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again, me.com came up during the night in much of the world, early morning in other significant markets. I don't see how the "abnormal load" can be responsible for it. The service will need to cope with all the traffic, because a push service is always in use.

You also mention large amounts of data.

ALL users should be transferred from .mac to me.com now. Apple would not bring the site up/down hundreds of times to test that.

There is probably other issues going on. Could be major data loss issues that they discovered right after they launched etc. Could be a 100 different reasons. But the bottom-line is that Apple wants this service up and running more than any of us on this forum. Especially since they have already sold 3G phones in other parts of the world by now, the last thing they need is bad PR and a broken customer experience. So I am sure they are doing everything they possibly can to fix the problem. I pity the programmers at Apple who probably have a dozen managers and VPs breathing down the back of their necks and looking over their shoulders right now :D. I am as frustrated about not being able to access the new MobileMe service and taking it for a spin. And I am as guilty of pressing that refresh button as any of you :(. I suppose I should know better.
 
What Apple is doing today is ridiculous. They should have tested the migration path and documented all necessary steps. I am an IT Pro and I know. It's my job to migrate infrastructures. If I told my customers that during an upgrade their systems won't be available, they would shoot me!!!
Please don't start defending Apple. Try to be objective here. Their problems today show incompetence...I am really surprised.

Yes Yes and Yes - you are sooooo correct. I've done many ERP transitions and we never expected or requested 12 hour periods of downtime. This is a larger scale project, but then again Apple has multi million dollar budgets and staff (or should have) to lead and manage it properly.

IMO - there is simply way too much apologizing going on for Apple on this transition. Many times (though not all) technical staff will unleash gobs of techie mumbo jumbo as a way of covering up poor design, coding errors and/or inadequate testing. The proof is in the pudding - and this one is off.

It really is past due for Steve to bring their operations up to par.
 
There is probably other issues going on. Could be major data loss issues that they discovered right after they launched etc. Could be a 100 different reasons. But the bottom-line is that Apple wants this service up and running more than any of us on this forum. Especially since they have already sold 3G phones in other parts of the world by now, the last thing they need is bad PR and a broken customer experience. So I am sure they are doing everything they possibly can to fix the problem. I pity the programmers at Apple who probably have a dozen managers and VPs breathing down the back of their necks and looking over their shoulders right now :D. I am as frustrated about not being able to access the new MobileMe service and taking it for a spin. And I am as guilty of pressing that refresh button as any of you :(. I suppose I should know better.

I am also sure they are working on the problem.

I just don't like being told by other posters (not you) that we don't have a right to complain on a public forum because we have no legal rights.
 
I'm chatting with a .Mac/MobileMe manager about the OS compatability and i asked him when it'll be up and he said:
NAME: We are finishing it up now

NAME: It will be completely up today
 
I have already submitted in my feedback comments to Apple that the MobileME project manager be fired immediately.

Wow, aren't we the blood-thirsty one. Never mind that it just might not be the PM's fault. Never mind that he/she probably has a family to feed. No question, this launch hasn't gone smoothly. But aren't you getting a bit carried away? :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
MobileMe support chat transcript

I just did a chat with a mobile me support rep. here's the transcript:


info: Hi, my name is Craig. Welcome to Apple!
Craig: Hi Scott. How are you?

Scott: I've been unable to connect with MobileMe
Scott: and haven't been able to check my email since yesterday
Craig: I completely understand. Today we are moving everything from .Mac to MobileMe.
Craig: During this transition we have turned off some features of .Mac/MobileMe including web mail access.

Scott: do you have an estimate when it will be up and running?
Craig: I am told that by the end of today it should be fully up an operational. If you are needing to check your mail, you can use an email client such as the one in Mac OS X.
Scott: so then, it's not just me experiencing this?
Craig: Link: Using .Mac Mail with Mac OS X
Craig: Nope this is across our entire user-base. I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

Scott: ok, well, i guess all I can do is wait... as long as they are working on it the best they can
Craig: We've been doing our best to get it going as soon as possible.
Craig: Is there anything else I can help you with?

Scott: no thanks
Scott: thanks for your info
Craig: Alright. I hope you have a great day, Scott. Thank you for your continued business with .Mac and Apple.
Craig: Thank you for chatting with us. We value your feedback. Please click the blue "Close" button at top left to answer a few questions about your experience with us today.
 
There is probably other issues going on. Could be major data loss issues that they discovered right after they launched etc.


That would be my guess since System Preferences can't find my account and my iPhone tells me I have the wrong password when I check my .mac email on it...
 
Is there a problem with my computer, then?

No.

They designed Mac OS X 10.5.4 (I think - it might be some other component), to look on the internet to check if MobileMe has launched.

If it has, then Software Update will prompt you to install the MobileMe update.

Due to the unexpected problems, Mac OS X is looking to see if MobileMe is up and running, but it is unable to verify this (due to all the downtime) so it assumes that .mac is still running and that you don't need the update.
 
I just did a chat with a mobile me support rep. here's the transcript:


info: Hi, my name is Craig. Welcome to Apple!
Craig: Hi Scott. How are you?

Scott: I've been unable to connect with MobileMe
Scott: and haven't been able to check my email since yesterday
Craig: I completely understand. Today we are moving everything from .Mac to MobileMe.
Craig: During this transition we have turned off some features of .Mac/MobileMe including web mail access.

Scott: do you have an estimate when it will be up and running?
Craig: I am told that by the end of today it should be fully up an operational. If you are needing to check your mail, you can use an email client such as the one in Mac OS X.
Scott: so then, it's not just me experiencing this?
Craig: Link: Using .Mac Mail with Mac OS X
Craig: Nope this is across our entire user-base. I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

Scott: ok, well, i guess all I can do is wait... as long as they are working on it the best they can
Craig: We've been doing our best to get it going as soon as possible.
Craig: Is there anything else I can help you with?

Scott: no thanks
Scott: thanks for your info
Craig: Alright. I hope you have a great day, Scott. Thank you for your continued business with .Mac and Apple.
Craig: Thank you for chatting with us. We value your feedback. Please click the blue "Close" button at top left to answer a few questions about your experience with us today.

Where can you chat with a MobileMe representative?
 
No.

They designed Mac OS X 10.5.4 (I think), to look on the internet to check if MobileMe has launched.

If it has, then Software Update will prompt you to install the MobileMe update.

Due to the unexpected problems, Mac OS X is looking to see if MobileMe is up and running, but it is unable to verify this (due to all the downtime) so it assumes that .mac is still running and that you don't need the update.

Oh, I get it. Thanks for the help.
 
@Corsa

I've just had confirmation from an Apple employee that the six character minimum .mac username was a 'limitation put forward later in .mac's life. Originally there was no limit.'

Mystery solved :)
 
As is your downtime-is-hurting-my-business straw man. You have a collection of home pages on a CONSUMER web hosting service and an e-mail account. Nothing more.

Nobody places orders on your business site (if indeed you actually have one), they would have to call or e-mail you. They have to do this because .mac does not provide database support to store/process customer information.

It doesn't have this functionality because it wasn't designed for business use, as has been stated over and over again by those on this forum. You hurt your business the moment you chose .mac to host it online.

Don't blame Apple for your lack of foresight. .mac is not a business product, never has been, and no promises were ever made to you by Apple. Complain as a customer who has been inconvenienced if you like, but stop selling this ".mac is a mission critical service" crazy. Nobody's buying.

You are popping off at the mouth without knowing anything about my business. My site does not have anything to do with directly taking orders.

The only "straw man" I see around is you.

edit: I've never used the words "mission critical" - don't create your own words and attribute them to me - you really should try getting your facts straight before popping off. Also - who should be blamed for this poor transition??????

edit #2: I love calling the bluffs of big mouths. Will you put $10,000 into a third party escrow? I'll have you directed to my site within two minutes and your $$$ will be mine. If there is no site my $10,000 will be yours. Put up or.....
 
I just did a chat with a mobile me support rep. here's the transcript:


info: Hi, my name is Craig. Welcome to Apple!
Craig: Hi Scott. How are you?

Scott: I've been unable to connect with MobileMe
Scott: and haven't been able to check my email since yesterday
Craig: I completely understand. Today we are moving everything from .Mac to MobileMe.
Craig: During this transition we have turned off some features of .Mac/MobileMe including web mail access.

Scott: do you have an estimate when it will be up and running?
Craig: I am told that by the end of today it should be fully up an operational. If you are needing to check your mail, you can use an email client such as the one in Mac OS X.
Scott: so then, it's not just me experiencing this?
Craig: Link: Using .Mac Mail with Mac OS X
Craig: Nope this is across our entire user-base. I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

Scott: ok, well, i guess all I can do is wait... as long as they are working on it the best they can
Craig: We've been doing our best to get it going as soon as possible.
Craig: Is there anything else I can help you with?

Scott: no thanks
Scott: thanks for your info
Craig: Alright. I hope you have a great day, Scott. Thank you for your continued business with .Mac and Apple.
Craig: Thank you for chatting with us. We value your feedback. Please click the blue "Close" button at top left to answer a few questions about your experience with us today.

Oh wow! This interaction is EXACTLY like all the other conversations people have had with Apple's customer support online. That's SO interesting. Wow. Neat. Thanks for all that useful insight you gave by cutting and pasting.
:rolleyes:
 
Amen!

Wow, aren't we the blood-thirsty one. Never mind that it just might not be the PM's fault. Never mind that he/she probably has a family to feed. No question, this launch hasn't gone smoothly. But aren't you getting a bit carried away? :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

You are 100% CORRECT! I mean, this is not life or death. I am a turbo-geek like the everybody else on this board, but come on. Let's just hang them in the public square then...:mad:
 
That is not true. I have been there done that. When you go through a major system upgrade you are most vulnerable when you are coming back up. The more people you have hammering your system as it is coming back up, the more problems you run into and I have seen situations where all traffic had to be completely blocked to get the system up and let it breathe before opening the flood gates. Again this is true when your system is new and it has issues which need to be ironed out. And Me.com is in this situation right now. This was not a simple upgrade. It was a major overhaul which probably involved moving a lot of customer data around. This is what usually takes a lot more time that you plan/anticipate. The last thing they want to do is bring the new system up without all the customer data and start a panic because people think their data is lost.

The major 'flaw' in your reasoning is that if this is such a big operation (which it is) why did Apple allocate only 6 hours to do it and publicly announce that it would take 6 hours. Added to which why, when it was clear the system wasn't working, didn't they post a revised time frame. A lot of this frustration would have been avoided if, after the system went down, the default splash screen had given a revised schedule of when the system would be up - 6 hours, 9 hours, whatever - that way they wouldn't have had thousands of people trying to log on every few minutes - people who had been told by Apple themselves that the service would be working by then. You forget that it was Apple that originally announced the time frame for the works - if they couldn't meet the deadline, fine, I understand it's a complicated problem, but the least they could have done was to post another time frame that would have given them some room to breath and get it right - and their users some kind of explanation.
 
Oh wow! This interaction is EXACTLY like all the other conversations people have had with Apple's customer support online. That's SO interesting. Wow. Neat. Thanks for all that useful insight you gave by cutting and pasting.
:rolleyes:

It is quite useful.

It seems to confirm that this is unexpected downtime and that they did not plan for the service to launch tomorrow or the day after etc.

If they had planned long downtime, then the support staff would have been briefed to regurgitate the same line when asked about date, but we've had several conflicting reports.
 
Oh wow! This interaction is EXACTLY like all the other conversations people have had with Apple's customer support online. That's SO interesting. Wow. Neat. Thanks for all that useful insight you gave by cutting and pasting.
:rolleyes:

Where do you go to talk to a MobileMe or Apple representative that knows this stuff?
 
fact is i had .mac for four years with bad reliability and lots of downtimes. now i have 12hrs or more downtime of all services. so nothing really changed.:rolleyes:

i just don't see why people say we have to cut apple slack for that and we shouldn't complain. i'm paying for that service and it doesn't work. the rest is apples problem to solve not my concern.

anyway my real concern is that this could be a sign that mobileme is not better than .mac was. and that would be bad because the basic idea of .mac/mobileme is/was really good and that's why in summary i was willing to pay for four years. just their reliability sucks and there is nothing wrong with saying that.
 
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