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mishap · Jul 15, 2002, 05:34 PM

<a href="http://www.thinksecret.com/news/mwny02dotmac.html" target="_blank">http://www.thinksecret.com/news/mwny02dotmac.html</a>

if this true, what do you think Apple could possibly offer to have .Mac be worth paying $100 a year.

What would it need to have for you to pay?

OwlBoy · Jul 15, 2002, 05:36 PM

ha, 356 day uptime for our homepages?

-Owl

kman42 · Jul 15, 2002, 05:39 PM

If they don't continue to offer the current services for free I'll be ****ed. I just can't imagine what they have in store for us that will justify $100/year! It just seems a little outrageous.

kman

gorickey · Jul 15, 2002, 05:41 PM

No way in hell it's going to be $100/year....they would have to throw in a 5 GB iPod to make me pay that!

Unless there is some sort of "Professional" service, that is totally for business/professional use, no average user is going to fork over $100 for a little more MB e-mail storage or iDisk space and some "new service"...what, are they going to do my laundry now? Cook me dinner? Drive my car? I don't think so, those are services I pay for...not ".Mac"!

[ 07-15-2002, 05:42 PM: Message edited by: gorickey ]

Timan · Jul 15, 2002, 05:42 PM

yea but ur prob. gonna have all that fancy stuff. more space bandwidth, php, asp etc..... databases and other things i know apple wouldn't rip us off like that.

karbon · Jul 15, 2002, 05:44 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by mishap:
<a href="http://www.thinksecret.com/news/mwny02dotmac.html" target="_blank">http://www.thinksecret.com/news/mwny02dotmac.html</a>

if this true, what do you think Apple could possibly offer to have .Mac be worth paying $100 a year.

What would it need to have for you to pay?<hr /></blockquote>I don`t know what kind of services that are coming, but I do know that I can get a web account with my own domain, 500 meg of space, php, mysql, unlimited email addresses and a lot more for $100 a year.

It has crossed my mind that maybe Apple is looking for a different licensing-practice for their OS. By paying $100 a year you`ll get the latest OS X update for free, and an account with all the "pro" .mac services.

Synotic · Jul 15, 2002, 05:49 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by Timan:
yea but ur prob. gonna have all that fancy stuff. more space bandwidth, php, asp etc..... databases and other things i know apple wouldn't rip us off like that.<hr /></blockquote>Isn't ASP PC only? Or am I wrong?

pete · Jul 15, 2002, 05:51 PM

when I saw this news I honestly felt sad. I've been so happy with mac.com email, even though I know some users have had trouble with it. I think it's the most reliable service around - and one that isn't supported by awful ads. I've been proud to be a mac.com email user and felt it was one of the 'bonuses' you get ss a mac owner. Also, it's a nasty, though common, business practice to lure people with free offers like this, and then, once they've become dependent on the services, force customers to pay through their teeth for the service.

It would be a terrible mistake for apple to try to charge 100 bucks/year for this service. That's over $8/month! I doubt many people would bother since it's not an ISP service and there are other comparable free services around,such as yahoo and hotmail.

I don't know. I hope this is a false rumor.

RGB · Jul 15, 2002, 05:53 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by Synotic:
 <blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by Timan:
yea but ur prob. gonna have all that fancy stuff. more space bandwidth, php, asp etc..... databases and other things i know apple wouldn't rip us off like that.<hr /></blockquote>Isn't ASP PC only? Or am I wrong?<hr /></blockquote>That is my understanding as well

exca1ibur · Jul 15, 2002, 05:56 PM

ASP can run on some *NIX, although performance is better on Win. (No surprise). Check here <a href="http://www.chillisoft.com/" target="_blank">http://www.chillisoft.com/</a>. When you have PHP, and Perl on Apache I don't see a need for ASP, but that's my 2 cents. <img border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" title="" src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" />

kman42 · Jul 15, 2002, 06:01 PM

If they are going to charge $100/year, then there will be something pretty darn compelling included. Apple usually has a pretty decent grasp of what's new and upcoming. I'm sure they are perfectly aware that an email account and 20meg of space can't go for $100 when there are many free services available. Besides, there is too much integration with OSX and the iApps for them to start charging for the basic services.

I think it is more likely that the basic features will remain free and we are about to see something very cool that we will all eagerly pay $100 for. I just don't know what it is.

kman

JLFanboy · Jul 15, 2002, 06:18 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr /> I think it is more likely that the basic features will remain free and we are about to see something very cool that we will all eagerly pay $100 for. I just don't know what it is.
<hr /></blockquote>My sentiments exactly and neither do I. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

mitchell_pgh · Jul 15, 2002, 06:50 PM

Apple isn't going to charge $100 for nothing... it will be a good deal I'm sure... Steve is smart then it comes to these things... If they started charging $100 for OS updates etc. per year, Windows users would laugh us into the ground...

For $100 it would have to be something like you can download 10 secure movies, and 50 MP4 songs or something like that along with the advanced Sherlock iApp or something... Something big, and worth it...

Raining Down in Texas · Jul 15, 2002, 06:50 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by mishap:
if this true, what do you think Apple could possibly offer to have .Mac be worth paying $100 a year.
<hr /></blockquote>If Apple cut a deal with one or more of the music companies to provide their music catalogs and provided a slick interface through iTunes, I'd pay $100/year for it. Movies through Quicktime would be a possibility also.

libraryguy · Jul 15, 2002, 07:09 PM

A $100.00/year may seem like a lot but it's only $8.00/month. When one looks at it like that it's not a bad deal even if they don't add anything new. However, I'm sure they have some new and exiting stuff in store for us that's going to be worth a lot more than $8.00/month. After Wednesday I hope we'll all be saying "all that for only $8.00/month. Plus, I'm sure all the features that are currently free will remain free. If it doesn't Apple's making a bad move. Giving something away for free for so long and then charging for it once people use it regularly sounds like something Microsoft would do. Also, what does everyone think about Apple releasing quicktime 6 to steal Microsofts thunder. Combine that with the new switch campaign and it seems Apple is starting to stand up to Microsoft and not take their shit anymore. Maybe this Macworld we will see some great stuff that competes head to head with Microsoft and it seems Apple doesn't care what Microsoft thinks about it. For instance, Microsoft said they were going to reevaluate their Mac business due to slow adoption of Mac OS X and slow sales of Office X. Phil Schiller responded by saying that Mac OS X isn't the problem but it 's the outrageous pricing of Office X. Go Apple...stick it to the man!!!

[ 07-15-2002, 07:11 PM: Message edited by: libraryguy ]

brainchild2b · Jul 15, 2002, 07:15 PM

What kind of cheep*ss are all of you? You don't think you should have to pay $10 per month to have your email address and 20mb of disk space. You all think everything should be free. You get better service than you do with any of the free email services already...

kman42 · Jul 15, 2002, 07:27 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by brainchild2b:
What kind of cheep*ss are all of you? You don't think you should have to pay $10 per month to have your email address and 20mb of disk space. You all think everything should be free. You get better service than you do with any of the free email services already...<hr /></blockquote>I don't think I should pay $8/month for an email address and a piddly 20 megs of space when the competition offers similar services for free. It has nothing to do with being cheap. I like my mac.com email address, but it's not worth $100/year when I have three other perfectly good email addresses that don't cost me a dime (except for the one from my ISP, but they are also providing my ISP services).
kman

clod · Jul 15, 2002, 07:31 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by brainchild2b:
What kind of cheep*ss are all of you? You don't think you should have to pay $10 per month to have your email address and 20mb of disk space. You all think everything should be free. You get better service than you do with any of the free email services already...<hr /></blockquote>We spent thousands on our Macs and $129 USD on OS X. I think we deserve a free email service and 20 MB of storage.

gorickey · Jul 15, 2002, 07:33 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by brainchild2b:
What kind of cheep*ss are all of you? You don't think you should have to pay $10 per month to have your email address and 20mb of disk space. You all think everything should be free. You get better service than you do with any of the free email services already...<hr /></blockquote>"Cheap" doesnt' describe a single Mac user, we already pay premium for the computers and we don't need to pay any more premium overpriced prices for services that have been free for the longest time...obviously it has worked in the past, so I think keeping the current features free won't hurt Apple any at all.

Bruce O'Neal · Jul 15, 2002, 07:38 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by clod:
 <blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by brainchild2b:
What kind of cheep*ss are all of you? You don't think you should have to pay $10 per month to have your email address and 20mb of disk space. You all think everything should be free. You get better service than you do with any of the free email services already...<hr /></blockquote>We spent thousands on our Macs and $129 USD on OS X. I think we deserve a free email service and 20 MB of storage.<hr /></blockquote>i agree with that. we should get a free loaner too.

WhaMe · Jul 15, 2002, 08:13 PM

Could .Mac be an ISP? A tie in with Earthlink or AOL?

Ken_F2 · Jul 15, 2002, 08:44 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />"Cheap" doesnt' describe a single Mac user, we already pay premium for the computers and we don't need to pay any more premium overpriced prices for services that have been free for the longest time...obviously it has worked in the past, so I think keeping the current features free won't hurt Apple any at all.<hr /></blockquote>Why do you people seem to think that you "deserve" all this stuff because you paid a premium over a PC? You paid a premium for the ability to use the MacOS (the easiest to use OS), it's that simple. You did not pay a premium to get software or services for free. You are no more entitled to a free .Mac service than you are a free copies of all future OSX releases, or free copies of other OSX software. Hell, many of you purchased your macs before the iTools service was even available.

The economics are simple. When there were very few OSX users, the costs for support and operation of the iTools service was minimal. Now that there are substantially more OSX users, and will be even more with 10.2, running the services becomes very expensive. Hotmail.com already charges for additional space, and Microsoft is losing tens of millions of years on the service despite that fact. Apple can't afford to do that. It either must increase the prices of its Macs/software (not likely), or charge separately for some level of service. I do expect that the .Mac mail service will remain free, however.

kman42 · Jul 15, 2002, 08:58 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by Ken_F2:
 <blockquote>quote:<hr />"Cheap" doesnt' describe a single Mac user, we already pay premium for the computers and we don't need to pay any more premium overpriced prices for services that have been free for the longest time...obviously it has worked in the past, so I think keeping the current features free won't hurt Apple any at all.<hr /></blockquote>Why do you people seem to think that you "deserve" all this stuff because you paid a premium over a PC? You paid a premium for the ability to use the MacOS (the easiest to use OS), it's that simple. You did not pay a premium to get software or services for free. You are no more entitled to a free .Mac service than you are a free copies of all future OSX releases, or free copies of other OSX software. Hell, many of you purchased your macs before the iTools service was even available.

The economics are simple. When there were very few OSX users, the costs for support and operation of the iTools service was minimal. Now that there are substantially more OSX users, and will be even more with 10.2, running the services becomes very expensive. Hotmail.com already charges for additional space, and Microsoft is losing tens of millions of years on the service despite that fact. Apple can't afford to do that. It either must increase the prices of its Macs/software (not likely), or charge separately for some level of service. I do expect that the .Mac mail service will remain free, however.<hr /></blockquote>You're missing the point. I don't think people have a problem paying for a service. People have a problem paying for something that isn't any more compelling than an already available free service offered by another company.

Personally, I think people are worrying over nothing. I don't believe that Apple will start charging for the basic 20 megs it offers now or the email address. The iDisk has become too integral to the OS for them to start charging for the basic service:

1) iDisk is in the Connect to menu
2) There is an iDisk button available in the finder toolbar
3) iTools has a preferences pane in the System Prefs with no indication it costs anything (except to buy MORE space)
4) iPhoto lets you export to your Homepage
5) Jaguar appears to include a new screensaver feature with no signs of charging for it
6) iDisks have become a very central way for Mac users to share files
7) iChat uses mac.com addresses

Now, that's not to say that future builds of Jag/iApps won't have modified features where all of these things are greyed out until you pay, but I doubt it. I think these basic services will remain free. Apple has invested too much in making these integral parts of the OSX/iApp experience to pull it now. In addition, it serves them well to have some level of a 'loss-leader' that gets people in with cool basic features that they can then pay to extend. All Apple has to do is continue to offer new compelling services that take up disc space and we will all be extending our 20 megs soon enough. Besides, it's not Apple's style to yank these sorts of services: they offer too much differentiation from MS.

kman

CubeWannaB · Jul 15, 2002, 09:11 PM

I'm thinking the new services will have a lot to do with Quicktime 6. With QT6 .mac could offer mpeg4 stream hosting allowing us all to run little net radio stations, live broadcasts of videos and such. We could also, as someone else suggested, download movies and songs. With rendevous we could also have access to these files in a way that no other OS could provide.

Personally, I would be very interested in a hosting service. I currently pay $20 USD/mo for semi-professional hosting and I would love to havea reliable web host that ran the same OS I do - OS X. Especially since Jaguar is coming bundled with the web technologies I use most that my web host doesn't provide, such as Python.

These ideas excite me, and this is just MY imagination. I can't even dream of the wonderful things Steve Jobs envisioned as being worth $100/year.

OwlBoy · Jul 15, 2002, 09:12 PM

hehe Kman seems to be the only one with his head on just right

That makes alot of sence.

-Owl

pete · Jul 15, 2002, 09:19 PM

�
"Apple may change, suspend or discontinue any (or all) aspects of iTools at any time, including the availability of any iTools feature or content. Apple may also impose limits on the use of or access to certain features or portions of iTools, including a charge for or imposition of a subscription or other fee for use of iTools or any part or feature of iTools, or restrict your access to any part or all of iTools, in all cases without notice or liability."

The Ginger Rat · Jul 15, 2002, 09:51 PM

It's their sandbox. Frankly, Apple doesn't owe free anything.

Having said that, it would not be good PR for Apple to start charging, even if they are taking a serious financial bath on iTools and iDisk. $100/year is a lot compared to competitors (never mind that said competitors often aren't lasting too long by being free), particularly in this economy. Perception being what it is, they either have to continue to offer it for free, or discontinue it.

I definitely see continued free basic service, and some yummy premium stuff.

mattmarshall · Jul 15, 2002, 10:17 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by The Ginger Rat:
It's their sandbox. Frankly, Apple doesn't owe free anything.
.<hr /></blockquote>they advertise iTools as part of the OS, so yes, they do owe you iTools.

[ 07-15-2002, 10:18 PM: Message edited by: mattmarshall ]

Ken_F2 · Jul 15, 2002, 10:22 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />they advertise iTools as part of the OS, so yes, they do owe you iTools.<hr /></blockquote>No they don't; they advertise integration with iTools. As Pete notes, when you signed up for iTools, you agreed to the following:

"Apple may change, suspend or discontinue any (or all) aspects of iTools at any time, including the availability of any iTools feature or content. Apple may also impose limits on the use of or access to certain features or portions of iTools, including a charge for or imposition of a subscription or other fee for use of iTools or any part or feature of iTools, or restrict your access to any part or all of iTools, in all cases without notice or liability."

Brass · Jul 15, 2002, 10:33 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by Synotic:
Isn't ASP PC only? Or am I wrong?<hr /></blockquote>ASP can be run through on Apache on almost any platform. Although PHP is generally regarded as being a better solution. The only reason to run ASP on something other than Windows is to help migrate a web site that was previously running on Windows, or if the site developer doesn't know any better.

[ 07-15-2002, 10:40 PM: Message edited by: Brass ]

retroneo · Jul 16, 2002, 12:09 AM

I'm pretty sure a 1-year subscription to .Mac would include a 1-year up-to-date policy for the Mac OS as well. I presume a 1-year subscription will be included with all new Macs in-box. This ties in with the introduction of subscription based Mac OS licensing to larger clients as well. I think Microsoft will move further in this direction as well.

I believe this way of selling Mac OS will be Apple's preferred way. It bypasses resellers, and discourages piracy. A win-win situation for Apple. By bundling plenty of extra services (Sherlock, Software Update, iDisk, HomePage, Screen Saver, Email, iPhoto Picture Services, iChat etc....) they are able to make it a winner for the consumer as well. (And overall it costs no more than an annual major Mac OS update)

This strategy will further enhance Apple's position as a digital hub, and truly integrates web services on the desktop.

adamtki · Jul 16, 2002, 03:09 AM

We don't "deserve" Apple's internet services for free. These services cost money to maintain them and a one time payment for OS X will NOT sustain these services for Apple. iTools, iDisk, mac.com, etc... are all nice features that I'm surprised has been free so far. Especially the 20MB of disk space. If 10 million mac users uses 20MB of disk space, Apple would need at the most 200 terabytes of disk space! I think Apple was able to provide iDisk, etc for free, because the user base wasn't large. But with the integration of it with OS X, the user base will grow and I don't expect Apple to be able to provide all this for free.

So at $8/month, I think it's worth paying for. Yes, you can use disk space for free from other companies, but you have to put up with their advertising and you can't just mount the darn space into your Finder. And you lose all that integration. Apple, being a hardware, software, and internet company can provide that kind of seamless integration.

For marketing purposes, $100/year sounds like a big number. I think they should've gone with $60/year ($5/month). They could still earn revenue to maintain the cost of .mac without scaring people, like all you whiners

out there , off.

Finally, the additional money will enable Apple to continue to improve the quality of these internet services instead of having them scrape by with just the essentials.

[ 07-16-2002, 03:14 AM: Message edited by: adamtki ]

Gee4orce · Jul 16, 2002, 03:25 AM

Good points, both for and against.

I wonder, would you pay $100 if it included 100Mb of disk space instead of 20 ? Full PHP, MySQL, Perl and command-line access ?

I would.

Amorya · Jul 16, 2002, 04:12 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by Gee4orce:
Good points, both for and against.

I wonder, would you pay $100 if it included 100Mb of disk space instead of 20 ? Full PHP, MySQL, Perl and command-line access ?

I would.<hr /></blockquote>I'd do it for 20GB/month bandwidth.

My host now has unlimited space, PHP, MySQL, etc... and 5GB/month bandwidth. It costs �30/year ($45/year). So for me to move, I'd need something with more bandwidth.

Amorya

Ken_F2 · Jul 16, 2002, 05:00 AM

Another possible option for the service...

Rather than homepage.mac.com, sites could use your accountname.mac.com.

mitchell_pgh · Jul 16, 2002, 09:53 AM

I don't think that we have a nice cross section of Mac users within this forum. Most of us are true Mac addicts which use our computers considerably more then others. I would be very opposed to to paying $100 for iTools as I hardly use it now. I dump my sig there, a few photos I want to post on the web and that's about it. The email service is OK, but there are other free solutions (many of which suck). I also have a cable modem at home, so I'm not going to pay for that AND an .Mac or iTools account.

If they try to charge $100 for the 20MB iTools accounts as they stand now, the service is going to fail.

but

If they offer a content conduit through iTools/iTunes/QucikTime... then maybe you have something... with MP4, QuickTime and a high speed internet connection, they could deliver high quality movies over the internet... but I think that is a little ahead of the times as most people are still in the 17" monitor zone...

Ugh, is it Wednesday yet?

Diggory Laycock · Jul 16, 2002, 11:15 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by Gee4orce:
Good points, both for and against.

I wonder, would you pay $100 if it included 100Mb of disk space instead of 20 ? Full PHP, MySQL, Perl and command-line access ?

I would.<hr /></blockquote>PHP, MySQL and perl hosting don't mean jack to most of apple's .Mac future customers - These services are for the kind of people who don't need to know that Apache is, what a relational DB is. They just want their relatives to see their photos/home Movies.

.Mac is a set of web Applications not APIs (although there will be ways into these services through an API I should imagine. (see Jag slideShow))

kman42 · Jul 16, 2002, 11:29 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by Diggory Laycock:
 <blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by Gee4orce:
Good points, both for and against.

I wonder, would you pay $100 if it included 100Mb of disk space instead of 20 ? Full PHP, MySQL, Perl and command-line access ?

I would.<hr /></blockquote>PHP, MySQL and perl hosting don't mean jack to most of apple's .Mac future customers - These services are for the kind of people who don't need to know that Apache is, what a relational DB is. They just want their relatives to see their photos/home Movies.

.Mac is a set of web Applications not APIs (although there will be ways into these services through an API I should imagine. (see Jag slideShow))<hr /></blockquote>Exactly. Those services mean nada to the average mac user, therefore they are not a marketing point.

Apple needs something compelling beyond what they currently offer. It seems likely to me that it won't be something new that is integrated into the OS as we probably would have seen it in the recent Jag builds (as with the new screensaver). As such, whatever new compelling feature we get will likely be in the form of a web-based application or an iApp.

iHomepage, perhaps? The current web-based Homepage is slow to work with and somewhat annoying. If they took the same basic feature set and put it into an iApp for web page creation, that would be cool. You hit 'Publish site' and your site is loaded onto your iDisk for hosting. If Homepage were easy and fast (its arguably easy now, but certainly not fast) and available from the dock MANY MORE people would use it. If it were easy and fast, people would use it more frequently thus going over their space allotment and they would BUY MORE iDisk space.

iBackup, perhaps? Schedule backups to your iDisk whenever you want? Not for everyone, but a lot of people would do it if the files were encrypted prior to being sent over the net and stored securely on Apple's servers. 20megs certainly wouldn't be enough for that. BUY MORE iDisk space.

kman

gorickey · Jul 16, 2002, 11:33 AM

iHomepage would be a dream come true for me, that would rock! I hate editing my pages on the iTools page personally. Great idea, you are sending these brain stormers to Apple, right?

ringo · Jul 16, 2002, 11:43 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by Gee4orce:
Good points, both for and against.

I wonder, would you pay $100 if it included 100Mb of disk space instead of 20 ? Full PHP, MySQL, Perl and command-line access ?

I would.<hr /></blockquote>Only if I could use my own domain name instead of mac.com and have multiple domain mailboxes, then I might consider it (based on bandwidth restrictions and guaranteed uptime).

Cheap? Yeah, I'm opposed to paying for something that I can get for free somewhere else. There should be an Apple-charity tax writeoff if I'm gonna' pay for something that's free elsewhere.

kman42 · Jul 16, 2002, 01:12 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by gorickey:
iHomepage would be a dream come true for me, that would rock! I hate editing my pages on the iTools page personally. Great idea, you are sending these brain stormers to Apple, right?

<hr /></blockquote>No, I haven't sent them to Apple, but you should feel free to do so.

kman

fmalloy · Jul 16, 2002, 05:09 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by WhaMe:
Could .Mac be an ISP? A tie in with Earthlink or AOL?<hr /></blockquote>sigh...who misses eWorld besides me?

I remember getting my first Mac: a Performa 6300, which happened to be one of the worst-designed Macs ever created. In the box was a great, colorful ad for eWorld, which was like AOL but more innovative and with heart. I was completely sold, installed the eWorld software, and couldn't connect. I called the 800 number and was told the service would be terminated because they couldn't compete with AOL and thus weren't interested in new customers.

Damn AOL.

IonCable · Jul 16, 2002, 05:42 PM

I think that iTools will remain as it is, free and with the current services. I believe .Mac will be a Content service tied to iTools. With it you will get music, video, more space, news and other content most likely supplied by AOL, since we are using their IM network for iChat. I know this is what many have be saying, but I want to add my 2-bytes worth. Sure iTools cost money for Apple to operate, but it helps sell Macs. ,Mac will be Apples way to get MSN/AOL services without an actual ISP system of dial-ups. It will also give Apple a steady revenue stream.

Of course this all a guess, but if it is a content service like I have discribed I'll buy it. AT&T BI offers nil for content and most other sites with good stuff are going subscription. Why shouldn't Apple get into the game.

andpoul · Jul 17, 2002, 02:39 AM

If you want proof of the .Mac switch, go to <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/notarealuser/" target="_blank">http://homepage.mac.com/notarealuser/</a>
on the error page, it says .Mac . Too bad it gives not hints about what .Mac does!

Jutaro · Jul 17, 2002, 04:14 AM

I think the most reasonable possibility will be that the current iTools services will remain free, maybe even with new features. I think we will see scalable "power" features for various fees. I haven't read any mention of XServe here yet, let's not forget that Apple is now beginning to make REAL servers that could be integrated with .mac in a powerful/useful way that transcends the "simple" little services being thrown about this thread.

What we are seeing is simply a renaming of iTools, with the addition of more advanced pay services, and better integration with the OS. Nothing more.

At least that is what I think�

Peace,
Brian

Krusty · Jul 17, 2002, 07:00 AM

Hmmm ... how about the once-talked-about "account anywhere" solution. For $100 per year, you can store a "home directory" at apple and net-boot from any mac in the world using your standard home environment -- keeping all of your preferences, bookmarks, etc. intact no matter where you log in from. That would certainly be cool and would be a MUST HAVE for power/prosumer users.

Mrjinglesusa · Jul 17, 2002, 07:05 AM

Two words: Web Hosting. There are new domains coming out all of the time. Apple probably worked it out to have the .mac domain created. For $100/year you get a .mac domain, web hosting, e-mail accounts, etc. Mark my words, we'll here about this in about 2 hours....

AJ · Jul 17, 2002, 07:30 AM

You are all going to love this. I did.

<a href="http://mac.com/1/mac_faq.html" target="_blank">http://mac.com/1/mac_faq.html</a>

It sucks donkey balls. No free service whatsoever. Nada. You have about 60 days to cough up $50 if you are a current member of iTools (.Mac), or $100 if you want to sign up a new account. If you don't pay, (after the "trial" period is up), you account is for the chop.

On the up side, you do get 100Mb of storage. Yay.

AJ

[ 07-17-2002, 07:33 AM: Message edited by: AJ ]

walrusjb · Jul 17, 2002, 07:36 AM

This was over on AI... don't know if it's real or not, as this type of page would be **VERY** easy to fake... but leave it out for discussion.

<a href="http://mac.com/1/mac_faq.html" target="_blank">http://mac.com/1/mac_faq.html</a>

Mr Heliums · Jul 17, 2002, 07:40 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by fmalloy:
 <blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by WhaMe:
Could .Mac be an ISP? A tie in with Earthlink or AOL?<hr /></blockquote>sigh...who misses eWorld besides me?
<hr /></blockquote>Me... I used to love that service. My account got suspended because I had spent too much time online one month.

You have the feeling Apple wanted that to fail, but eWorld was an ideal online community