Veteran Member
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Dear .Mac,
Thanks for your service over the last couple of years. It has been an interesting experience, and I don't begrudge the money as you are part of a company that I don't mind funding, even if it is for some really bad ideas at times! Heck we'll never learn if we don't all pitch in and try. However, I feel it is time for a parting of the ways.. I will outline my reasons below.. 1. I am getting really tired of having to juggle emails in and out of my .Mac account as it does not have enough storage to now hold the 2 or 3 years of emails that I have chosen to keep, out of the large bulk I have thrown away. For that reason I now use my Gmail account for all important emails that I may want to keep forever. In that sense the pride and sense of belonging I used to have with my .Mac account has kind of switched to my Gmail account, and I increasingly give that to my bankers, business colleagues and friends as the one to contact me on. I also feel that it is a little facist to bounce emails when an account is a MB or two over it's limit, rather than send some warning messages a little earlier, or allow long standing users a bit of leeway with their mail limits - at least for a few days, when they are perhaps on holiday or otherwise occupied. Heck why not even eat up some of the iDisk space automatically to help the mail account out a bit in the short term. The latter is exactly the kind of feature I expect from something coming from a company with such pedigree. 2. When I am mobile (which I am a lot) the IMAP mail system is just too damn slow to be useful, and I now often don't check my .Mac account until I get home, often missing important emails. Conversely the anitquated POP account of Gmail is never a problem to access from anywhere. 3. iDisk - It just doesn't work, and when it does it is so slow. Why does it take 3 hours to delete the contents of a few folders on my iDisk, and why does that kill Finder!??! 4. iCal - Very nice, but unfortunately not unique any more, and not worth the money charged for it anymore. Sorry. (When I say 'charged for' I am lumping that in with the .Mac fee). 5. iBackup - I have used this on occasion to rescue files, and yes it does work. But I tend to max out any service I use, and expect it to cope. Rumours on the intarweb have me concerned that some of my very large backups - which I cannot afford to lose and rely on heavily - will not actually be readable when I need to access them. This is not a risk anyone can take, and is not what I expect from an OEM backup utility. I could go on, but the bottom line is that the money I pay each November is not worth what is effectively an email account, with some eye-candy. Not when we have all been pointing out to you for a couple of years now that all the other *free* email providers offer more storage than your premium service affords us. Finally, where are my exclusive widgets? That really stung, and you have not really put anything else up exclusively for .Mac users other than a few early demos of software which was widely distributed anyway, and software which only works if you pay the fee for the .Mac account, thus locking you in. That last point you want to watch out for when Steve starts saying he hates DRM, as some less charitable people than myself could turn arround and argue that .Mac has DRM built in to peoples backups!! Not good. So in November, I'll say goodbye, and thanks. And even if you do do some funky interfacing between .Mac and the iPhone (said services will probably only work / be available in the US anyway), it's not going to be anything that Google doesn't also provide for free, or I can write for myself for free! So so long, and thanks for all the emails, as they say.... and I wish you well .Mac. Kind regards, scratt 'Remember, measure life by the moments that take your breath away, not by how many breaths you take' Extreme Sports Cafe | ESC's blog | scratt's blog | @thescratt Last edited by scratt : 2007-02-18 at 01:25. |
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Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472 Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
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Well worded. I think they'll get the point.
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Selfish Heathen
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Zone of Pain
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I know this isn't targeted to me, per say, but I cannot help myself!
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"Fascist"? Really? If you believe Apple to be fascist, then there would be no point to sending this letter in the first place. Quote:
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Also, do keep in mind that those services are not truly free. You pay for Gmail, for example, by allowing Google to index your messages, glean information about you from them, and serve you advertisements to you based on that information. Quote:
I respectfully disagree, but I do understand what he's going for here. The quality of this board depends on the quality of the posts. The only way to guarantee thoughtful, informative discussion is to write thoughtful, informative posts. AppleNova is not a real-time chat forum. You have time to compose messages and edit them before and after posting. |
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Actually, Backup 3's low reliability is well-documented. http://nslog.com/2005/10/17/apples_backup_app_is_shit http://rentzsch.com/suck/backup3 |
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Selfish Heathen
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Zone of Pain
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ಠ_ರೃ
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Minnesota
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I agree with pretty much everything here but sending them an email isn't really going to do anything. Just vote with your wallet. I'm sure lots more people are leaving .mac each year than are joining up. Eventually they'll have to provide a better value for money - either by cutting the price (in half would be about right), providing many more features, or both.
EDIT: I guess they won't ever really HAVE to provide a better value, but if there are few enough people using .mac, it'll eventually cost more to run than it actually makes. I don't know where that point is, but if it ever gets to that point, Apple will have to decide between running .mac at a cost, improving the value to attract more signups, or killing it off and leaving its few remaining users out to dry. |
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Veteran Member
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Sorry I did not get back to this thread to see the replies.. Believe it or not but I got no notifications in my .Mac account, which is what is registered here!
I take your points Brad, but I think you took it all way too seriously. I have hung onto .Mac becuase I do value having a paid email address which I can use as a fixed contact on the internet. I have also hung on loyally waiting for Apple to address many of the issues. Now I have hit a limit, and that is all this letter is about... With regards to iCal, yes I am talking about the publishing feature, but also with the syncing, and other associated components, which then brings .Mac and iSync into the debate also. On more than one occasion I have had to repair a very bad sync, or worse still, re-create my info when snycing went wrong between machines. I do not ever expect that to happen with anything other than Beta software. And, as with all things, I found a stable way to use the service without problems, or shifted my needs elsewhere. But I do think it sucks that this, as well as finder issues, and the incredibly well documented 'rumours on the interweb' about Backup being buggy with large files, have not all been dealt with by now. The 'rumours on the intarweb' was meant to be funny. And I do know how to re-size my allocation for files / mail in .Mac. I just think it's crud in it's current implementation. And, yes I will stay with .Mac until November, and then not renew. In that sense I am giving a company I do respect yet more time to sort it out. Also I can't do much more than let my account lapse, as I don't think I can cancel and get a refund. To be more specific to your comments Brad, in a general way, if that is possible.... *screech* Wow, that's a record for a sentence going wrong before it said anything. Anyway.. With regards to the Finder, and other problems related to OS X.. The fact that those problems are in OS X is irrelevant. If Apple provide a mail / storage service, which is specifically tailored to their OS, then they have a duty to make it all work together properly. So it's totally irrelevant that the finder is the problem with getting access to your iDisk. The problem is you cannot 'use' .Mac using the standard OS tools provided by the operating system it is specifically set up to be an extension of, and that is just plain dumb. So wherever that problem is it stops me using .Mac as advertised. That is the real issue. And who do I talk to about that? Well it's Apple in both cases... Which takes us right back to the beginning of the thread. EDIT - Ah, yes. And the DRM thing. Well, as far as I understand the backups you make with iBackup can only be restored with iBackup, and that needs to validate your .Mac account *before* it will do that. In that sense once I cancel my .Mac subscription then my iBackup, backups are useless to me unless I break the law. My backups are 'Digitial', this is to do with my 'Rights' to use my files / backups, and it's being 'Managed' by Apple. QED: Apple uses DRM on your Backups to lock you into .Mac. Thanks for the feedback, everyone. At the end of the day that was what I hoped the thread would bring. 'Remember, measure life by the moments that take your breath away, not by how many breaths you take' Extreme Sports Cafe | ESC's blog | scratt's blog | @thescratt Last edited by scratt : 2007-02-18 at 21:53. |
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Less than Stellar Member
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I've had similar sentiments for some time now. I just haven't gotten around to figuring a suitable replacement despite my best intentions and people's suggestions about what to use instead.
If it's not red and showing substantial musculature, you're wearing it wrong. |
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There is no single suitable replacement, I'm afraid. That's .mac's strength; it's all-in-one. But once you're okay with splitting into several separate services, you generally get much better offers. Then, only the syncing remains a strong part.
For webmail, you can get Yahoo! Mail instead, which aside from the ads has an excellent interface that makes Gmail look awful. For iPhoto, use Flickr; that much is a no-brainer – there's many good tools to sync between your computer and Flickr. Etc. |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Paris, France
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… engrossed in such factional acts as dreaming different dreams. |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Oct 2005
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The Yahoo Mail Beta interface is pretty crappy.
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Member
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Newport, Rhode Island
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What makes Yahoo Mail better than Gmail? I'm using Gmail now, but I like IMAP and I understand Yahoo Mail has that. What else makes it better? I've played with the interface for a few minutes but am not sure exactly what people are seeing that makes it a lot better.
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Are you sure you're using the new interface? |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2004
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I think .mac is one of the products that Apple could just care less about.
How long did it take them to update the IMAP mail to be continuous with OS X's mail.app? I think it was ~ 2 years. |
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Lovable Bastard
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Boston-ish
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I don't use .Mac email anymore. Pretty much all I use .Mac for is sync, and I am sure their are third party apps that could do it the same or better.
That said, if I were playing for .Mac on my own dime, I would stop. But I'm not so I guess I'll just stick with it. Logic, logic, logic. Logic is the beginning of wisdom, Valeris, not the end. |
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Member
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Newport, Rhode Island
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Ah, is the new interface the Beta interface? I'm using Safari and it told me I couldn't use the Beta interface with Safari.
And does it turn out I was wrong? Yahoo doesn't have IMAP capability? Or is it hidden someplace? |
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feeling my oats
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i use it for the homepage and iWeb (and mail, but i could use another mail app if i had to)...will likely keep it always just for that feature...love my homepage
g crazy is not a rare human condition everything is food if you chew hard enough |
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Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472 Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
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Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2004
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Near Indianapolis
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Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472 Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
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Alias addresses are the bomb too. I love being able to give out a trashable account. I have an alias just for my web sign ups. Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.” Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it. |
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rams it
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Seattle
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Veteran Member
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Now that is a good feature of .Mac. I must mention it to Google...
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Mr. Vieira
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
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scratt, research and observation has shown that your best approach in this matter is an online petition. They really do work, and companies always respond to them. And people love participating in them because they know they bring results!
[long cane comes out, hooks around my neck and yanks me off the stage as the tomatoes fly] |
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Veteran Member
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Absolutely..
I was also thinking of starting a Digg article with 'AMAZING', 'SURVIVES BEING EATEN ALIVE BY SPACE MONKEYS' in the title or something like that.. What do you think? 'Remember, measure life by the moments that take your breath away, not by how many breaths you take' Extreme Sports Cafe | ESC's blog | scratt's blog | @thescratt |
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Veteran Member
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Just for the record it's now three hours and counting since I last tried to delete something from my iDisk.. And it's still busy trying to do it.
I have also tried to reallocate my Mail / iDisk storage, and also delete a load of archived mail. That was also 3 hours ago. So far nothing has gone from my iDisk, but it is using more space than it was before I asked to delete some things. Also, my mail account (even though I have deleted thousands of emails) has managed to use about 35% more storage than it did *before* I deleted those items. My whole iDisk is now maxed out and claims to be using 1.6GB, when it is only a 1GB package! Before I started these DELETE operations it was well within the 1GB limit, but insisted on sending me constant HTML reminder messages that I should buy more storage, or clear some space. As it stands I doubt I will be able to send or recieve any email using my .Mac account for the rest of the day, and have no idea when the iDisk will sort itself out. So basically by following Brad's advice, and Apple's advice I am now in a complete s&$thole of a situation with nothing to do but twiddle my thumbs and wait... Don't worry, I don't blame you Brad, as I knew this would happen anyway.. I just wanted to make the point that the whole .Mac system sucks *unless* you are on the same internet backbone that Apple is connected to. Oh and by the way.. When .Mac is in this state it will still let you send emails, but not actually send them, but also not tell you that fact. Nice. I am so over .Mac. EDIT - I particularly like that right now finder reports that it has -7 -11 -13 -15 -17items to delete from my iDisk! That's better than the 'less than a minute' message that normally comes about an hour before a copy / delete operation is complete! 'Remember, measure life by the moments that take your breath away, not by how many breaths you take' Extreme Sports Cafe | ESC's blog | scratt's blog | @thescratt |
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Selfish Heathen
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Zone of Pain
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Huh? What advice did I give? That you should use a third-party client like Transmit instead of the Finder? Were you getting that problem in Transmit?
Or do you mean the advice about voting with your wallet? The quality of this board depends on the quality of the posts. The only way to guarantee thoughtful, informative discussion is to write thoughtful, informative posts. AppleNova is not a real-time chat forum. You have time to compose messages and edit them before and after posting. |
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Veteran Member
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I wasn't having a dig dude.. Just being ironic.
You said I should try resizing the allocation of iDisk / Mail at one point. I think early on in the thread in your amazing reply! It's not unique advice, and I certainly don't really blame you. But it does illustrate yet another feature of .Mac that is, shall we say, lacking. Currently running at -36 items still left to delete. By the way.. From my locale using Transmit or any other ftp client is actually not much better when it comes to accessing your iDisk. It's not as buggy as finder, but certainly not any faster. I now truly believe you need to be in the US, preferably on the same section of backbone as Apple for .Mac to be any good at all. -47 items left to delete.... 'Remember, measure life by the moments that take your breath away, not by how many breaths you take' Extreme Sports Cafe | ESC's blog | scratt's blog | @thescratt |
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