Those are two benefits .Mac has that you cannot get elsewhere. Everything else you can get by building your own server/mail/iDisk & do if for fun. How many of you that made the switch still have a pc around collecting dust?
Old Cheep PC + RedHat Fedora Core + Squirrelmail = email, iDisk, server.
And it's free, -- well if you need to buy a pc, then it'll cost you, but the OS and Aps are free.
Just my 2 cents, but I learned to love linux while being a Mac Addict. The two work so well together (and why not thanks to Darwin?). Besides, what else are you going to do with that old beige PC? You can always dig up the seven Win 3.11 floppys...

ps - My G5 is OSX only, my PB867 is dual OSX & Yellow Dog, and my server is an aging Dell with RedHat 9.

A good solution if your ISP allows that. Mine blocks outgoing ports for most servers, so one can't get a server going unless you try to use nonstandard ports and such. To get the ability to host, I would need to pay more extra than .Mac costs per month, so .Mac is a better solution for my needs.

Odd. Never heard of an ISP blocking outgoing :80 ports. Are you in a difficult area?
b/t/w - I never said .Mac was a bad thing, only that it may cost a bit more than what the now-average-computer-geek could do in her/his spare time.

My pretense was that it can be more of a fun thing.. i.e. Can you get your Squirrlemail to look prettymuch like .Mac? How about better? I bet you can. And then could you give out accounts to your dearest friends and have reliable mail & unlimited (be reasonable) storage over https or ftp? After-all Apple made our computers to behave this way.


Heck - Look at this site! My guess is that she/he has it stored on a real nice G5 & parked in a place of honor in his /her home. Made by mac compatable software, and kept up to date with generic sql database. AND IT IS AWESOME.. 589 members! Compare that to 1x10^5 .Mac members and it's small time, but the internet was designed for small time... and designed to evolve with small time.

56k users may want to pass on .Mac

I find it's much more convient to host something with .Mac

Drag and drop. It's there for all to download or see.

Start your own .Mac for free!

Homemade Dot-Mac with OS X

http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2 ... otmac.html

That's fine if your internet provider allows you to host web pages, email, or anything else, but mine does not. To get those features, I would have to pay much more per month for the commercial service than the $7/month I pay for .Mac.

is this to good to be true?

http://www.100webspace.com/

free 100MB storage, PHP, POP mail accounts, to name a few features that come with this package. is this to good to be true?

I bet it will fold or discontinue it's free service, like every other company that has tried to do it without ads.

maybe i should try it while it's still around..

-Indo

I'd say .Mac is worth the $100 a year, because it saves you time and effort and it's good for people who appreciate convienence and/or need simplicity.

It empowers the lay person to experiment without being labled "dumb".

Like just about everything else Apple makes, it just plain works.

Apple realizes the majority of people are not computer geeks and I think Apple has a lot to gain by opening all these stores and providing a service like .Mac.

The majority of people need a "appliance computer" and that's what Apple delivers.

yeah, i never even was interested in computers until we decided we needed a new mac, and i found the G5. i still don't know much about computers though, no programming knowledge, just what does what, and very basic troubleshooting.

-Indo

hi

i've been wondering whether or not to extend beyond the mac trial
- llike everything else its more expensive in the uk. but as always apple
are really cute in selling cos they get you hooked after the 60 day trial
you feel compelled to shell out cos you have gotten used to having
.mac.

i think the idisk utility alone is pretty special because i run a pc
on windows xp as a secondary computer, and idisk saves sharing file
problems you can just stick anything in the idisk - great feature.

icards are unique and save hassle digging out backgrounds and pictures
- just send an icard instead. i think the email on .mac cold be improved
as upload speeds are slow. i havent really started with the other features

anybody know ehre to get a discounted .mac subscription in the uk


kind regards

60 day free trial, Baahhh!!
.Mac told me today my trial has run out 10 days after signing up, was I convinced in the ten days, NOPE, find anything of any use, NOPE, waste of money, Probably.

Will I sign up again NOPE!

Well...I just got notice that my one year free trial of .Mac is about to expire. Decisions, decisions...
Up until about 2 weeks ago, I was using .Mac primarily as file storage for moving between my office and home. Then I got a 1G flash drive. Much more convenient! Now, I'm not sure what I might use .Mac for.
The free sofware is okay...though the only freebies I got any use from over the past year was the GarageBand JamPack.

One question...if I let my .Mac account expire, will my .Mac email address die, too? I had the email account years before Apple started the whole .Mac service.

No pay, no stay.

eMail is goners.


Perhaps Apple should offer a .Mac service that's cheaper, without some features?

Perhaps let people mix and match services?