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iarepissed · Jul 17, 2008, 07:43 AM

Well this didn't take long!

A petition to Apple against MobileMeek:

MobileMeek | MobileMe is Apple's Mess for the Rest of Us

Randman · Jul 17, 2008, 07:55 AM

Spam

iarepissed · Jul 17, 2008, 08:27 AM

This is most certainly not Spam.

This is a completely legitimate petition. The public's ire needs to be brought to Apple's attention, more than it already has.

Randman · Jul 17, 2008, 08:30 AM

Spam

iarepissed · Jul 17, 2008, 08:31 AM

I see, you're one of those forum brats.

Just let poeple have their say.

Randman · Jul 17, 2008, 08:32 AM

You create multiple threads on an outdated subject. Seriously, gtfo.

iarepissed · Jul 17, 2008, 08:34 AM

Explain how this is outdated.

And you should gtfooyb.

ghporter · Jul 17, 2008, 09:05 AM

Posting this in multiple forums is awfully spam-like. And your behavior is not acceptable. So I'm going to close the other thread with a redirect to this one, and YOU are going to behave like an adult.

iarepissed · Jul 17, 2008, 09:13 AM

Originally Posted by ghporter

Posting this in multiple forums is awfully spam-like. And your behavior is not acceptable. So I'm going to close the other thread with a redirect to this one, and YOU are going to behave like an adult.

Thank-you.

I will be an angel.

zerostar · Jul 17, 2008, 09:37 AM

What exactly is your problem with MobileMe? I think everything is running smoothly now? I am using 2 accounts, 1 with push email/contacts/calendars/bookmarks to my iPhone the other just fetch. and AFAIK things have been fine all week. Love the web access to everything and the push updates to my phone & computer.

Only thing that sucks is about the computer>web lag but I just hit sync before I leave if I update anything (mostly I use my phone so its not an issue for me)

analogika · Jul 17, 2008, 10:06 AM

Everything is working fine, here, and Apple have just extended my subscription by one month in exchange for what little trouble I've been having in the transition.

What do you aim to achieve?

MacosNerd · Jul 17, 2008, 10:51 AM

I wouldn't say its working fine, since by their own admission that there's still portions of the product not rolled out.

Having said that, a petition has zero affect on getting apple to change, especially since the petition itself is quite vague.

Apple has stated that they're working on the problems and will rectify the problem. They gave us a month free. Wanting it completely free until the bugs are fixed seems a little absurd.

besson3c · Jul 17, 2008, 11:02 AM

Really, if you are looking for great, reliable service, if you knew anything about .Mac's history of outages you had unrealistic expectations going into this.

64stang06 · Jul 17, 2008, 12:54 PM

So what, you're not happy with the 30 day extension? Why don't you create your own web suite like MobileMe and use that instead?

Atheist · Jul 17, 2008, 01:06 PM

I doubt any of you here have been using the web-based mail. Since I'm temporary without a Mac, I've been given a Dell to use (ack...). I've been trying to use the MobileMe Mail for about a week now. It's not fully functional yet (no integration to your address book) and it's still buggy. I'm constantly getting messages that it can't connect to the MobileMe servers and occasionally it tells me my account doesn't even exist.

MobileMe Mail (via Safari) = sux

MacosNerd · Jul 17, 2008, 01:17 PM

Originally Posted by Atheist

I doubt any of you here have been using the web-based mail.

MobileMe Mail (via Safari) = sux

I have, and I concur, I'm getting constant errors and its slow as molasses. I use the web client more then the mac based because of the hours I keep. I'm at work more then home it seems.

MobileMe Mail (via firefox) = sux

besson3c · Jul 17, 2008, 01:22 PM

My tentative belief is that Apple is going about this problem in the wrong way.

Apple is using push groupware stuff as a means to sell more iPhones, and that is fine, but this model only works if their proprietary solution is priced just right and is suitable for their entire intended audience.

What they really should be working on is an RFC for an IMAP notification spec so that this technology has a fighting chance to make it to all IMAP servers. There is no way in hell that I will ever buy a MobileMe account (even if I needed one). Why would I want to be locked into:

1) A contract with AT&T (and only AT&T)
2) Apple's closed platform and final say over what apps I can put on my phone
3) A closed email system to use along with it

What we need are open roads, not more "you need this car to drive on these particular roads".

C.A.T.S. CEO · Jul 17, 2008, 01:43 PM

Originally Posted by iarepissed

Explain how this is outdated.

And you should gtfooyb.

Troll.

Person Man · Jul 17, 2008, 06:17 PM

Originally Posted by besson3c

Apple is using push groupware stuff as a means to sell more iPhones, and that is fine, but this model only works if their proprietary solution is priced just right and is suitable for their entire intended audience.

What they really should be working on is an RFC for an IMAP notification spec so that this technology has a fighting chance to make it to all IMAP servers. There is no way in hell that I will ever buy a MobileMe account (even if I needed one). Why would I want to be locked into:

1) A contract with AT&T (and only AT&T)
2) Apple's closed platform and final say over what apps I can put on my phone
3) A closed email system to use along with it

What we need are open roads, not more "you need this car to drive on these particular roads".

First off, Mobile Me is not intended for corporate users. It's intended for the average joe home user. The iPhone can be configured to work with standard Microsoft Exchange servers in a corporate environment (so that shoots a hole in your argument #3, above).

Next, once the exclusivity agreement with AT&T expires, the phone will be available for other GSM networks, and be unlockable, etc.

The only thing left is number 2, above. And even that's hackable.

But MobileMe is not intended to be a substitute for corporate systems.

MacosNerd · Jul 17, 2008, 07:58 PM

Originally Posted by besson3c

Why would I want to be locked into:

1) A contract with AT&T (and only AT&T)

You don't need to have a contract with AT&T for mobileme.

2) Apple's closed platform and final say over what apps I can put on my phone

apple has since the dawn of time embraced closed proprietary systems. Only when it was forced, did it go the open system route and even then openness was often half hearted. This as served them well from time to time, and this as burned them from time to time. Right now, with the iPod and iTMS it has served them very well.

3) A closed email system to use along with it

I'm not sure what your point here is

What we need are open roads, not more "you need this car to drive on these particular roads".

No argument, but few companies are embracing open source and even when they use well established standards, they typically put their own spin on it. Take Microsoft, Sun, IBM. They all "enhance" their offerings that are built on standards.

To me, while mobileme fails to deliver, the technology matters little as long as I can get my emails, and use the other modules they had promised. Apple is not trying to sell mobileme to the corporate world but the home consumer who (like me) could care less if they use an open standard or a closed proprietary protocol just as long as it worked. That's the key word, and so far it has not worked, at least to the level everyone has expected.

alex_kac · Jul 18, 2008, 03:02 PM

Originally Posted by besson3c

What they really should be working on is an RFC for an IMAP notification spec so that this technology has a fighting chance to make it to all IMAP servers. There is no way in hell that I will ever buy a MobileMe account (even if I needed one). Why would I want to be locked into:

There are already plenty of Specs for this. Apple is using them actually. PUSH email is done via IMAP IDLE. That's all the iPhone is doing for any of this. Even the calendar/contacts.

Nothing new here.

besson3c · Jul 18, 2008, 03:31 PM

Originally Posted by alex_kac

There are already plenty of Specs for this. Apple is using them actually. PUSH email is done via IMAP IDLE. That's all the iPhone is doing for any of this. Even the calendar/contacts.

Nothing new here.

That's not my understanding, unless there is a gap in my understanding. IMAP IDLE maintains open connections, but there still needs to be something to invoke notification of delivery, and there is no standard communication protocol for doing this.

Most every major IMAP server that I know of has supported IMAP IDLE for years, as do a number of clients. If all it took to provide push IMAP was to support IDLE, it would be far more prevalent now.

besson3c · Jul 18, 2008, 03:35 PM

I guess it is true that MobileMe wasn't designed for the corporate market, but I'm willing to bet that Apple hardly makes any money selling MobileMe. Rather, MobileMe is a catalyst to buy other Apple stuff, just like the iTunes Music Store is to buy an iPod. Right now, MobileMe is a lousy catalyst for getting people to buy iPhones. Apple has been selling the iPhone as a fantastic top-of-the-line luxury smart phone with all the bells and whistles, but are they going to continue along those lines? Do you think there will be a time where essentially everybody has what we now call smart phones, just like everybody has an iPod no matter what their music needs are and what their budget was?

If so, it seems like it would be in Apple's best interest to consider what it would take to provide an amazing user experience with not just MobileMe and Exchange, but other IMAP servers as well (which would include GMail).

wataru · Jul 19, 2008, 09:53 AM

Between the downtime for the webmail client, and some really half-baked aspects of it (like the welcome message and preferences "window" being too tall for the OK and Cancel buttons to fit in my non-maximized, reasonably-sized browser window, and offering no scroll bars or other obvious way to get at them) I'm really glad I migrated away from .Mac to Google Apps for my domain. I won't be renewing MobileMe.

msuper69 · Jul 20, 2008, 08:34 PM

Online petitions are for wussies.

Speak with your wallet.

Mastrap · Jul 20, 2008, 08:53 PM

I've just added a contact into my address book on my MBP. In a couple of minutes it'll appear on my iPhone. My work email is pushed to [email protected] and works just fine. My gmail for my domain accounts play nicely too. My iDisk is up and running.

All is well as far as I am concerned.

64stang06 · Jul 20, 2008, 10:21 PM

I've got about 32 days left of my account before renewal (not including the supposed 30 day extension, to which I never received the email), so I'm not sure if I'll renew or not. If things improve between now and then, I may renew. Otherwise, I'll just migrate to my domain email for good.