With talk of a possible .mac update in the works I thought I would compile a list of features I would love to see added to the service. Below are some of my thoughts. Please add your thoughts to the list as well.
Overall, as more and more services appear in "the cloud" I think Apple has a real opportunity to leverage .mac's iDisk as a user's main storage center. iWork could remain a desktop service, but .mac subscribers would have access to online versions of these programs. For instance, a user could update a Bento database or edit a Pages document stored on the iDisk from a remote computer or iPhone using a web browser. However, speed and uptime reliability would have to see major improvements before any of this would be possible. Still, with companies like google and zoho offering basic cloud computing services for far less than $99, I think it's only a matter of time before Apple gets into the game with .mac.
- push email, contacts, calendar
- faster iDisk access - fast enough for a small office to use iDisk instead of a server
- spotlight compatible iDisk
- ability to email links to specific files in iDisk
- online versions of Pages/Numbers/Bento
- ability to sync computer with more than one .mac account (perfect for individuals with a .mac account who also want to sync calendars & contacts with a company .mac account)
- faster load times for websites created in iWeb and published to .mac
Overall, as more and more services appear in "the cloud" I think Apple has a real opportunity to leverage .mac's iDisk as a user's main storage center. iWork could remain a desktop service, but .mac subscribers would have access to online versions of these programs. For instance, a user could update a Bento database or edit a Pages document stored on the iDisk from a remote computer or iPhone using a web browser. However, speed and uptime reliability would have to see major improvements before any of this would be possible. Still, with companies like google and zoho offering basic cloud computing services for far less than $99, I think it's only a matter of time before Apple gets into the game with .mac.