been a week

I don't think 'only a week' has anything to do with it. Where I come from, if you do a system upgrade and your customers notice anything except for intended changes, it means you screwed up.

Apple clearly doesn't look at .Mac/MobileMe with that attitude, and that makes me worry about how long it will be before I read something in the news like 'Apple accidentally allows public access to private MobileMe data'.

A.

[macmikey2]

I have MM syncing between 3 Macs and my iPhone and although it was hard to get it started, I believe it was the first few days I was dealing with, not the complete screw-up some peeps are claiming.

I started with my MBP and setup only cals, contacts and bookmarks. Then went to my phone and made sure all was working. Yes, it took a couple of days to get this part working, but since it started, it has worked perfectly. Yes, I said perfectly.

Then I added my daughters PB G4 to the mix and sync'ed the calendar. It has been working on it now for a couple of days. I make changes and they appear on the the others. Just as advertised.

Finally I switched my GF's PowerMac G4 from Entourage to ical and synced that one. So far, all of the events she has added to iCal have been sent to the PB, MBP, and my iPhone. I did find early on that Entourage syncing with MM and having the iCal syncing to MM caused me a lot of grief. If both were set to sync, the calendar would go blank with no events. Turning Entourage's syncing off fixed this.

Now, I admit I don't spend a lot of time in the web apps due to my having access to my phone or MBP, but even they are still in sync as of this am.

I do not pretend to know what is wrong with the others who cannot get this working. I am sorry it doesn't. But, you are/will be missing some pretty good stuff here. Hope you come back later and try it again.

Mike

[DeaconGraves]

I don't think 'only a week' has anything to do with it. Where I come from, if you do a system upgrade and your customers notice anything except for intended changes, it means you screwed up.

Apple clearly doesn't look at .Mac/MobileMe with that attitude, and that makes me worry about how long it will be before I read something in the news like 'Apple accidentally allows public access to private MobileMe data'.

A.

Apple gave all subscribers 30 extra days free. Where I come from, that's a good sign that one acknowledges they screwed up.

[Alrescha]

Apple gave all subscribers 30 extra days free. Where I come from, that's a good sign that one acknowledges they screwed up.

Point taken. The cynic in me suspects that it's more an acknowledgment that the screwup is costing them money.

A.

[DeaconGraves]

Point taken. The cynic in me suspects that it's more an acknowledgment that the screwup is costing them money.

A.

You're probably right. But Apple is a for profit corporation, so that makes sense.

[tallyho]

Now, I admit I don't spend a lot of time in the web apps due to my having access to my phone or MBP, but even they are still in sync as of this am.

I do not pretend to know what is wrong with the others who cannot get this working. I am sorry it doesn't. But, you are/will be missing some pretty good stuff here. Hope you come back later and try it again.

Mike
^^ I agree. All working for me across three macs and an iphone.

[drjjw]

^^ I agree. All working for me across three macs and an iphone.

For those of you who think MM is working, try working with a Blackberry on an enterprise server. It's flawless. This is the same device that Jobs bashed repeatedly as a dumb Smartphone. He has an entire omelette on his face now,.

[voxnj]

Please Apple, do the right thing and take the service down. I have wasted countless hours trying to get this system to work. This is just simply unfair at this point. Leaving it online endorses that it works. I implore you, take the service offline!



DR, just leave if YOU don't like the service. MobileMe is an awesome service. After a few bumps in the first 36 hours, it's working great for me (and most others -- based on other comments).

David Pogue wrote a balanced review in the NYT this morning:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/17/technology/personaltech/17pogue.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin


If there is a particular feature you don't like, do what you would do with any software: live with it or not. The choice is yours.

If you really can't get it to work, check out the Apple support sites. Read the tips and trouble shooting directions. If that doesn't work, then consider carefully what you are doing wrong! It works for the rest of us!

[DeaconGraves]

DR, just leave if YOU don't like the service. MobileMe is an awesome service. After a few bumps in the first 36 hours, it's working great for me (and most others -- based on other comments).

David Pogue wrote a balanced review in the NYT this morning:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/17/technology/personaltech/17pogue.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin


If there is a particular feature you don't like, do what you would do with any software: live with it or not. The choice is yours.

If you really can't get it to work, check out the Apple support sites. Read the tips and trouble shooting directions. If that doesn't work, then consider carefully what you are doing wrong! It works for the rest of us!

Who let the voice of logic on the internet this morning? Someone's not doing their job. :p

[sassenach74]

I love MobileMe, it works mostly well for me......but only between my iPhone 3G and the website. For some reason it will only sync my bookmarks (safari) on my laptop, I can't get it to sync with my contacts or calendars. When syncing contacts MobileMe preferences gives this error message:

"dotmacsyncclient has stopped working

A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available"

I've tried to sync contacts to Google contacts, yahoo contacs, windows contacts and outlook contacts, they all give the same message.

When syncing calendars MobileMe preferences gives this error message:

"Calendars could not be synced due to inconsistent data.

Confirm that your computers data is valid, then reset Calendars on the MobileMe preferences on this computer."

I get this message when I am doing as it said, resetting the calendar.
I have also uninstalled/reinstalled 'Apple Mobile Device Support' and 'iTunes' and still no luck.

If anybody has any suggestions I'd be much appreciative.
It's not a life threatening problem as my iMac is due to arrive next week and I'm hoping all will be ok with that, it would just be nice if I could have the info on my laptop too, since it is supposed to work with PC's too.

*Repeated this in another thread, so I apologize if you have already read this*

[bilboa]

If all you're using MM for is syncing data between various devices then I agree it seems to be working fine now. The webapps though are really subpar compared to similar (FREE) offerings, like google's or yahoo's. I actually plan on using the webapps a lot since I travel around a bit without my own computer, or with computers that I wouldn't want my personal information to be stored on. So it's important that the webapps work and quickly, and not just look flashy. Some current problems with MM:


I can't set alarms in my calendar
can't configure which view (month,week,day) calendar defaults to,
can't fill in To address from my address book when composing a new email,
can't add other headers to my email message like a Reply-To header,
can't do any sort of advanced search in my emails on certain fields, like search just the subject,
can't setup or configure email filters


I have reasonable hopes though that Apple will improve it enough by the time my 3 month trial ends that I'll want to sign up. The main draw for me is the tight integration with all the iApps, and that's the reason I'm giving them a chance at all rather than just sticking with google's or yahoo's webapps.

[Phil A.]

For those of you who think MM is working, try working with a Blackberry on an enterprise server. It's flawless. This is the same device that Jobs bashed repeatedly as a dumb Smartphone. He has an entire omelette on his face now,.

Apart from the fact BB is aimed at Enterprises, and MobileMe at consumers, RIM is far from flawless - there has been more than one occasion when their entire infrastructure has collapsed leaving millions of subscribers in the lurch:

A few examples here (http://www.blackberrycool.com/2005/02/23/00212/), here (http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=3052158), here (http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-9870509-37.html), and here (http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/07/rim-experiencing-another-blackberry-outage/)

[Hands0n]

Please Apple, do the right thing and take the service down. I have wasted countless hours trying to get this system to work. This is just simply unfair at this point. Leaving it online endorses that it works. I implore you, take the service offline!

How utterly ridiculous. Tell you what, you go bang a few rocks together while the rest of us get on with making the best of MobileMe which substantially works.

[skinnylegs]

Where's the love! LOL

I have a MM account and I'll stick with it but it is *definitely* not working for me and it's not operator error. So...if it's working for you...great. If not, show a *bit* of compassion for us less fortunate 'peeps who are frustrated beyond belief.

[Hands0n]

LOL - Look, call me a cantankerous old git if you like :D But really! :p

MobileMe does a lot of what it is proposed to do. That it does not do it all has caused near panic amongst the masses.

For my part, I got it working on iPhone, Web (Firefox and Safari), and Mac (Leopard). The only place I could not get it working was my Mac Pro with Tiger - it was having none of it. But some excellent advice on MM suggested a clear out of all .plist files containing the word "dotmac" solve the problem in one single sweep. Damn .plists :eek:

Yes, there is some functionality on the MobileMe web application - but I can survive another day without it. The full integration across Mac, Web and iPhone is what I wanted, and it works, substantially.

We, all of us, know that the deficiencies and defects in MobileMe will be remedied soon enough. A lot of us have 60 days to trial it and watch the improvements roll out. Already the web app is more stable than on day one, it positively whizzes along now. Apple are on it, we are early adopters and are paying the price of being such. We've seen this before, and we'll see it again.

Those who wait it out and read these forum pages in a few months time will wonder what the heck all the fuss was about.

One closing word ............. Agile.

[skinnylegs]

This question is 'kinda OT but.....

How can I turn MM *off*. Forget the whole MM, cloud, push thing...I can't even get my iPhone to sync with my computer anymore. Every time I plug it in MM kicks in and fubars the whole thing. I'm more than willing to wait for Apple to work out the kinks but I'd like to be, at the very least, able to sync my iPhone with my computer like I used to be able to do.

[skinnylegs]

See below.

[skinnylegs]

MobileMe does a lot of what it is proposed to do.

...for you.

If it was doing absolutely *nothing* it was advertised to do, as it is (isn't) for people like me, you would probably be singing a different iTune. :)

[Hands0n]

...for you.

If it was doing absolutely *nothing* it was advertised to do, as it is (isn't) for people like me, you would probably be singing a different iTune. :)

Possibly - but when it wouldn't work in Tiger I scoured the net to find out why. Like all these things RTFM applies :p

I run a fairly vanilla install of Mac OS X (Tiger and Leopard) and have no add-ins to the OS at all. Same with the iPhone, it is running the standard V2.0 firmware. OS X is bang up to date with all of its updates. In essence, it is all as Apple intended. Can you say the same for your installation? That is where I'd start trying to debug your problems with it.

Turning off MobileMe as far as the iPhone is concerned is nothing more than a matter of deleting the MM account on the phone. Thats it, you're done.

Have you tried re-setting your iPhone back to factory state? Also, on the Mac, remove your .Mac or MobileMe settings in the System Preferences panel.

When Leopard came out there was tons of trouble with it - a lot, perhaps most, of it caused by OS add-ins and other such stuff. Against all advice I "upgraded" from Tiger to Leopard and it just worked in the usual Apple way. My guess is that those suffering with MM not working or causing significant issues will be related....


Edit: A tip that works for me - Anything you do to change on the Mac or MobileMe website seems to need you to delete and recreate the MobileMe account on your iPhone. If you don't do this then the Push to the iPhone stops working! I can recreate this at will, so it is definitely a "feature"

[Hands0n]

See below.
__________________
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTUruCv4Qi4

Apparently you've caused a YouTube terms of use violation :eek::eek::eek::eek:

[HLdan]

I don't think 'only a week' has anything to do with it. Where I come from, if you do a system upgrade and your customers notice anything except for intended changes, it means you screwed up.

Apple clearly doesn't look at .Mac/MobileMe with that attitude, and that makes me worry about how long it will be before I read something in the news like 'Apple accidentally allows public access to private MobileMe data'.

A.

Really? Where I come from when I have a boss that pays me to do a project and I have trouble completing it on time due to issues or workloads I would like to think my boss would be understanding and trust the fact that I will finish it at some point and have the project completed and in working order rather than just turning around a firing me and saying I screwed up. Seems fair.

[Alrescha]

Really? Where I come from when I have a boss that pays me to do a project and I have trouble completing it on time due to issues or workloads I would like to think my boss would be understanding and trust the fact that I will finish it at some point and have the project completed and in working order rather than just turning around a firing me and saying I screwed up. Seems fair.

I can't see that what you said has anything to do with what I said.

The MobileMe fiasco has nothing to do with 'completing something on time'.

A.

[skinnylegs]

I run a fairly vanilla install of Mac OS X (Tiger and Leopard) and have no add-ins to the OS at all. Same with the iPhone, it is running the standard V2.0 firmware. OS X is bang up to date with all of its updates. In essence, it is all as Apple intended. Can you say the same for your installation?

Same here. I have never been one to Jailbreak my iPhone or mess with my OS and everything is up to date. :)

Turning off MobileMe as far as the iPhone is concerned is nothing more than a matter of deleting the MM account on the phone.

Didn't know there was a MM account that resides on the phone. Where is it?

Have you tried re-setting your iPhone back to factory state?

I've considered that but I am a sentimental fool and I don't want to lose a particular text message stream. :o

[skinnylegs]

Apparently you've caused a YouTube terms of use violation :eek::eek::eek::eek:

Bummer. It was (still is) a funny clip.

[mark34]

I love it! It works great for me.

[HLdan]

I can't see that what you said has anything to do with what I said.

The MobileMe fiasco has nothing to do with 'completing something on time'.

A.

Uh excuse me? That's been the gist of the MM fiasco. Apple first promised to have .Mac site down starting last Wednesday from 6pm to 10pm then they changed it from 9pm -2am and said MM would be up and running and it wasn't and they've never gave an ETA after that. All through the iPhone launch day through Tuesday they've said nothing until yesterday when they sent the apology letter. To date certain things aren't working still.

What part of that had nothing to do with "completing something on time"?

Here's what you said:
I've been a .Mac subscriber for five years (and just renewed recently). I've reached the point of questioning Apple's competence and therefore the safety of my data. I've removed my sync data (as best I can) from Apple's servers, removed my .Mac login information from my systems, and am in the process of moving email accounts.

My point was you're not giving them a chance to get things up and running and you have zero trust. Apple has not jeopardized the security of your files so far have they?

[danny_w]

...My point was you're not giving them a chance to get things up and running and you have zero trust. Apple has not jeopardized the security of your files so far have they?
Several people have reported having lost all of their emails so yes, I would say that is jeopardizing the security of my files.

[Alrescha]

What part of that had nothing to do with "completing something on time"?

Fixing the screw-up is irrelevant. It's all after the fact.

Projecting an office-cubicle perspective on top of a corporation as you did in your previous post isn't going to be useful. Apple, Inc. picked the dates to deploy MobileMe. No external 'boss' told them their schedule. Apple, Inc. decided that they were ready. Obviously, they were wrong.

The significant aspect to me is that they blew it in the first place, not that they are taking weeks to fix it. Apple knew how many .Mac customers they had. They knew how many resources it took to serve them. They knew the difference between that service and their new service, and should have known what they needed to do to prepare.

Did they blow the calculations? Did they decide to float it and 'see what happened'? You and I will probably never know. And that's just not the important point. The thing is that they blew it, and badly.

Now, I was already a little uncomfortable with the idea of keeping my data on someone else's servers if I don't have to. I'd never give my data to the likes of Microsoft, or Yahoo, or even Google for that matter. I did have a little faith in Apple. This experience just pushed me over the edge, and I'm back to keeping my data where I can see it.

A.

[tweaks]

Fixing the screw-up is irrelevant. It's all after the fact.

Projecting an office-cubicle perspective on top of a corporation as you did in your previous post isn't going to be useful. Apple, Inc. picked the dates to deploy MobileMe. No external 'boss' told them their schedule. Apple, Inc. decided that they were ready. Obviously, they were wrong.

The significant aspect to me is that they blew it in the first place, not that they are taking weeks to fix it. Apple knew how many .Mac customers they had. They knew how many resources it took to serve them. They knew the difference between that service and their new service, and should have known what they needed to do to prepare.

Did they blow the calculations? Did they decide to float it and 'see what happened'? You and I will probably never know. And that's just not the important point. The thing is that they blew it, and badly.

Now, I was already a little uncomfortable with the idea of keeping my data on someone else's servers if I don't have to. I'd never give my data to the likes of Microsoft, or Yahoo, or even Google for that matter. I did have a little faith in Apple. This experience just pushed me over the edge, and I'm back to keeping my data where I can see it.

A.

Pen and paper?.............I doubt it. :apple:

[queshy]

Push actually seems to be working for me now. They've worked out a lot of the issues.

iDisk is slow as hell, though.

[Hands0n]

Didn't know there was a MM account that resides on the phone. Where is it?


On your iPhone do the following:
Go to Settings
Touch "Mail, Contacts, Calendars" where you should see at the top of the screen a mini panel titled "Accounts"
Touch the Mobile Me account you created (you did create one, no?) which will have a subtitle "Mail, Contacts, Calendars", and then touch the big red button that says "Delete Account"

That's it, you're done, no more MobileMe account on your iPhone.

To then re-create your Mobile Me account on the iPhone it is back to Settings (on the iPhone).
Touch "Mail, Contacts, Calendars",
Touch "Add Account"
Touch "mobileme" and fill in your account details.
That will put up a fresh setting of MobileMe on the iPhone.

Hot tip - fiddle around with MobileMe settings on your Mac or PC first, get the sync/push working between your desktop and the web app first. Only when all that is working okay should you even consider setting up MobileMe on the iPhone. Also, if you change anything, absolutely anything at all in MobileMe (i.e. adding another Mac, removing one etc ....) then you need to delete and recreate your MobileMe account on the iPhone - if you don't then Push to the iPhone will not work. I have been able to re-create that 100% on demand, it is a bijoux bug.

I'm not around for a couple of weeks now, so good luck with your stuff :D


Edit:
There is a comprehensive guide to setting up Mobile Me on the Mac and iPhone here (http://www.apple.com/mobileme/setup/iphone/mac.html). It is no accident that they tell you to set up the iPhone last (although that is not emphasised sufficiently, in my opinion).

But one thing is for certain - very many problems are caused by people not following these guides to the letter. I suspect that, given you have said you have a similar environment to me, you've possibly not worked through the set-up correctly. No harm done, probably :D, its easy enough to go through it all again. It is frustrating as hell to see it not work as you rightly said. But it can be made to work..

Like I said earlier - its pretty much a case of RTFM, then RTFM again, and follow it to the letter. If it still does not work there is most likely something non-vanilla about your installation and you need to find out what that is. In my case it was a pre-existing set of "dotmac" .plists that needed deleting.

This stuff does work "out of the box" - just not always after a few months of a user having their hands on it :eek:

[Hands0n]

Fixing the screw-up is irrelevant. It's all after the fact.

Projecting an office-cubicle perspective on top of a corporation as you did in your previous post isn't going to be useful. Apple, Inc. picked the dates to deploy MobileMe. No external 'boss' told them their schedule. Apple, Inc. decided that they were ready. Obviously, they were wrong.


No, obviously they were not wrong at all. It all depends upon your particular perspective and understanding of how Apple, as a lot of other software development shops, operate. I've hinted at this a few times in this and other threads ... To gain an understanding how Apple, and Microsoft for that matter, release what appears to be half-baked software into the wild you need to also know what their development methodology is.

Apple is, like an increasing number of software houses, an Agile shop. There are a number of flavours of Agile, but the core philosophies are the same. One of the foundation principles of Agile is that the release date does not change, but the scope can (and often does). So, while the overall design intentions may cover everything from the soup to the nuts, the actual delivery may well fall somewhat short - as indeed it did with MobileMe. The release date will only be pulled if the development is sufficiently short to put the entire application into jeopardy. However, if it can substantially work, as indeed MobileMe does, even with some shortcoming and functional omissions (i.e. iDisk functionality) the release will go ahead.

It is beyond scope to describe Agile methodology in full here, so I'll be a bit Agile myself and stop my delivery now ;) - you'd all go to sleep way before anyone had finished :) But if you want to see beyond what appears to be obvious (but isn't) a google of Agile and Agile XP would help. A reasonable starting place would be Wikipedia take on Agile (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development).

The thing to keep in mind in all of this - what you have received on 11 July 2008 is only the first of several releases. Not only of MobileMe itself but of the iPhone V2,0 firmware and even Tiger and Apple's .Mac/MobileMe Preferences panel. Agile demands that, iteratively, these be improved to deliver all of the functionality originally intended.

We must expect to come into contact with Agile development methods in more of the product that we buy. There a bit of a practical revolution on the go.