[edddeduck]

Originally posted by Brass:


Yes, I'd like to eliminate the .Mac references from the OS. It would be nice if there was one .Mac setting somewhere that you could turn off, so that all references to it in other panes would vanish.

I've gone with another service, but my fear is that "dotless" Mac users may get treated as second class citizens by Apple. In fact this is already happening... iCal for example is a nice little application, but Apple are trying to make sure that it has more features for .Mac customers than for "dotless" Mac users. Similarly with other applications bundled with the operating system. We all pay for these applications (when we pay for the OS), and soon we may find out that we have to pay extra to use all of their features (an get a dot).

I paid for .mac so I could get these useful goodies. That is what you are paying for with .mac .

Just don't moan when .mac has cool features in some apple apps.

(Although I agree there should be a hide .mac from menubars etc it should be in the .mac panel in the prefs app.)

Cheers Edwin

[TheMosco]

Originally posted by booboo:
with only something like 1% of iTools users so far coughing up the dosh and going .Mac.

That 100,000 number out of 2.2 million is kinda deceiving considering that most poeple i know had atleast 2, alot of time 3 accounts when they were free not to mention some people i know of that had 150+ accounts(no lie).

I paid the 50 dollars for the account. I had already switched everything to my verizon email expect for a few small things just in case i didn't want to join .mac. I just got that email saying i had 5 days left and i ordered it. I use the idisk way to much to give up. less than 5 dollars a month seems like a good deal for 15MB of email, 100 MB we storage. I just hope apple throws in some more perks.

[Stephane]

Originally posted by Millennium:
I have no choice but to pay the $50 for this year.

But if they haven't moved to a more reasonable pricing structure by this time next year, I'm gone.

Same for me.

[souljer]

.mac.con

So now it's the 30th. Do you think the poll is accurate? Just over 60% will or have signed up? Do you think this is a reasonable estimation of iTools and other Macintosh users opinions?

I've already begun the job of organizing my stuff so that next year switching addresses will no longer be a hassle. Everyone will know my new e-mail address so it won't matter if I stay with .mac or not. Either way, I won't be advertising for Apple, as that will not be the address people send to.

Good thinking Apple!

As I said earlier regarding Mr. Jobs' statement, "We saw .net and thought let's jump in that boat!", I suggest Apple and Jobs keep all floatation devices close at hand. Especially ironic when you think about the point of Apples "switchers" campaign: to get Windows users to jump OUT of that boat.

Amazing how stupid greed makes people.

[Nebrie]

Originally posted by souljer:
.mac.con

So now it's the 30th. Do you think the poll is accurate? Just over 60% will or have signed up? Do you think this is a reasonable estimation of iTools and other Macintosh users opinions?

I've already begun the job of organizing my stuff so that next year switching addresses will no longer be a hassle. Everyone will know my new e-mail address so it won't matter if I stay with .mac or not. Either way, I won't be advertising for Apple, as that will not be the address people send to.

Good thinking Apple!

As I said earlier regarding Mr. Jobs' statement, "We saw .net and thought let's jump in that boat!", I suggest Apple and Jobs keep all floatation devices close at hand. Especially ironic when you think about the point of Apples "switchers" campaign: to get Windows users to jump OUT of that boat.

Amazing how stupid greed makes people.

This poll is not accurate. This is an informal poll of OS X using Mac freaks who frequent MacNN. What do you think? I would be surprised if there were even 1 million real users of iTools. I used to run a large web services site back in the .com days. Tons of users had dozens of accounts, even hundreds of accounts hosting everything from porn to pirated software, and what's more, you could use your idisks to host files at a time when internet hard disks and free websites all over the net were shutting down! It takes a lot of people to maintain a service like iTools and even more money. Bandwidth and server space cost real money believe it or not!

Second, Apple is not getting as much out of it's .Mac advertising as it's putting into it. It doesn't take a genious to figure out this much.

Third, you're were subsidizing iTools with your Macs. Now .Mac pays for itself.

I'm tired about hearing about how greedy Apple is by daring to charge a whopping $4 a month and how they're losing "valuable" advertising. The .com era is over. Get with it. If you don't like .Mac, go find another service. It's not like they're the only game in town. They're making a simple, easy to use product like all their other products so obviously it's not going to satisfy power users. They obviously didn't make the service for everyone and can't.

[Nebrie]

Originally posted by souljer:
.mac.con.
As Apple starts to think more and more about profits at any cost (parasitic: another example; crapy 90 day or 1 year warranty on $2000+ equipment unless you pay more $$$ for a few more years. What a scam!! Or should I say a "mac.con") and less and less about quality products/value to produce profits (symbiotic) the question will no longer be "Where do you want to go today?" or "Think different." It will be "Think how you want to be ripped off today."

You do know that if it weren't for the interest on Apple's cash pile, Dell would be the only profitable computer company today right?

[kentuckyfried]

I caved and got it last week, grudgingly. I mean, I don't like paying for anything if I don't have to!

$50 is not a bad deal for a year. $100 isn't too bad; I think the people that are really unhappy are the ones who are earning little money right now and counting pennies.

Think about it...on a typical friday night, people will blow off $25 just to eat a sh*tty meal at an expensive restaurant, or go waste money drinking alchohol. In comparison, paying for .mac service is nominal.

I use only the email really right now, but having an integrated package from Apple to do more than just that would be a great thing.
It may not be the best service to date, but it has potential.

[dampeoples]

I paid for one account after I filled up both of my iDisk's. I like the integration and the webmail, I'll pay again next year too.

[hudson1]

Originally posted by Nebrie:


This poll is not accurate. This is an informal poll of OS X using Mac freaks who frequent MacNN. What do you think? I would be surprised if there were even 1 million real users of iTools. I used to run a large web services site back in the .com days. Tons of users had dozens of accounts, even hundreds of accounts hosting everything from porn to pirated software, and what's more, you could use your idisks to host files at a time when internet hard disks and free websites all over the net were shutting down! It takes a lot of people to maintain a service like iTools and even more money. Bandwidth and server space cost real money believe it or not!

Second, Apple is not getting as much out of it's .Mac advertising as it's putting into it. It doesn't take a genious to figure out this much.

Third, you're were subsidizing iTools with your Macs. Now .Mac pays for itself.

I'm tired about hearing about how greedy Apple is by daring to charge a whopping $4 a month and how they're losing "valuable" advertising. The .com era is over. Get with it. If you don't like .Mac, go find another service. It's not like they're the only game in town. They're making a simple, easy to use product like all their other products so obviously it's not going to satisfy power users. They obviously didn't make the service for everyone and can't.

I fully agree with your assessment that the poll has no bearing on the Mac world as a whole. If it did, there would have been at least 5 times as many subscribers by now.

I still can't understand Apple's lack of creativity, which is their forte, in constructing .mac. Even if they sign up 150,000 by 10/14, that's probably only 5 to 7 million dollars of revenue in year one. There are all kinds of posts here with claims that people are not going to pay $100 for year #2. So what is Apple left with? I'd say it's a static or even declining revenue base and the principle users are ones that have always had a Mac or always will have a Mac. The service no longer is any factor in attracting new users to the platform. Apple could have structured this thing so that it still was a real selling point for the platform AND became a revenue stream. That's good for everyone.

[workerbee]

Originally posted by souljer:
.mac.con

Good thinking Apple!

As I said earlier regarding Mr. Jobs' statement, "We saw .net and thought let's jump in that boat!", I suggest Apple and Jobs keep all floatation devices close at hand. Especially ironic when you think about the point of Apples "switchers" campaign: to get Windows users to jump OUT of that boat.

Amazing how stupid greed makes people.

I know that The Reg is not particularly liked around here, but still think Andrew Orlowsky article quite to the point:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/7/27345.html.

[Ambigram]

Originally posted by Andrew 8808:

On that note, does anyone have any recommendations on a replacement for .mac? I hate using my ISP email now, especially since it's bombarded with spam. I just don't really know a decent place to sign up with.

Looks like the guys at .macRefuge are offering an even better deal for former iTools subscribers. They have twice the disk space (200MB instead of 100MB) plus a 50MB web/POP emailbox (vs 15MB from Apple), with 100 emailboxes for $39, $10 less than the $49 Apple is asking for. Plus you can get your own domain name for free, just refer another customer. They have been around since 1995, which means a lot in today's web world. Also they already host several Mac sites (check under Links).

Glad someone is giving .mac some good competition. Check it out at:

http://www.macRefuge.com

[atomised]

why would anyone living outside the usa want this crap? like sherlock (though in its case i wish it was different) its relevence becomes less pronounced the further you get from north america, $200 dollars aust. is not worth it and the bribes apple will continue to offer for it (through all of the .crap only inducements) grate.

the trouble is apple has a stranglehold over its small market and the more it introduces .crap only services the more it attempts to coerce those who might need one of the things on offer.

i would like dearly to be able to erase anything that pertains to itools/.crap on my computer but can i, how do i get rid of its mention in my finder or system preferences? are these not the same things we complain about when using pc's? were not microsoft taken to court for similar bundling?.

i would also like a separate forum outside of 'osx general discussion' set up for .crap so i don't have to read anything to do with it even by accident.

i am also sick of reading apple's press releases on its 'great success', i was under the impression they had over 2 million itools users? 180,000 isn't that great is it?

you might all notice that i don't hold the .crap enterprise in high esteem. i think the manner in which apple went about it was pure and simple crass corporate behaviour and before anyone thinks to write the usual 'but apple has to make $ rubbish' (of course they do and i hope they do) i think there are ways of doing things in an ethical fashion ie: the keeping of free emails. the irony is i never used the itools account but the phony sales campaign for .crap made me fume at its inception and has forced me to take a strong look at the way apple has been stripping smaller companies and acting like a smaller microsoft...

grrr

[workerbee]

Originally posted by Ambigram:
Glad someone is giving .mac some good competition. Check it out at:

http://www.macRefuge.com

Thanks for the info... here's some more competition:
phpwebhosting.
Their hosting plan is somewhat similar. They also told me that they plan to add webDAV to the services offered soon, so that might make them another .mac alternative, with MySQL, php, 250MB disk space, more if you need it --they seem to be pretty flexible Linux freaks --, subdomains, unlimited POPs, basically unlimited traffic, and webDAV later, all for 10 bucks per month.