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Avon · Jan 26, 2003, 09:21 AM

Im quite mad. I cant sync my brand new (used) PowerBook G4 without .Mac. So I finally signed up for a 2 month trial subscription and found out what .Mac was all about.

Apart from syncing my macs, its completely useless.

Here is what I need and it can't do.

1 - Online Address Book.
I went out yesterday and forgot my palm. I said to myself, "Oh, I am saved, I have .Mac now" Nope. Not working yet. This feature alone would have made me upgrade to the $100/year service.

2 - Online Calendar.
The problem is there is none. I really need this. There is a picture on the front page of .Mac of this service, but its not implemented yet. I need .Mac to replace my palm if I forget it, this is a vital feature.

3 - Checking of online mail of a non .Mac email account. There are services on the web that you pay for that do this. I cannot use the .Mac email, I have my own domain and I don't ever plan to change my email again.

All the other features of .Mac are useless to me. I already pay many hundreds of dollars a year for web space and domain names. I don't expect to pay another $100 so i can sync my laptop.

Im really kind of mad at apple for making iSync not work with an ordinary ftp account. On the other hand I would be quite happy paying for .Mac if the service was complete with the above features.

This is really a Microsoft like low blow.

sandsl · Jan 26, 2003, 09:43 AM

1 - Online Address Book

Its coming.

2 - Online Calendar

um there is an online calendar...open iCal select the calender you want to put online, then click 'Publish' from the 'Calendar' menu.

3 - Checking of online mail of a non .Mac email account

um go to webmail.mac.com, click on 'Preferences' at the bottom there is "Check Other POP3 Mail"

Avon · Jan 26, 2003, 10:03 AM

Thanks sandsl.

I realy hate it when people use rolling eyes and "um". If you would have left that out, you would have looked less like a jerk in my book.

When the online adress book functions, il gladly pay up...

Avon · Jan 26, 2003, 10:16 AM

Originally posted by sandsl:

um go to webmail.mac.com, click on 'Preferences' at the bottom there is "Check Other POP3 Mail"

This is not what I had in mind. The implementation sucks. After you check mail and delete it (but not off the server) It will download it again. To download mail you must go into the preferences page, there is no way to do it automatically. You also can't send mail from this email account, only your .Mac.

This does not meet my expectations.

cpac · Jan 26, 2003, 11:06 AM

if you've got a powerbook, how often do you really need to send POP3 mail from the web? In those rare instances, couldn't you just use your .Mac mail account?

If the address book syncing is "worth $100 alone" to you, why complain about any of the rest of it?

Also I believe there are iSync hacks/other applications that will allow you to sync two macs without .Mac. Check versiontracker.

Avon · Jan 26, 2003, 11:22 AM

Originally posted by cpac:
if you've got a powerbook, how often do you really need to send POP3 mail from the web? In those rare instances, couldn't you just use your .Mac mail account?

Read my post.
I need it to check mail when I don't have my mac or palm. Do you cary a powerbook with you all the time??? Right now I just telnet into my host and use pine, but there have been many times I don't have access to a machine with telnet.

Originally posted by cpac:
If the address book syncing is "worth $100 alone" to you, why complain about any of the rest of it?

You guys have to start reading the posts.
" Not working yet."

Originally posted by cpac:
Also I believe there are iSync hacks/other applications that will allow you to sync two macs without .Mac. Check versiontracker.

NO there is not. Why do people recommend things they don't know about or have not tried??? STOP IT ALREADY!

http://www.confusticate.com/tech/isync/

Developer · 11:59 AM

Originally posted by Avon:
Read my post.
I need it to check mail when I don't have my mac or palm. Do you cary a powerbook with you all the time???

Try one of the web based POP3 checkers .

besson3c · Jan 26, 2003, 01:35 PM

All Windows machines have Telnet... not that I'd ever want to telnet, but to each their own...

Do you mean SSH?

There *has* to be a way to do what yuo want... all that's taking place here is transfer of data from one computer to another. There is nothing that .Mac offers that is exclusive, they just offer a lot of convenience and accessibility (like in publishing photos for instance)...

cpac · Jan 26, 2003, 01:39 PM

Originally posted by Avon:
Read my post.
I need it to check mail when I don't have my mac or palm. Do you cary a powerbook with you all the time??? Right now I just telnet into my host and use pine, but there have been many times I don't have access to a machine with telnet.

I do carry my powerbook with me much of the time, which translates almost *all* of the time when I need to check email.

Let me get this strait - there are times when you don't even carry your Palm with you that you need to check email? For god's sake why? Why not just carry the Palm????

You guys have to start reading the posts.
"Not working yet."

Well since you've got a demo membership, you're "Not paying yet." and it's not like it'll be another year before its available...

NO there is not. Why do people recommend things they don't know about or have not tried??? STOP IT ALREADY!

Excuse me, but if iSync doesn't do it there certainly ARE many applications which will synchronize folders between two Macs:

a simple version tracker search turns up about a dozen different possibilities.

Mostly it sounds like you've had a bad day. Sit back and drink a beer.

iDriveX · Jan 26, 2003, 01:57 PM

If .mac doesn't "do" anything for you then don't purchase it, address book will come when it comes. Chill and don't be an A-Hole.

kschulhu · Jan 26, 2003, 02:46 PM

Originally posted by Avon:
Thanks sandsl.

I realy hate it when people use rolling eyes and "um". If you would have left that out, you would have looked less like a jerk in my book.

When the online adress book functions, il gladly pay up...

But he had every right, just as you had a right to post a negative message pointing out why .Mac does nothing for you (even though you did not bother to check for answers before posting).

1. Online Address Book - You are right. It is not available yet. It will be here before your trial account expires. For now you can go to http://addressbook.mac.com/ and add contacts via the web (perhaps your most important contacts for now) until synching is available for the rest of your contacts.

2. Online Calendar - As another poster stated. You could always do this by selecting publish from the calendar menu. To view your calendar, point your browser to http://ical.mac.com/yourUserName/CalendarName i.e. http://ical.mac.com/johndoe/Family (note this is case sensitive). Sounds like you didn't even bother to look around or hit cmd-?.

3. Checking a POP3 account - You chastise someone after they point out this is possible, yet all you mentioned in your original post was a way to retrieve your POP3 messages. You did not mention you needed to send from your POP3 account. Shame on you. Plus, you do not have to go into the preference pane. Yes this is the clumsy way to do it. Perhaps you should try selecting your POP3 address from the Go To: drop-down on the main Webmail page. Very convenient if you ask me.

Unfortunately it seems that you came in here uninformed and with a negative attitude. No wonder you were greeted the way you were. I cannot fault any replies for your treatment.

Save yourself this grief next time by politely posting questions asking if certain capabilities exist and people will point you in the right direction without rolling their eyes.

Feel free to chastise me as well. I am just calling it as I see it. Hopefully we all have contributed solutions for your concerns. .Mac is not for everyone, but it certainly deserves more credit than you want to give it.

Dale Sorel · Jan 26, 2003, 03:15 PM

The gay men's swimsuit calendar doesn't do anything for me. Where do I go to bitch

Avon · Jan 26, 2003, 05:58 PM

I don't understand why everyone has a problem with my expectations of isync.

Its very simple, isync does not sync mac to mac without .mac. Right now there is no way around it. Also, .mac services are not up to my expectations.

I don't want to sync folders or files with hacks, I want isync to do it all for me. this is what its supposed to do isn't it? Is it to much to ask for isync to sync mac to mac without the use of a subscription based service?

To those that never answer the correct question, no thanks, I don't need a lesson on where to bring my powerbook or how to find a computer with telnet.

Thanks to those that have helped.

CheesePuff · Jan 26, 2003, 06:06 PM

Uhh, so if you don't need what it has to offer, then don't buy it. It's as simple as that. No one is telling you to buy it.

Avon · Jan 26, 2003, 06:26 PM

Originally posted by CheesePuff:
Uhh, so if you don't need what it has to offer, then don't buy it. It's as simple as that. No one is telling you to buy it.

Wow. Thanks for reading.

Actualy Apple is telling me to buy it if I want to sync a mac to another mac.

----------------------

I have reviewed .Mac taking into account kschulhu's info. I realize that 2 of my accusations where premature, and I actually will buy .Mac for it has alot to offer me (POP3 mail, Online Calendar, and soon the Address Book .

Im still bitter that you are forced to use .Mac to sync two macs, but I guess it won't be my problem anymore.

willed · Jan 26, 2003, 06:44 PM

Originally posted by Avon:

I realy hate it when people use rolling eyes and "um". If you would have left that out, you would have looked less like a jerk in my book.

Yeah well, if you hadn't started ranting without knowing what you were talking about You would have looked less like a jerk in My book. All the things you are talking about are either coming or already there. It's not like you've even paid anything yet. So shaddup.

besson3c · Jan 26, 2003, 07:08 PM

I don't understand why everyone has a problem with my expectations of isync.

Its very simple, isync does not sync mac to mac without .mac. Right now there is no way around it. Also, .mac services are not up to my expectations.

I don't want to sync folders or files with hacks, I want isync to do it all for me. this is what its supposed to do isn't it? Is it to much to ask for isync to sync mac to mac without the use of a subscription based service?

To those that never answer the correct question, no thanks, I don't need a lesson on where to bring my powerbook or how to find a computer with telnet.

Thanks to those that have helped

Avon,

What are you looking for? What do you expect from us?

Do you want us to sympathize with you? If you do, I'm sorry that you aren't happy with your .Mac service. Life isn't fair.

Do you want us to help? If so, then it is not productive to be condescending of the help that is offered, right?

The bottom line is that there is many different ways to transfer data from Mac to Mac. We can't do anything about the fact that iSync doesn't do what you want it to, but we can help you do what you want to do.

Adam Betts · Jan 27, 2003, 12:58 AM

Originally posted by Avon:
Wow. Thanks for reading.

Actualy Apple is telling me to buy it if I want to sync a mac to another mac.

Wow, you are so smart. If I were you, I would spend a little 5 minutes reading at http://www.mac.com . The answers is all there but for some odd reasons, you chose to ignore them.