Naaahhh...
AppleLink...
(see how many REAL old timers are out there...)
O.K. But we will need to raise "CompuServe" from the dead to host it!
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Apple's .Mac Service to be Renamed, Revamped?
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O.K. But we will need to raise "CompuServe" from the dead to host it!
Oooooooooh!
This is exciting. Would it be fair to assume that its a substantial overhaul of services. No-one undertakes a rebranding lightly, do they?
I'm betting some kind of lightweight RDC for iPhone and iPod Touch users. That would be really handy.
Derwood
This is exciting. Would it be fair to assume that its a substantial overhaul of services. No-one undertakes a rebranding lightly, do they?
I'm betting some kind of lightweight RDC for iPhone and iPod Touch users. That would be really handy.
Derwood
I've been a dotmac subscriber for a few years now. It is a really good service for certain types of people. Since it is less than $2 a week, I am not complaining. I have a collection of websites I need for my work, and I have more than one Mac, so I need my stuff synced between them, and I really need back to my mac.
I could replace some of these services with free stuff, but it wouldn't be as good.
Having said that, for most people it isn't worth the money. The iDisk would be the most useful part for people with only one Mac, but it has always been slow.
I'd like Apple to run some of it as a free service for any Mac or iPhone owner. Free push email would be a really good selling point for all of them. Desktop push email would be a really awesome addition, although I have no idea of how it could be done. Yahoo already provides push email for the iPhone, so it would probably have to be free, or at least much nicer than Yahoo's version.
But they could leave the hosting services as a paid service, perhaps with a discount. There really is no point in making those free, because people will just mess around with it and put up sites that they will never use. A small charge means that only those people who need it will use it.
I could replace some of these services with free stuff, but it wouldn't be as good.
Having said that, for most people it isn't worth the money. The iDisk would be the most useful part for people with only one Mac, but it has always been slow.
I'd like Apple to run some of it as a free service for any Mac or iPhone owner. Free push email would be a really good selling point for all of them. Desktop push email would be a really awesome addition, although I have no idea of how it could be done. Yahoo already provides push email for the iPhone, so it would probably have to be free, or at least much nicer than Yahoo's version.
But they could leave the hosting services as a paid service, perhaps with a discount. There really is no point in making those free, because people will just mess around with it and put up sites that they will never use. A small charge means that only those people who need it will use it.
This is great news!
I have .mac, and I feel it is a great tool. However, I have always felt it hasn't yet reached its potential.
It always seemed like something they have thrown on the back burner.
Would <3 to see an update!
I have .mac, and I feel it is a great tool. However, I have always felt it hasn't yet reached its potential.
It always seemed like something they have thrown on the back burner.
Would <3 to see an update!
I may be in the minority here, but I like the name .Mac. I also really hope they keep the @mac.com domain for email addresses. A large part of the reason I adopted a mac.com email address (and paid for it instead of the numerous free options available) was because of the "Mac" in the name. I wanted to fly the colors proudly every time I sent/received an email.
That said, I would love some non-iPhone related upgrades to .Mac. Three I would personally root for: 1) Faster iDisk syncing; 2) Better security for logging in, and especially OUT of the iDisk public folder from a remote location; and 3) a much better interface and functionality for the online browser email (for those of us who sadly still need to use our email at work in non-Mac environments).
That said, I would love some non-iPhone related upgrades to .Mac. Three I would personally root for: 1) Faster iDisk syncing; 2) Better security for logging in, and especially OUT of the iDisk public folder from a remote location; and 3) a much better interface and functionality for the online browser email (for those of us who sadly still need to use our email at work in non-Mac environments).
Um, no it probably has nothing to do with .me domains. .me domains are for the nation of Montenegro after they declared independence from Serbia, so if Apple were to launch a website in Montenegro it would be Apple.me or Apple.co.me or something like that, but it's nothing specific to .Mac which isn't even a domain.
Sebastian
According to Wikipedia, they overlapped, CyberDog being killed off a year after eWorld...
Fun times!
I always find it funny when Apple fans decry .Mac as a poor value. It tightly integrates with the rest of OS X and makes the experience easier, and more seamless...Isn't that what the Mac experience is all about?
Yet it is a 'poor value', while everyone is always willing to say 'everything just works together on OS X, so it is worth the extra money over a Dell and Windows'
You are already spending extra money to have the Mac experience, so why not spend more extra money to add the .Mac experience as well? That's what I did, since I was 'wasting' money on Macs anyway, and I love the .Mac service!
Yet it is a 'poor value', while everyone is always willing to say 'everything just works together on OS X, so it is worth the extra money over a Dell and Windows'
You are already spending extra money to have the Mac experience, so why not spend more extra money to add the .Mac experience as well? That's what I did, since I was 'wasting' money on Macs anyway, and I love the .Mac service!
You're paying $99 a year for that!? I understand paying $99 a year for iDisk hosting, .Mac Web Gallery, the ad-free email with IMAP, and Syncing, but this scares me...
Sebastian
I doubt they'd change the "mac.com" domain. It would just cause too much of a problem with existing customers. I, too, signed up in the iTools days, and enjoy my @mac.com e-mails.
I had originally signed up for some extra "e-mail only" accounts. A couple of these were for family, who don't use them. I wish I could fold them in with the relatively new .Mac e-mail "aliases". Problem is, I would need a few more aliases they they let you have...
Mobile Me
More indepth analysis over at AppleInsider....
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/05/30/apple_may_re_brand__mac_internet_service.html
More indepth analysis over at AppleInsider....
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/05/30/apple_may_re_brand__mac_internet_service.html
As someone who has bought and used .mac for the past two years; I too await any new changes. Hopefully more gigabytes for storage!
Now this rumor I believe. Why would Apple provide a better experience for Exchange users than its core Mac users? If true, I will finally consider .Mac (or whatever it's called) worth the investment. Let's hope everything syncs with Google Apps as well.
GEnie
Are you sure? We had an Apple dealership in Sunnyvale, CA that was 7/10 mile from Apple HQ (then Mariani/Bandley in Cupertino).
I remember (sometime in the 1980s) the store Manager, showing me this "new" system that Apple was testing for entering our orders/returns, etc. It was experimental (and not very reliable), then, using dial-up modems.
I am almost positive that Apple used CompuServe (H&R Block's network) as it was the best network available... yeah, there was IBM/Sears Prodigy, but it sucked!
I haven't updated yet but I saw a blog posting over at Google about Address Book now syncing with both Exchange and Gmail Contacts in 10.5.3.
Sebastian
"Mobile Me" makes me think of the Mii for the Wii.
I like .mac better.
Anyway, while we've handed over our money for .mac for years now just for some super-simple web hosting for the kids' web pages, photos, and podcasts, it's about freaking time they made this into a state-of-the-art bundle of services.
I like .mac better.
Anyway, while we've handed over our money for .mac for years now just for some super-simple web hosting for the kids' web pages, photos, and podcasts, it's about freaking time they made this into a state-of-the-art bundle of services.
No one is trying to guess at the new name
.i
?
.x
...
apple sure likes the two letters...
.xi
...
With significantly more marketshare, the natural evolution of the name is .iPhone (dotiphone).
That reminds me of another thing I'd like to see in the .Mac replacement:
The ability to rename the account, say, from myaaa.mac.com to mybbb.mac.com (as long as the name was available).
I bought my daughter's family a .mac account in her husband's name. When they got a divorce (apparently not Apple-supported), I had to let the old .mac account languish, buy a new one, re-setup everything, then lose everything (zzzz@mac.com, URLs, etc.).
A real PITA & very Un-Apple!
I, for one, would. The main reason I have it is the simplicity in uploading pictures and sharing them with my family, friends and clients. It's quite simple to set passwords and such, and the layouts are very easy on the eye. Since I use Aperture for my photo organization (and used to use iPhoto), there's no easier way to put my pictures online. The email service is also quite nice, too, as I've not had troubles since the early 2000's, back when Apple made the transition from iTools to .Mac (and those were some troubled times for the service!).
Back then, we argued over whether Apple could keep a $99/year service alive, when there were plenty of free alternatives available. So far they have.
You're paying $99 a year for that!? I understand paying $99 a year for iDisk hosting, .Mac Web Gallery, the ad-free email with IMAP, and Syncing, but this scares me...
Sebastian
No, I think you misunderstood me. I use .Mac for a lot more than just email (and I pay $70 a year, thank you Amazon) but the large reason I use the EMAIL address from .Mac is for the mac.com domain. This is hardly my major use of the service, just my favorite perk.
iChat for iPhone then?
Do you suppose the upgrade includes an element of iChat for the Phone?
I've thought for a while that if Apple were to port iChat over to PC, perhaps some interoperability with Skype, and an iSight crammed into the phone, and you have an integrated computer to computer/computer to phone/phone to phone video conferencing app ready to take over the world!
Do you suppose the upgrade includes an element of iChat for the Phone?
I've thought for a while that if Apple were to port iChat over to PC, perhaps some interoperability with Skype, and an iSight crammed into the phone, and you have an integrated computer to computer/computer to phone/phone to phone video conferencing app ready to take over the world!