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.Mac Webmail Updated

I really want .mac, but it's just not compelling enough.

I keep my bookmarks sync'd between my Mac at home and my PC at work in Firefox with Foxmarks. Free extension.

I use gmail and yahoo for webmail. 2+gb of storage each. I'm debating which to stick with for calendar. I can use gmail and sync ical to it right now. However someone is already starting a servicewhich will let you completely sync Google cal and ical by being able to make changes to both (effectively duplicating what .mac gives you)

I could convert another gmail account into storage space with a plug in. Right now I use mediamax for 25gb of FREE storage.

Flickr offers ways to publish right from iphoto for a very easy and free way to share photos online.

So for me to cough up the dough, .mac needs more, much more.
 
ipoddin said:
I really want .mac, but it's just not compelling enough.

I keep my bookmarks sync'd between my Mac at home and my PC at work in Firefox with Foxmarks. Free extension.

I use gmail and yahoo for webmail. 2+gb of storage each. I'm debating which to stick with for calendar. I can use gmail and sync ical to it right now. However someone is already starting a servicewhich will let you completely sync Google cal and ical by being able to make changes to both (effectively duplicating what .mac gives you)

I could convert another gmail account into storage space with a plug in. Right now I use mediamax for 25gb of FREE storage.

Flickr offers ways to publish right from iphoto for a very easy and free way to share photos online.

So for me to cough up the dough, .mac needs more, much more.
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All of the above are compeltely valid points. However, there are two large weaknesses to this idea.

First, you're assuming that .mac users want to use Firefox as their browser. Many of us believe strongly that Safari is a better browser. I don't use plugins or extensions - I want my browser clean, slick, and simple. I like my fonts to appear the way they're intended. I was my interface consistent with the rest of my Apps.

Second, and more importantly, look at what you've done in each point. You've addressed each of .mac's features using a separate third party. Sure, you can duplicate any number of the features elsewhere. The reason .mac is useful is because it's all in one place. For many users, the idea of having to to Google for their Mail, Flickr for their photos, MediaMax for their storage, and all the while depend on third-party plugins to make it go round... it all just sounds like a headache. Sure, if you know what you're doing it works fine. But $8.25 a month really isn't that much for the simplicity and ease-of-use that .mac offers the average user.

Sure, we'd all love to see .mac get better. And I'm sure in time it will, but let's stop hating on it so much. For the day-to-day user, .mac is a great tool, simple and easy to use, and really isn't all that expensive in the scheme of things. It's two latte's a month... big deal.
 
iMikeT said:
As much as I would like to have .Mac and be able to sync my data, I still can't justify $99 for 1gb of web storage. Hopefully the Apple/Google alliance has some impact regarding the pricing of Apple's web services.

I'm glad I have Gmail and its 2.309843598745398745987345gb of storage!:D
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I'm hoping the acquisition of that data center results in more storage for .Mac users... at some point in the near future (doubtful).

I have been a .Mac user now for 4 years. The storage limitations are embarrassing. All I use it for is Syncing between multiple Macs - which is handy but hardly a justification for the $99 price of admission.
 
Well here's a screenshot form my Dot Mac Web Mail. I must say I like the new layout, the only thing I think it's missing is a Junk Mail feature, you know if you can sync the Junk preferences from your Apple Mail app to the Web Mail app, now that would be a nice improvement but, other than that. This is pretty darn good. Now just lower the price and bump the storage or features and we'll be good ;)
 

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I really want the junk mail feature. I am now getting junk @ my .mac. I also wish I could just have the address and forget the other features that I do not use.
 
Diatribe said:
- No spam management
- No full data set for the Address Book (still can't note bdays, etc.)
- No iCal integration with a fully editable calendar
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Yup, I mirror those complaints. There is spam filtering, but I personally have no way to change the settings, I'd like to make them a little more restrictive. One thing I notice about the Address Book is the way it ranks phone numbers for display. This was a problem in the old Webmail as well.

The new Address Book search in the mailbox window is cool, but when it displays the phone number, it only shows one of the phone numbers for the contact, and it doesn't let you choose which one. It ranks the numbers as 1. Mobile, 2. Home, and 3. Work. So if I want the work number to display for a contact, the only option is to not list a mobile or home number for them! Even worse, it doesn't tell you which one it's using, either. All them would need to do is add a faint (m), (h), or (w) notation like they do other places in Webmail.

I'd also like to see screen real estate used a little better. The bar with "Feedback" "Prefrences" and the language is a waste, moving those to buttons on the main toolbar would be better, and I don't need the top with the Apple site tabs, or the links to the other .Mac areas, either. I tried to remove them with Firefox but I got a blank area at the bottom of the window the same size then, so I didn't gain any usuable space, also this removed the only Logout button on the page.

I do really like the new webmail overall in the end. Much less clicking needed to get things done. But it does need some polishing.

And the lack of a web-editable calendar function is just dumb. I sometimes think of just paying the $20 a year fee for Yahoo Mail Plus to get rid of the ads and transfer everything over ot that. Their calandar is a real must have for me. And I would get more reliable email service, but I want IMAP access.

Edit: The bar separating the message list from the preview pane can be moved up and down, but the position is not remembered and resets after you log out or go to the address book.

There's a "Get Mail" button. I hope I don't have to push that to check for new messages anymore. I would expect an webmail system using "the latest technologies" to have an AJAX interface and retrieve new messages periodically on it's own without having to reload the entire page.
 
rcm3 said:
Can somebody explain to me why anybody would want to pay $100/year for an email account with only 1 GB of storage?
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Because you love Apple and want them to be really profitable and design more wonderful stuff and take over the world and you can say you were ahead of the curve rather than having to explain why a computer needn't crash! Or maybe you just got $100 to burn and you could do worse!;)
 
It works well in IE7 even though I don't know why you would want to lay a finger on a PC :p ... KIDDING! I know that we mac users live in a world where PCs out number macs.


kainjow said:
Would be interested to see how well this works in IE7. Works nicely in Safari - woot for ajax.
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Perhaps it would be more palatable with a monthly subscription rather than coughing up $99 for a full year in advance. Heck, they could charge higher monthly fees for increased storage and I bet people would pay.

This isn't 2004. 1gb total storage for email and idisk is pitiful when Yahoo, Hotmail and Google already offer over 2gb of email space alone, for free.
 
ipoddin said:
This isn't 2004. 1gb total storage for email and idisk is pitiful when Yahoo, Hotmail and Google already offer over 2gb of email space alone, for free.
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Sure, but how much "iDisk" space are they offering? ;)
 
Free .Mac

Philberttheduck said:
I'm a Gmail fan.. woot. 2.7+GB

So much for free .Mac in '07. ON TO .Mac '08!
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You can get .Mac for free right now!. All you have to do is work at (or know someone who works at) an Authorized Apple Reseller (eg: Micro Center, Circuit City, etc) they have access to the Apple Sales Training website. If you (or they) complete the .Mac training course, you get a year of .Mac (full version) for free! I've never paid for .Mac & never will.
 
dejo said:
Sure, but how much "iDisk" space are they offering? ;)
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I get 1gb from Yahoo for their "Briefcase" which is online storage.

You can easiliy convert a Gmail account in to online storage. So that's 2+gb of online space as well.

AND, you can use mediamax (or numerous other online storage sites) which I mentioned above for 25gb of free online storage.
 
indiekiduk said:
Try making a new mail in Firefox 2. You will see a pop up window with a tool bar at the top but otherwise blank.
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I had the same issue. Do you have Adblock or Adblock Plus running with Firefox? I just disabled Adblock Plus for mac.com and now it works fine.
 
lazyrighteye said:
All I use it for is Syncing between multiple Macs - which is handy but hardly a justification for the $99 price of admission.
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That ALONE makes it worth $99 per year. Then I get IMAP email...then I get iDisk...and everything else. There is room for improvement, but I love the .Mac service.
 
Hey, you folks might know...

Will .mac recognize a boot from a different drive (or a different partition on the same drive) as a separate "computer" and sync Mail and iCal, etc. between it and other computers?
 
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