Your (free) Internet Address for life.

We don't mean to pick on dot Mac....err MobileMe again, but with Apple's recent announcement that they are closing the doors on the .Mac homepage, we can't help but think one day MobileMe will share a similar fate.

We can see it now.....

Developers Conference 2012: All MobileMe services will be migrated over to Google Apps and will now be FREE again for life!

Please Apple, leave the internet services to the big boys.

Root Access: Mobile Me Rage

There's one topic that causes people to get angrier than anything else on the blog. It's not Microsoft. It's not Apple TV. It's not even the long, slow death of firewire. No, it's Mobile Me. In this segment of Root Access, Jamie and I look at why people are so passionate on both sides of the issue, and why it causes such a response:

Credit where it's due: Apple does the right thing with MobileMe

If it hasn't popped up in your email yet, Apple has announced a 30-day extension for .mac/MobileMe customers due to issues with the switchover. Details are also in a Knowledge Base Article. Many people voiced frustration with the transition, and on TDL Live Monday, we mentioned the whole switchover felt very "un-Apple" given they knew exactly how many people needed to be switched over.

Having said all that, considering that email, at least though the mail client was available throughout the switchover, it's surprising (and refreshing) that Apple is giving this extension. It's especially surprising considering the far louder (and more heavily covered) outcry over iPhone activation issues. With the iPhone, some people were left without any cell service for hours. You could argue that's a bigger inconvenience than not being able to upload new pictures of Aunt Lucy's birthday party.

Let's see if Apple has anything in mind to compensate for the iPhone launch hiccups.

We'll miss you, iCards...

We send our last iCard ever, to you, dear readers...

Counterpoint: .mac isn't all bad

Adam's post on .mac has certainly stirred up the Apple community. While I think he made several valid points about questionable aspects of .mac, I think it's only fair to offer a different look. First, as a point of disclosure, I should admit I'm not the biggest .mac either. I've had my .mac email address since the days .mac was a free service, and I still feel that's the best strategy for Apple. That said, it's not a complete waste either.

Adam is correct in saying that you can re-create most/all the included .mac features with free programs and services. However, we're Mac users: we're used to, and probably in some cases, prefer to pay more for someone taking the hard worked out of things for us. The value in Mac OS X, for example, comes largely from the simplicity it offers compared to Windows. .Mac, bundles several services that people may not want to take the time to configure on their own. Some people (many, perhaps?) don't want to spend the time setting up a gmail account, then hop to godaddy for a hosting plan, and off to another site for remote desktop management. I believe there's an argument to be made for the .mac integration of iWeb, iPhoto, etc. Yes, most of these functions can be duplicated with other solutions, often for free. Flickr, for example to share your photos rather than .mac/iPhoto.

It's not so much a matter of whether .mac is worth it, as much as is it worth it to you. Apple could do a lot to make .mac more attractive to a larger portion of the Apple community. But as it is, it certainly has value to some. As Google, for one, continues to integrate different services together online for free, Apple will be forced (hopefully!) to keep pace, or innovate with .mac. That's perhaps the major flaw of .mac: it's a service that once was innovative, and offered features that couldn't even really be benchmarked against other services. Since then, the rest of the web has caught up, and passed .mac, at least in the "bang for the buck" category. .mac isn't worthless, it's just not a wise choice for as wise of a market as it could be.